Perseveration

Perseveration can bring heated thinking, frustration, and even anger. It’s not very fun.

There is a lot of perseveration around and I think we need to cool it. I notice there is so much concern about if something is right or wrong, good or bad, healthy or unhealthy. Health and lifestyle and social understandings aren’t static, and learning is good, but it can become distractive and competitive.

The saying about not sweating the small stuff is true, even though I am not sure it is all small stuff. I think we do need to be mindful, aware and open to what is around us. And yet, it becomes burdensome to be afraid to make mistakes.

We need to start with our own stuff, and clean house. For example, I just burnt my oatmeal. So, now I need to clean that up. But, it goes beyond oats and solid objects.

The street sweeper went by today. It sweeps up the dried leaves, twigs, candy wrappers and cigarette butts. I read that Eugene is starting a curbside compost service, which means we can mix our greens with dairy, meat, and bones and park it on the street for pick-up.

We need a symbolic version of a curbside pickup service. This one will pick up what is blocking us, each other, our interior dwellings. This would be for things we forgot we still had, where they came from, why we have them, and that it’s time to dump the stuff. Some of this stuff isn’t stuff.

Things that will be accepted for discard are: expectations from people you no longer know; expired ideas of identity; arguments that no longer exist; clinging dramas; inherited resentments; insecure competitions; and wishful thinking.

Once we fill the container, we put it out and watch it go. It’s a weekly service. Maybe I will start the service.

Once we do this, we cool down, we think better. There are less layers of perseveration.

If you don’t know what’s going on, ask with a smile in your voice. I heard this at an employee training and I really liked it. We can tell if there is a smile or a glare in someone’s voice.

I am reading Sophia Yin’s book, A Perfect Puppy in 7 Days, and I am seriously becoming a very happy and stable dog type of person. I know what I should expect and how to round my edges and balance my utilitarian needs with my play needs and my learning needs. I am learning to go to my crate to meditate at regular intervals. 

If I really like you I kiss you, when it’s socially appropriate, which is almost never so I kiss dogs. The other day I kissed a Maltese and she told me the answer to most problems is “more kisses.” It is probably not the answer, but it was very honest and it was her answer.

What’s your answer?