zenslacker #2

1. There is a way to be in a rush. If you sit in a coffee shop doing nothing you can observe the kind of rush other people are in when they pay their bill or buy things from the counter. What kind of rush are you in?

2. Trying to go with the flow sometimes works, but often doesn’t. To go with the flow you should try to resist it to the maximum. This may even make you laugh- when it does you’ll find it’s easy to go with the flow

3. When you try to chill out it’s more trying than chilling. You’ll find that things that are unexpected will still irritate you and then depress you because you realize your cool is skin deep. The trick is to change your perspective not your mood. Going for a long walk often helps. So does frequent travel to interesting places, if you can manage it. But really the only way to learn how to alter your perspective is to practise seeing things from as many different points of view as you can imagine. List the benefits of global warming. Examine the flaws in Mother Teresa’s character. Watch how your mood follows your perspective.

4. Most of us, at various stages in our lives, become involved with trying to achieve success at something we neither enjoy nor really value. We feel that without this ‘success’ we are nothing, ‘a failure’ in the eyes of the world. It’s a feeling that can engulf you for years, and then you emerge and wonder what all the fuss was about. The Zenslacker way out of feeling burdened by the need to be a success (and the momentary pomposity that comes with momentary success in the eyes of others) is to observe it, note it, and then do something you really enjoy. Maybe a jigsaw. Another technique is to just do nothing (really nothing, just keep sitting where you are without even moving) until the feeling passes, or the feeling's importance. It usually does, but if it doesn't: observe it, note it and go and find that jigsaw. Lego is good too.

5. If people did less there would be less. Of everything.