Overcoming Procrastination: Embracing Your Starting Point
I should have called this topic ‘Procrastination’, because it has been a struggle to even start this blog.
I struggled to write not from reluctance but from difficulty finding flow on a huge topic, an obstacle itself.
Watching a Q&A video of Matthew on YouTube about procrastination, I realized I was doing just that.
I bought into many excuses that justified why I didn’t get it done.
Then I realized this struggle I was having, was my starting point to this topic. I just needed to start where I was and not place unfounded expectations on myself.
My thinking convinced me of difficulty, but by seeing this clearly, I could overcome fear and start from here.
The Influence of Outside Sources on Our Sense of Self
Our lives are never without influences.
The environment affects us; our parents guide us; schools teach us; workplaces shape us; media bombard us with information; governments direct us; and friends, among others, contribute to our understanding, together creating the complex web of influences that forms our perspectives.
Like sponges, we constantly process our environment and senses, shaping the way we perceive ourselves.
We can adopt ideas from various sources, believing them to define us and identifying with them. Consequently, these outside influences shape our thinking, instill self-perceptions, and thus make it more challenging to recognize our true selves.
A solid sense of yourself helps you understand who you truly are and what you’ve attached to yourself in life.
Even when recognizing outside influences, we still increasingly find it essential to connect with the body’s felt senses.
The voices and noise of our thinking distract us from the body’s quietness, leading us to often overlook it.
What I feel always brings me to what is really going on in me. Even when I follow my thoughts, I return to my true self because I know where to find it.
The quietness and stillness of the body help us know ourselves; thinking and wanting change are the only obstacles.
The understanding of this began with going on Quiet Retreats. Being in an environment that didn’t want to shove more ideas and thinking processes down my throat was so unusual. The environment helped me uncover and undo the damage from these processes, revealing my true self that’s always been there.
