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Advice from my own Jiminy Krishna
The Importance of Soft Effort
When I hear the adage, “How you do anything is how you do everything,” I always think boy am I screwed. That’s the initial comedic response. But what really happens is I start to pay attention to the quality of my effort. And then my own personal Jiminy Krishna says to me, is this the way you want to do everything? No. So then I try to become more conscious, but it’s hard because I’m caught up in my story of how things are.
When you’re doing anything, what’s the quality of your effort? Say you’re doing the dishes or driving somewhere or putting on your socks. What does your body feel like while you’re doing it? What do you tell yourself about that? Do you do it haphazardly? Are you a control freak about it?
Are you present?
Everyone in the picture above is on their way somewhere, all carrying some measure of dissatisfaction, count on it. It’s part of being human. What’s also true is that they’re all probably doing the best they know how in their lives.
I’ve been in that crowd, rushing, not only with my destination in mind but also the anticipated contempt waiting for me because I’m late. So I hurry more, I worry…
