“There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind – you are the one who hears it.” (Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself)
The other night as I was exhorting my two dinner companions to “just do it” — just commence the writing projects we’d talked about when last we met, I had the sudden thought: “Yikes! Today is Thursday” (which in fact it was not — it was still Wednesday) “and I haven’t made any progress on my blog! I haven’t even started it yet! I have no clue what to write about”. And thus the maniac in my mind started winding me up. The very thing that had inhibited my friends from getting on with their projects was exposed as the voice that tries to sabotage my own progress.
I had advised my friends not to wait for inspiration, but rather to sit down with pen in hand (or computer, tablet or iPad), and note down whatever came to mind about what they were hoping to achieve. Which is what I’m now doing. Not because it’s particularly brilliant or refined or enlightened, but because it’s the only way I can get past the mental guard at the gate of my creativity. This guard or obstacle is what Michael Singer calls our inner roommate, or “maniac inside”, the part of the psyche with which most of us identify and on whose commands and opinions we most rely. At our peril.
So how does one “hear the maniac and do it anyway”? In discussing this with some other friends I learned about the term “energy activation barrier”:
“Imagine waking up on a day when you have lots of fun stuff planned. Does it ever happen that, despite the exciting day that lies ahead, you need to muster some extra energy to get yourself out of bed? Once you’re up, you can coast through the rest of the day, but there’s a little hump you have to get over to reach that point.” (”Activation energy article”, Khan Academy)
Now quadruple that effort when you don’t have lots of fun stuff planned…
Newton’s 1st law of motion also relates to this effort: “If a body is at rest then it will remain at rest unless it is acted upon by an outside force”. Therefore, the cause of inertia is resistance because an object resists changing its state of motion [or rest].” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
In simple terms, most humans resist change. The more a habit or routine becomes comfortable, even mechanical, the more strongly (however unconsciously) we resist changing it. This could be a habit of constant movement and activity, never staying still or reflecting on our actions. Or it could be a tendency to remain rooted to the spot. Heels dug in. Not budging. As it is in physical states of energy, so it is in our mental, emotional, and dare I say spiritual, states. Regardless of how strongly we may desire to shift out of our current patterns, the inertia of our habitual way of being in the world has the pull of a very strong magnet. It’s not my imagination that it gets harder and harder to start a blog as time goes on. Each blog I write is an exercise in transcending the maniac in my mind that says “It’s a waste of time. I’ve got nothing to say. Nobody reads it anyway.” This could well be the case. But my experience with breaking previous energy activation barriers, such as transcending my resistance to swimming in the ocean after a shark incident, or biking on the Queen K Highway, anytime, has taught me that to “just do it” is the only way to get through it.
Knowing that this tendency is not exclusive to me, that it is in fact universal, even scientifically proven, gives me the incentive to set goals that require barrier-breaking motivation and determination. Because they’re there. Knowing I would run into a heap of resistance to the idea of blogging for fifty-two weeks in a row was sufficient motivation to “feel the resistance and do it anyway”. And now I must leap over another barrier which is that of being jet-lagged and disoriented after a nine month ’sabbatical’. As foreshadowed last week, today’s blog is coming to you from Whistler, where it is currently 14 degrees C to Kalaoa’s (Kona, HI) 26 degrees C., and the skies here are a moisture-laden grey. This is a cause for celebration; I’m grateful that these cooler temperatures and rain may help douse the fires that are burning throughout B.C. But my feet are freezing.
In truth, the abrupt change in climate, altitude, surroundings and routine (or lack thereof) are creating an inertia that’s derailing my attempts at writing. But I’m not going to listen to the voice that suggests: “Let’s just give this week a miss.” The fact that it is Monday and I’m still figuratively twiddling my thumbs is why I’ve just given the title of ’Inertia’ to this blog. And told myself to just move on. Trust that the energy to break through this particular barrier will carry me to a conclusion, if not an insightful and elegant one, then at least something that says “Enough, I’m done!”
Yup. That’s all she wrote, folks.