When walking to the kitchen...

A few weeks ago, this was part of my morning reading in Your True Home:

"With mindful walking, our steps are no longer a means to arrive at an end. When we walk to the kitchen to serve our meal, we don't need to think, 'I have to walk to the kitchen to get the food.' With mindfulness, we can say, 'I am enjoying walking to the kitchen,' and each step is an end in itself. There is no distinction between means and ends. There is no way to happiness; happiness is the way." Thich Nhat Hanh. Your True Home. 2011. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/your-true-home-thich-nhat-hanh/1102249715?ean=9781590309261

I read that passage a few times and subsequently started to notice how much of my day is lived while thinking ahead. I have a tendency, as I think many of us do, to think "ok, next I have to..." "I have to do x, then x, then x...." Usually when I'm driving, I'm not thinking about how fun and joyful it is to drive. I'm mostly preoccupied with all that I'm on my way to do. When I'm doing housework, I'm often thinking "ok I need to get this done in order to..." At work, I'm often thinking about how many surgeries or clinic patients are still in front of me. When we live this way, we do not fully live our lives. Our minds are completely in the future (planning, worrying, stressing, hurrying), and not fully engaged in what is in front of us.

Eckhart Tolle is chock-full of wisdom about this. Check out this delightful video of him describing giving a higher percentage of your attention to tasks at hand than to the goal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YqsbAME4Rsbook. In his book The Power of Now, he states "In your everyday life, you can practice this by taking any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your fullest attention, so that it becomes an end in itself. For example, every time you walk up and down the stairs in our house or place of work, pay close attention to every step, every movement, even your breathing. Be totally present. Or when you wash your hands, pay attention to all the sense perceptions associated with the activity: the sound and feel of the water, the movement of your hands, the scent of the soap, and so on. Or when you get into your car, after you close the door, pause for a few seconds and observe the flow of your breath. Become aware of a silent but powerful sense of presence. There is one certain criterion by which you can measure your success in this practice: the degree of peace that you feel within." Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now.  1999. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-power-of-now-eckhart-tolle/1100220492?ean=9781577314806 

To elaborate on Eckhart's "hurry slowly" phrase in the YouTube video linked above, "Hurry slowly" (Festina lente in Latin) dates back at least 2000 years to the time of Emperor Augustus (founder of the Roman Empire). It is now more commonly associated with Zen Buddhist mindfulness practices. It describes taking definitive action in a deliberate thoughtful way, in order to increase joy, satisfaction, and accuracy. "The meaning of the phrase is that activities should be performed with a proper balance of urgency and diligence. If tasks are rushed too quickly then mistakes are made and good long-term results are not achieved. Work is best done in a state of flow in which one is fully engaged by the task and there is no sense of time passing." (Wikipedia, Festina lente). For several years I wrote at the top of my surgical list of patients "Go slow to go fast." This reminded me to proceed with each step of the surgery in a deliberate clean way, and not to rush or get flustered, thereby increasing my chance of complications.

Michael Ende illustrates this concept in his beautiful German 1973 novel Momo: "You see, Momo,... it's like this. Sometimes, when you've a very long street ahead of you, you think how terribly long it is and feel sure you'll never get it swept. ... And then you start to hurry. ... You work faster and faster, and every time you look up there seems to be just as much left to sweep as before, and you try even harder, and you panic, and in the end you're out of breath and have to stop - and still the street stretches away in front of you. That's not the way to do it. ... You must never think of the whole street at once, understand? You must only concentrate on the next step, the next breath, the next stroke of the broom, and the next, and the next. Nothing else. ... That way you enjoy your work, which is important, because then you make a good job of it. And that's how it ought to be. ... And all at once, before you know it, you find you've swept the whole street clean, bit by bit. What's more, you aren't out of breath. ... That's important, too." https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780140317534?gC=098f6bcd4&gad_source=4&gad_campaignid=23577763092&gbraid=0AAAAADsTpATZ_dPD1lzlQ1DLWTkf93LeU&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqPLOBhCiARIsAKRMPZq7tcRhCjR-k-vbcqPk_Pm40jda-fz9Tbg9NVH9q1Gis4mCdp9bGT0aAq2LEALw_wcB

Can you think of someone who embodies this? I remember working in a facility with a custodial staff member who very much proceeded in this fashion. I enjoyed watching her take pride in thoroughly and skillfully doing her job. She had a peaceful smile on her face, was not in a rush, but also did not work slowly. I remember at that time in my life being even more in a hurry to get through my dozens of tasks per day, and I was struck by how different her approach seemed, and how calming it was just to watch.

A powerful antidote to burnout is to become more present in each day and in each task. Start to ask yourself if the bulk of your day-to-day work is enjoyable. If you view it all as a means to an end - as the way to get paid, receive respect, or accrue enough savings in order to retire - but you don't actually enjoy your day, you are on a fast path to burnout. Of course every job comes with some less desirable tasks. But I am talking about not enjoying the majority of your job or your day. You are hustling through it to get to Facebook and Netflix at the end of the day. You are rushing through your week to get to a reward of a gluttonous dinner out on Friday night. If you start to focus your attention more and more on the present moment, it will help you to a) start to become aware of the joy and satisfaction that is present in doing meaningful tasks, b) recognize that you may be able to enjoy your work more if you lightened your schedule or to-do list, or c) recognize you don't enjoy your work and start to make change towards something that will give you more satisfaction in each day. "Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from (Seth Godin)."

So relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath. Put the phone down. Enjoy the feeling of your hands on the keyboard, on the wheel, in bread dough, holding instruments. Really listen to the person in front of you. Look them in the eye. Move deliberately. Enjoy what you are doing, even the most menial. Take satisfaction in it. And if you are finding it's not possible to do this in your current life situation, ask yourself what small or large changes you can start to make to live a life you no longer need a drink, cupcake, social media binge, purchase, or vacation from in order to tolerate.

When you walk to the kitchen, simply enjoy walking to the kitchen.