Working with Laziness

I didn't want to figure out a talk for tonight! What did that feel like? Like this: "I have too many things to do." "I'm under a lot of pressure." "It's a lot of work and what if no one shows up?" "What if I do put in the time and don't like what I come up with?" Meet our familiar acquaintance, Resistance!

Laziness is being resistant to doing some particular activity. laziness is usually thought of as something negative, but it serves a purpose.
- John Yates, The Mind Illuminated

Q: How is laziness a good thing?

One way is that it keeps us from wasting time and energy on tasks that don't matter. Go back far enough in human history, and that may have been the difference between surviving or not. Also, it triggers the creative impulse of finding an easier way to do something.

Q: Three Flavours of Lazy

In some Tibetan traditions, there are three kinds of laziness. Tenzin Palmo describes them something like this:

  1. I don’t want to do anything.
  2. I'm not worthy (I can't do this, I'm not good enough, other people are better).
  3. I'm too busy.

Q: Which of these can you relate to?

What can we do to overcome laziness when it blocks us from moving towards something we want?

Motivation

The key is to be "engaged". Pick something that matters to you - something you continually show up for has a chance.
- Natalie Goldberg, The True Secret of Writing, p. 39

Q: What is your motivation for being here? For meditating?

We must be careful not to let what motivates us turn into a forced march, a long and painful slog to somewhere or someone else.

And even when you lose your way, you can come back. The returning over and over builds the spine of practice.
- Natalie Goldberg, The True Secret of Writing

Just do it. Don't think about it, don't enter into a debate about whether it needs to done, should be done, is the right thing to do. DO IT.

Laziness is strongest right before we act. That's why procrastination is closely related. "I'll do it later" is code for "I'm probably not going to do it but I won't want to admit that."

Q: Have you ever felt lazy about doing something, then start, and been surprised at how good it feels, or how quickly it went, or how different it was to do it than to think about doing it?

This is a key point: We're not very good at imagining all of what a future will be like. We single out a few points, good or bad, and focus on those. Laziness often means we've chosen a few negative points and decided that's whole picture.

Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second we can turn the tables on Resistance.
― Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

In meditation, we have plenty of opportunities to practice "Just Do It". Every time the mind wanders and we wake up, another chance to "build the spine of practice."

Curiousity

See Judson Brewer or Pema Chodron on how curiousity can sidestep the cycle of habit and struggle.

Practice: Noticing and Remembering

From Norman Fischer, "The World Could Be Otherwise"

Pay attention to your thinking and when you notice negativity coming up, practice stopping, breathing, and saying to yourself: "I am a precious human being, like everyone else. I have been given this life for a reason."

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