How do I maintain periods of clarity?
It happened to
me yesterday. The moment of clarity which I had yesterday was wiped
out by 4:00 PM. I could feel it happen: one event occurred, one text
diverted my mind, and suddenly I was trapped right back where I was
before I left on Friday.
This bothers me greatly. I
desperately need those times of clarity, those deep thoughts which allow
me to actually gain some perspective on where I am in my life and what I
need to do to move forward. Instead they seem to get subsumed and then
buried in the simple reality of my day to day life.
So how can I preserve this clarity in the face of a work, home and family life which is constantly in motion?
1)
Read - I have emphasized this in the past, but I need to set aside time
to read - and not the five to ten minute slices I seem to allow myself
but a minimum of 30 minutes a day. And it needs to be uninterrupted
time, not punctuated by conversations or emergencies.
2)
Focus - I tend to want to know everything that goes on. It is the
unfortunate outcome of being blindsided more than once - I want to know
what is coming before it hits me. But the realities are that I cannot
know everything nor is everything relevant to me. I need to focus on
what is truly important and pay attention to that.
3)
Think - Again, this is something that I need to set time aside to do:
to think, to write, to ponder, to make conclusions and ask questions.
Without questions there is no clarity.
4) Concentrate
on Higher Things - I allow myself to get bogged down in the minutiae of
the day and what I am doing at the moment. This means that the real
work of life - thinking, making connections, improving - is always being
overrun by the trivial. I may have to do ordinary things, but I need
to ensure my mind is not focused there.
One thing is
certain: without more of these moments of clarity I will continue to
flounder. For my own mental wellness and continual advancement, I need
to make opportunities for myself to do the hard but necessary work of
self improvement
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