Tag: Life balance

Gandalf

The Wisdom of Tolkien…. Again….

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Yes it’s time for another piece with J.R.R. Tolkien. Even if you haven’t read the books you likely know who this author is. His impact on culture has been immense to say the least. His books sent me down a path of imagination that nearly 40 years later I am still on. To the wisdom…

“It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life.”
― J.R.R Tolkien

I suppose we need to determine what is a simple life? Today many people aspire to have more… In the sense that your motivations are often suspect internally. As an example I want 500 subscribers to my blog. Why? money? reach? affirmation? competition? For me its just a number I want to attain, I believe that its a worthy goal but have no real difinitive reason why other than Id like more people to read what I have to say.

A simple life to you might be something completely different from what I think it is. The point here I think is to reflect on what we have and appreciate it more rather than be constantly driven to obtain more, whatever the venue. Tolkien in context is using the hobbits as an example of his “simple life”.

They enjoy family, home, a good harvest, a warm meal, a soft bed. While the rest of the world is engaged in conquest, power, politics, war, turmoil. Bring this back to your life, what are the simple things you enjoy? Have you celebrated them lately? Meaning really appreciate where they come from, how you obtained it?

Me, I am really thankful for my pillow. I know that sounds silly doesnt it? Its a simple thing, that makes my life better, I am going to celebrate it by washing it today. Yes, sometimes a simple celebration of something that makes your life better is a good avenue for your energy rather than a focus on something you want to obtain.

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stressed-out-woman

Is it really about competition ?

Posted on by Karac Avalron

I committed this blog currently to examine and bring to light as many aspects of anxiety and stress as I could find in my travels over the internet. There are many concepts of stress and anxiety, many clinical, most philosophical. If you have a condition like Bi Polar or serious phobia’s this post and the article that inspired, it really don’t apply to you. If you are like me, someone who has anxiety to various degree’s you might find some value.

The article is here

Yes, how to handle stress like a nascar pit crew member…. From the article: “Stress is not bad,” he says. “It’s not good either. It’s how you interpret it.” Lyles defines stress as “any opposing force, potentially limiting forward progress.” Professional athletes thrive on stress, but they don’t call it that. “They call it ‘competition,’” he says.

Now I don’t prescribe to this notion that stress is competition. In context, yes athletes would put it in a competitive light. What about those of us who are not professional athletes? How do we transpose our stress to competition?

The article at its core is actually very good. It uses some decent analogies, but the essence of the theory is you must be able to identify your triggers and trigger situations (the article calls it leakage) to create the competition context.

Thus, the preface paragraph on this blog post, this isn’t meant for someone with a clinical diagnosis or more potent form of mental illness. This is really meant for those of us functioning with anxiety.

The general premise is, most of your daily life, let’s say 75% is a series of predictable events. You normally do the same things everyday right? Within those events stress and anxiety happens when something else enters the equation. AS a bad example, you brush your teeth every morning and this morning you are out of tooth paste.

The point is within the predictable events equation you can identify places where most anxiety happens to you. Is it when you go out to travel to work? Is it when you go to eat lunch? What ever it is, the “competition” is to prepare for and defeat the unpredictable that happen during your routine.

It’s an interesting read to say the least. I got some value out of it and I thought it was prudent to bring it to my readers. I think we are all on the path of trying to become more self-aware, that’s why we read blogs, and write them right?

I’m not sure creating an internal competitive environment is the best way to go for all of us, but it might be for some. I did take pause to reflect on my stress predictability based on my personal routine and I found one, the rush for the bathroom in my house on Wednesday mornings. I will get up earlier now.

Small victories…. You are doing great, remember, one day at a time.