Doing is what I came to Knowmads to learn.
Energy is what I’m constantly exploring in myself and the world around me.
After a not so recent walk along the beach in Tel Aviv with a friend and spiritual mentor, Tsi-la, I learned a very beautiful metaphor for approaching each day. It is about energy renewal and the recent feeling of leaving a certain honeymoon period with my new company and school that I’ve spent the last two months getting started up.
Tsi-la says it’s about being an egg.
It’s wrapping yourself in blue, or whatever color you’re feeling, and filling yourself with gold. What does she mean by this? She explained to me that you must start with creating a solid and centered core filled with a gold that holds you strong so that you won’t fall, but also a gold strong enough to push out into the world; keeping in mind that gold must shine through the colorful filter that you wrap around yourself.
I asked her why you need a filter and why must it be colorful? She told me that the filter helps protect all that gold that you’ve filled yourself up with, strong for the day. It allows everything that helps the gold grow stronger, all the positive energy you’re given, and screens out any sign of something viral that may arouse feelings of fear, anger, hurt, resentment, jealousy, guilt, etc. All the lousy things, basically.
After learning this, I also came to the conclusion that the filter can also catch things and keep them stuck– like cheese in a cheese grater. Your filter should be strong enough to shelve these feelings, and look at them later when you are able to handle them. Even better, perhaps these feelings will melt away after awhile, using a little soap and hot water, the filter might be able to wash these things out once you realize that it’s not worth the battle later.
If I just take one day at a time, stress seems to cross my path much less frequently. There is one thing I’ve recently stopped doing that has reduced about 80% of the negative energy that sucks my day up. That one thing has been making to-do lists. The past few months have kept me so busy doing things that making a list of them just didn’t seem practical anymore. I attached so much negative energy towards these lists that never seemed to end, so I finally just stopped doing them, and man does it feel great!
Instead of to-do lists, I now make have-done lists instead. It was a piece of advice given to me by quite a few people and I like them much more. The things that you have done today rather than a list of things to-do. When it comes to time management, I’ve found To-do lists the most impractical things ever at this point. I always end up disappointed with what I didn’t accomplish that day. I first tried three important things a day, prioritizing my to do lists by size, and numerous other ‘to-do list techniques,’ but in the end I think I’ll stick to these have-done lists. It makes me realize just how much I have accomplished instead of what I haven’t. I think it’s a much better way to end each day.
It reminds me of what my most hospitable host,
Gili, wrote to me in my notebook upon my departure from a great visit to Israel that marked the start of a new friendship:
I give thanks for this perfect day.
Today is a day of completion.
Miracles shall follow miracles,
and wonders shall never cease to exist.
to today, everyone!
