Finding Time for Your Self by Patty de Llosa

Author:Patty de Llosa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sussex Academic Press
Published: 2015-03-03T16:00:00+00:00

“I am a part of all that I have met,” said Tennyson, but the opposite also holds true. All that I have met is now a part of me. So whatever difficulty you face is part of your own story, a special dish served up to you by life, with ingredients culled from all that you’ve lived through, spiced by all the people you’ve listened to or turned away from.

Day 1

As a first step to minding the gap, try to take in impressions of what you might call “my way.” Your personal point of view, your take on how to live, your way of doing things, your attitudes to life situations, perhaps different from anyone else’s. Notice and write down your personal approach to every event, person and situation you find yourself in today.

Day 2

Now you can go deeper into discovering your habitual reactions and automatic solutions. Become alert to differences. Not everyone has the same point of view or attitude. How is yours different from that of other people you know? Do you usually think things out? Do you hate to make decisions? Do you react with startlement to anything new or do you tend to say, “I don’t give a damn”? What acts of others do you take personally? When do you insist they follow your way? What’s your way of resolving issues or arguing your point of view?

Day 3

We share many experiences, pass through similar stages, are overcome by the same passions, espouse or deny the same values. But the gap is always there, between all the head sees and already grasps, and the taking it in, absorbing it, accepting it and living it as one’s life. What is your life about? What do you stand for? What do you stand against? Write down what you think of as your deeper views and attitudes to the larger questions about the meaning of life. How are you living by them today?

Day 4

We use our mental machinery to think and notice, and it’s essential to our functioning. But as you re-read yesterday’s notes, you could engage in a deeper level of exploration, a search for understanding the meaning behind the thoughts. Gurdjieff’s view was that knowledge is one thing and Being another, and that real understanding is the fruit of experiencing both together. So as you go through your day, see if you can bring how you feel about different situations you meet into contact with your explanations or judgments about them.

Day 5

You have three major functions — thinking, feeling and body consciousness. The possibility of being present to your life has to do with finding a place of balance in which they are related to each other, tuned into the larger whole of who you are. To do this, Gurdjieff suggested, “Think what you feel; feel what you think.” What does that mean to you? Experiment with it today.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.