It’s all in a day’s work
Of all the things I have ever said to myself, this is the most potent saying.
It has saved me from suffering, it has saved me from all the nasty feelings that plague humans nowadays: belligerence, entitledness, feeling slighted, frustration, anger, laziness, yearning, wanting, and more.
How? Why?
Because the saying puts you in the present moment where nothing is ever wrong, where nothing is too much, where nothing is supposed to be different than the way it is, and it isn’t supposed to mean something, and it doesn’t.
To the degree I can bring this “It’s all in a day’s work” to bear in my life, to the same degree I can be happy.
I have been dealing some health issues… mostly pain. Some are really scary pain… it seems I am dying.
When I bring “it’s all in a day’s work” to it, then I just go through the pain, because when it hurts, what there is to do is go with the pain. Hurts a lot… then that is what there is to go though: lots of pain.
Going through life without resistance transforms every activity into a source of flow, a source of “of course”, and it is all good.
- When I have computer troubles, what there is to do is research how to fix it, how to make it work.
- When I have to wait two hours for my ride, what there is to do is wait, and fill the time with useful activity, like reading on my kindle.
- When someone interrupts me at the most interesting part of the book, is what there is to do is smile, and have an enriching conversation… the book can wait.
- When I can’t fall asleep, what there is to do is stare into the darkness, or visit old memories, or just breathe… and rest.
- When I am tired, what there is to do is rest.
- When I am rested, what there is to do is notice that I am rested and return to work.
Life is in constant flow, enjoyable.
- When walking hurts, what there is to do is put one foot after the other. The longer it hurts, the further I get.
- When someone’s smile lights up the room, what there is to do is compliment them on their smile…
Life is lived with ease and grace, when you bring “it’s all in a day’s work” to it.
I used to say, before I learned to say “this too shall pass” but it was still making it wrong, and I held my breath, so I didn’t have to be present to what I wanted to pass… whatever was happening.
Different soul correction people deal with life differently.
- Circuitry people stop the flow… get stuck in everything, don’t want life to be the way life is…
- Removing hatred just want to block out the ugly, be all pink colored glasses… but the ugly is there, and what there is to be with is the ugly.
- Revealing the dark side… hopes that if they judge strong enough, then they separate themselves from the dark… but judgment creates darkness in them… so life is not pretty
Memories are really “clear” how life is supposed to be, so they are hardly ever even noticing how it is… they can only see life in the contrast… it’s not how it is supposed to be.- Silent Partner is the rule maker, the belligerent rule maker, feeling forced, feeling put upon, feeling unwilling, picking and choosing what should be in a day’s work…
As you see, it is not easy and light being an untrained human… It is mostly: “not this and not that”… suffering.
I learn a lot by observing dogs.
A well trained dog is happier than an untrained dog. The untrained pulls on its leash, jumps on people, whines, barks, and all that behavior would get them killed in the wild…
A trained dog is happy… it can relate to what there is to do like I do: “It’s all in a day’s work” and stop trying to change, trying to fix, trying to complain, and fuss, and anger, and be unhappy.
As you can see, the strait and narrow, the Anna Karenina Principle: “it is all in a day’s work” has lots of “opposites”… of the flavor of “this is how it should be”… all the way to “I should feel good all the time”.
I saw something yesterday: when I am willing to look for examples of a new word, like jaunty: naturally bouncy and happy, no pretense, no airs… and let the new “example” know I noticed, I can make fans, friends, or just someone happy to have met me.
- I saw a jaunty person and did just that: let her know that I saw that. And she was rewarded… and we had a meaningful albeit short conversation: my ride was ready to ride… lol.
- I talked to a prickly radio personality yesterday and thanked him for returning me to love music again. He said: that was the nicest thing you have ever told me…
Letting people know what you appreciate about them can remind you to appreciate… Appreciate is tricky word: its root, the word’s root is “precious”, set a price, appraise… which we would call today: value… see as valuable.
People can’t appreciate unless they see value. And they cannot see value unless they appreciate. Tricky, eh?
Our natural inclination is to devalue… so we can feel superior to it… whatever the “it” is… But being more valuable that something that has no value is not valuable at all…
The more value you can detect, the more value you seem to have… Because you don’t see the world the way the world is, including value. You see the world the way you are… valueless, if that is how you are for yourself.
And devaluing another’s action, their gesture, their gift, for example, by explaining that you are so noble, or whatever you present yourself as, is reducing you to not having any value to yourself… darn…
The strait and narrow is at it again… lol.
The 20-day skill learning challenge is a great time to observe your relationship to yourself, your value, your habits, your ability to appreciate, your attitude.
- You can’t learn what you already know.
You can’t grow if you fancy yourself as big as you can get.- You can’t love if you hate.
- You can’t fix anything really, because in reality nothing is ever wrong… so you are trying to fix unreality… and you know how that ends up… with more disappointments, with more frustration, with more self-hatred.
Try out “it’s all in a day’s work” and mean it.
Let me know how it works for you.
“You can’t fix anything really, because in reality nothing is ever wrong… so you are trying to fix unreality” – its brilliant, thank you, Sophie.
thank you Julia. Now you only need to be able to remember when something seems wrong… and that is the tough part. xoxo