Ah, Saturday morning chaos.
My wife’s down the shop from early and I’ve got to be out the house and get the child to cycling practice—without forgetting anything—by 10am.
And for some reason we always seem to let various chores slide towards the end of the week, so there’s a pile of stuff to do… in very little time.
Honestly? It’s easy to get stressed, especially if my 10yo flatmate is in the sort of mood seemingly designed to throw spanners in the works.
So anyway, I’m moving between the rooms of the house, the various parts of the kitchen, the garage and the van, up and down the stairs inside and the steps outside, quickly and purposefully - essential if we’re to arrive at our destination in the next village, in the allotted time.
But then I notice the feeling of urgency.
Ah, now that’s different.
That’s actually disconnected from the moving-quickly-and-purposefully, and from the cycling practice deadline, and from the piles of housework because that feeling is made of thought.
The idea that my situation is the cause of the urgent feeling is a trick of the mind.
100% of urgent feeling comes from urgent thought - in this case a nigh-on invisible story about the consequences of being late; how I’ll feel, and how my daughter will feel, if I forget something; how the rest of the day’s going to go; the potential conflict that could ensue from suggesting someone might like to get in their cycling gear and eat some breakfast before they go and do exercise, that sort of thing, you know…
So whatever the thought/feeling construct is (I don’t spend any time analysing what the thought might be) when I notice the urgency, I let it go.
It just doesn’t make any sense to layer that feeling of urgency on top of my quick, purposeful movements. That would be crackers.
And you know what?
Doing that one, simple thing, means I realise the following benefits (for starters):
- I’m much more focused on the task at hand
- I’m less likely to forget something, and
- I’m less likely to be snippy or sarky about things like missed breakfasts and completely random questions I couldn’t possibly have the answers to.
Plus, I don’t feel stressed!
What’s not to like?
💟
Giles