November 10, 2008

Stop Me

Stop me, oh, stop me
Stop me if you think that you've
Heard this one before
The Smiths

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I need a new direction, some new thinking. How do you redirect yourself when you are stuck in a rut- an intellectual, political, artistic, spiritual, all encompassing rut? How do you regroup and move forward, when it feels like everything has been said? Please leave advice in comments.

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:24 AM

    I tend to make dramatic changes. In the past 2 months I have moved house, and changed job.

    I started by writing a list of all the things I dream of doing. Up to and including working on the set of Dr Who. Then I started working out what it would take to do the smaller ones. And somehow facing those challenges made it easier to take big leaps in career and home.

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  2. Anonymous11:26 AM

    Do something completely different. I am thinking you are the kind of guy who would happily do volunteer work, lend a hand to a charity, help out a soup kitchen - that sort of thing. May be time to do something else to re-group? Maybe a strange suggestion but most of my dear friends who have had a crappy time who have done this said it helped enormously. Maybe you could start a charity that is inspired by your skill set.

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  3. Anonymous11:53 AM

    y o g a

    The answers usually come to me after I have been paying attetion to my breath...

    You have some great yoga instructors over there in Doha! ;-)

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  4. I think you need a baptism of sorts. I love to surf because I literally submerge in the chilly Pacific Ocean and wash away my concerns and hesitations in a spirit of joy and enthusiasm. There's a reason so many religions use water as a symbol for re-birth. Go swim. Hold your breath and stay under water and slowly let the bubbles out. Hold your wife while floating in a pool. Bathe your daughter. Just get out there and wash the things away. It's more powerful than you may think!

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  5. Anonymous1:44 PM

    My reply would be two-pronged.
    Firstly, connect. With people. Not via the internet - which is, granted, a powerful tool - but people that you can meet with and have a drink with and laugh with. Sometimes it is a good idea to move away from the serious things and place life into a different perspective.
    And secondly, reflect. Write, but not about something that concerns everybody. There are aspects of writing that are personal, and sometimes it is important to write for yourself. These poems, works of art or haikus can change the way you see life. When you write, you write for yourself, and if others read it that is only a bonus.

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  6. Maybe do a life detox. Cut yourself off from everything that doesn't have utmost importance. Feel every moment as it passes. Don't write, experience. And then after everything has been wiped clean, start building up your foundation again and see where it takes you.

    Lots of love and good thoughts--

    Lindsea

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  7. i am an expert on ruts. and since you asked, here are my thoughts: embrace the rut with the same mindfulness and equinimity as you bring to bear when you are soaring. learn to preserve your peace, and your peaceful mood, even when things arent breaking your way. ...as we have talked about many times before, when we talk about attachment, we are not just talking about material possesions. we are also talking about mood atachments. attachment to creativity and zeal and passion. all good things, by the way. as long as wwe arent not so dependant on them that we cant stay mindful and present when our life is not nourish us in the way we would want. bottom line:the challenge is to see your current funk as practice for non-attachment. once you are not attached to anyone mood, you will always be in the mood you want.

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  8. Anonymous5:43 AM

    Sometimes, working with kids, I'll find that a particular kid (or sometimes even a whole group of them) has decided that they just will not have fun, no matter what we do. They will not appreciate climbing trees, they are too cool to try eating stinging nettles, they already know all about berries and there's nothing you could say about them that could possibly interest them.

    With these kids, I gather them into a circle, like we're going to have a serious discussion. I look them all in the eye quite seriously, take a deep breath as though I'm about to begin a lecture. And then I take off running across the field, yelling, "Betcha can't catch me!!"

    It takes a harder soul than most kids have to resist that.

    What's flickering in your periphery right now? Trying to get your attention, calling you to go play outside? Let go of your mood and chase it.

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  9. Thanks for all your great suggestion. I am processing it and all and looking for a path forward. Will respond in depth soon.

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