In a recent newsletter I talked about transitioning to “neutral” when I was feeling resistance to doing chores. You can’t get yourself excited to do the chores, but if you can get to neutral, you’ll probably be willing to do it.
Then I read a blog post by my friend Sonia Satra, in which she talks about how she transformed physical tension into excitement. It’s so much easier to make that transition than it is to calm down. You can read her blog post here.
It looks like there’s a principle here, which had not occurred to me. Consciously choose the transition you’re trying to make. It’s important that it be a small transition, not a large one.
Offhand, you can go from:
- tired to relaxed
- tense to excited
- resistant to neutral
- tempted to neutral
What other transitions can you make?
One transition I sometimes make is from angry to, for lack of a better word, pumped.
It requires recognizing the flood of energy that comes with being angry, learning to relax into or breathe through it (rather than remain tense), and knowing what kind of projects are good to do at that time.
I actually don’t get angry that often, but when I do, I take that energy, choose an appropriate outlet, and unleash a torrent of energy on it. The two best outlets I’ve found are cleaning up the house and culling notes (of which I always have plenty, whether on paper or receipts or napkins).