permaculture

[John Schinnerer <eco_living@yahoo.com>]

Aloha,

I find that when I get a "big" project, or many at once, potentially
setting myself up for overwhelm, what works oftener than not is that I
choose a 'piece' to work on and maintain that focus.  I let the larger
picture fade away (for a while) as I work intently on the focus I've
chosen (or that's chosen me, as is sometimes the case).  

When I pull back (maybe after an hour, maybe when it's mealtime, maybe
after a day or a week, depending on the context), I most often find
myself looking around and saying "wow, that's another nice piece of
work done towards completing the bigger picture."

As opposed to either scattering myself in too many directions at once,
getting "lots of nothing" done, or working on one piece but worrying
myself about the larger project/picture the whole time (thus not really
focusing on the piece I'm working on).

The short version of all that is the oft-quoted zen saying:  "While
waiting for enlightenment - chop wood, carry water."  Just substitute
whatever tasks are immediate, essential and in front of you for the
"chop wood" and "carry water" and work at them.

Zen works by just working, instead of working at working... ;-)


=====
John Schinnerer, MA
-------------------------
- Eco-Living -
Cultural & Ecological Designing
People - Place - Learning - Integration
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Y! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your web site
http://webhosting.yahoo.com/