Immediate Fiction by Jerry Cleaver

Author:Jerry Cleaver [Cleaver, Jerry]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2011-04-21T07:00:00+00:00

If you're the type that pressures yourself in this way, it helps to first realize that maybe this old puritanical ethic (an idle mind is the devil's workshop, etc.) is excessive or even nutty. It certainly is in my case. I once sat down to try meditating for 5 minutes and nearly jumped out of my skin because, in my world, you were never supposed to be doing nothing, and if you caught yourself doing nothing, you damned well better not be enjoying it. (This is all very Western. The Eastern cultures have a tradition of meditation, of letting go of the mind, of letting it settle down, to achieve an inner state of emptiness and relaxation that brings on insight and enlightenment. Now, I'm not talking about religion or spirituality, but simply a way to reach a deeper level of your mind.) So, if the Puritan is in you, it usually helps to be aware of it and consciously tell yourself it's OK to just sit.

Also, relaxing your body in a conscious way is a good way of relaxing your mind. (The mind, if left alone, will relax and clear itself. That's not only meditation, but part of what's called the relaxation response, which is well documented in Western science.) I want to leave no stone unturned in all of this, so I'm even going to give you a method for relaxing your body.

Start by taking a deep breath. As you let it out, let your body go. Keep your breathing relaxed. As you go on, concentrate on what you're relaxing, get a sensation of it, and then let go of it. Now, relax your face. Your scalp. (Sounds wacky, I know. Do it anyway.) Your ears. Relax your eyes and all the muscles around and behind your eyes. Then one at a time, relax your mouth, tongue, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, chest, stomach, back, pelvis, legs, feet, toes. Take another deep breath and exhale, letting everything go all at once. This helps a lot to get me started, and I'm a pretty tense guy. Once you've done it a few times, you can do the whole thing in thirty seconds.

This whole relaxing, letting go, do nothing approach should assure that you will do your five minutes, that you will put in your time, be

cause you can never use the excuse that you're not up to doing it, that you don't feel you can accomplish anything, that you're not in the mood, or that you can't handle it today, etc., since the only thing you have to accomplish when you don't feel up to it is to do nothing, and you can't claim that you're incapable of doing nothing, can you? Well, even if you can, don't let yourself get away with it. The important thing is that you go there, put in your time, do your five minutes, each and every day—no matter what. No excuses, no time off.

Now, there are exceptions to all of this. Some people find that trying to relax in this way only makes them more tense.

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