We allow ourselves slack when no one is watching and potentially judging. We may loosen our grip on perfection and ease into life, perhaps leave a few unwashed dishes in the sink, miss a Saturday shower, or spend a day lazily on the couch. There’s freedom, relaxation and even creativity in allowing things to simply be for a bit and emerge. But too much slack over a long period of time creates lethargy and disarray. Rest only feels valuable in relation to work, resources in relation to need. Endlessness of anything creates dis-ease vs. ease.
Same goes for what happens inside our heads. A lot of our life happens alone, even if we’re surrounded by people. That’s because the mind runs on a completely different level of ultrasonic speed that simply cannot be matched by words. We can’t share every emotion, thought or idea with another even if we tried. So most of these internal arisings and impressions stays inside us; wiring and rewiring us repeatedly. We may not get to share these thoughts but the thought patterns we allow inside our heads do show up in the outer world over time through our actions and interactions.
Simply because no one else has access to our endless thoughts is no reason to let them run amok in any one direction.
“Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.”— David Whyte, Poet
