As it is: Don't get in your own way

As it is: A series where I write things as they are in my head at that moment—unfinished, unsure, and not edited into something neat.

We believe that we need to be in control of things to regulate them, to avoid uncertainty and push reality towards our desired outcome. We try to control the variables, acting like we know what leads to what and take on a lot more headache than necessary. Willpower is good but it is a limited resource. We need to learn to be efficient with it.

Many times we think that if we do everything right then we will win. And in the process we take up a role which exhausts and depletes us. We humans are conscious beings, but not all of our abilities are consciousness driven. There is a lot of hidden potential inside us which has been ingrained into us not just through our lifetimes but also through millions of years of evolution. What if we could get to know ourselves a little better? What if instead of trying to be a controller of all we try to become an observer to the innate magic of our body and mind? What if we could reach the heights we want even with a relaxed effort?

And we can achieve that by learning how to not get in our own way. It is hard enough to start something, either we are lazy and even if we are not, we keep overthinking things, waiting for the perfect moment, the stars to align and everyone in our life to suddenly become consistent with what we want. And ironically the more something matters to us the more we ruin it with our unecessary intervention. Life is simple, things are simple, our minds are not. To keep things simple do not rely too much on our complex mind. Want to do something, do it. Let actions precede the thoughts surrounding the action.

And even if we do start something, our inner critic keeps judging us, measuring ourselves against an internal or an external ideal. Just like the small voice in my head right now speaking "what you are writing, does it even make sense?". But the point is if you want something, even lousy actions are far better than inanimate useless thinking. Because action regardless of the awareness of the path means that you care, that it matters to you. And as you stumble and fall, you'll eventually find your path because you kept going and protected what you wanted, even from yourself.

And once you get things into motion, moving gets easier. The hardest part is over, you have ignited something in you; now let it breathe. Do not overmanage it. Keep learning as you go, get better. And do not forget to pat yourself on the back. If you learn how to silence your inner critic, the positive side of inertia will reveal itself to you. You will feel the momentum and the momentum will carry you as well as the activity itself. You will find it hard to stop. And as you keep going, you will achieve the flow state. A state where words write themselves, pages read themselves, the music creates itself, things build themselves. You become one with the activity, the feeling of pure absorption and zero noise from the rest of the world, where the boundary between the doer and the doing fades and they become a single beautiful system. At this point it doesn't matter if you win or lose; once you have tasted the joy of being one with your devotion, it doesn't even matter anymore. And paradoxically, it highly increases your chances of winnng, of rapid improvement, and adds that extra in extraordinary.

The key point is that there are multiple selves within ourselves, each has a role to play, we have direct access to our conscious mind but that is just the tip of the iceberg. We need to get into touch with ourselves and learn to trust ourselves beyond the spheres we have direct access to. Our ancestors had systems for survival even before they learned reeasoning, language and critical thinking skills, call it instincts if you may, and those systems still live within us and are highy adaptable.

Just calm your inner critic and planner. Learn how to learn without self judgement and criticism, keep patting yourself for every step in the way and finally give up control to your inbuilt goal seeeking (cybernetic) mechanisms. Don't get in you own way. Let things flow.