The other day I went to the eye doctor and it came time for the dreaded puff of air right in my EYEBALL. I mean, I don’t know if you’re into that kind of thing, but I’ve been freaking out about it since my first pair of glasses when I was four years old…or whenever the puff begins. Point is, it’s freaky and I have years of conditioning of freak out.
This year, an amazing thing happened.
We tried to puff the air into my left eye first, the one where I have more fear, since we couldn’t get it at my last appointment a few years ago. Nada. I was too skittish. We switched to the right eye, and got it almost right away. With one triumph under my belt, I thought I could manage the left eye this time. Still no.
“Well,” said the optometrist, “you should feel good about yourself that you even want to try, and you tried.” He prepared to leave.
“Wait!” I said, probably a little more desperately than is normal to call after an eye doctor leaving a dark room on a Friday morning.
He turned back. “You want to try again?”
When he had told me I should feel good about myself, I suddenly remembered Joumor. And planking (holding the push up position on your elbows for an extended period of time). And I remembered who I am and what I do.
Right now I’m at a 6 minute plank. I’m on my way back to beat my record of 6 minutes and 10 seconds (now that I’ve had a 10lb 7oz baby). I know I have at least a 10 minute plank in me already- what’s hardest is my mind. As I get better at mastering my thoughts, I’m able to plank longer.
(I’ll come back to the fascinating eye-puff story in a minute, don’t worry).
A lot of Joumor is about building awareness and cultivating the ability to look underneath our actions. Like a scientist or an archeologist- when we unearth we can understand why and how…and make intentional decisions that create change. And here’s the best part:
We are a collection of patterns. How we do something is how we do some, or many, things.
After completing some marvelous project or dealing with a difficult problem, nearly every client I’ve worked with has said at some point: “Yeah, but what about the…?” and point to some other unfinished or difficult task. Like, we finished clearing the closet, but what about all the filing? Or, we finished the new employee manual, but what about the taxes?
No matter how similar or different the projects seem, our relationship with them will be somewhat similar:
- We’ll do the things we’re good at
- Shy away from the things we don’t know
- Avoid the things we don’t like
So what’s great is, once we understand what we need in order to take action, we can give that to ourselves over and over again.
When I plank I get bored. Boredom makes me anxious, which makes me weak and then the time goes so slowly I “fail” (come down way before the time is up). I have learned to play games and talk to myself to get through the now 6 minutes. I have learned to “go to a place in my mind” to get through was felt difficult.
Suddenly I realized I could do this anytime. I had cultivated the skill through planking. I had the mind power.
The eye doctor resumed his position behind the machine. I took a breath, stared at the light, (broke into a sweat) planked in my mind, and won.
You are one being. No matter what you have or want to do, or where you want to go, it has to work for you.
Figure out what works for you and do that. Your success is already there.
