Activity - In the Present

Activity Exercise:

I hope you took some time to look over the Habit exercises and familiarizing yourself with some helpful tips.  Whether you decide to use some of the ideas and tips or not, it is still worth looking over the notes if you are thinking of ‘change’ practices.

It is a good habit to start writing down one’s daily chores or things that need to be accomplished.  It’s a great organizational tool. Balancing your activity is very important, and if you are having trouble prioritizing and managing yourself, then it does not hurt to at least organize your activity list. If you are organized in your own way and you have your own methods, then all the more power to you and maybe sharing some of your comments on the Oasis blog.

We all have days when we don’t feel like doing anything.  The need to rest and relax is just as important as engaging in personal chores and taking care of oneself.  Daily chores and tasks can become tedious and tiresome, but nevertheless it has to be done. It is very important to engage in some effort towards nurturing a sense of discipline in activity, particularly for oneself.  It is odd, how most of us are so efficient and willing to put in the effort to engage in work and activity when we know we are getting rewarded for our labour, such as working for our wages. When it comes to our own responsibility to ourselves, most of us fall short because there seems to be no reward and it is just for oneself. This is not true. The payout and rewards are great when one engages in the mundane chores and duties to/for oneself. Selfless activity to one’s life’s basic upkeep enables us to grow and in other areas of our activity which spills over to activity for others.  Invested energy in a positive way always has an effective outcome. Valuing your own activity is learning to value all activity. Engaging in right activity is the key, here.  Work for the sake of (good) work is always greater than the expectation of reward.  The next question would be on, is there negative activity? The answer is yes and no which I will elaborate on later. This is why I mentioned to nurture the attitude to engage in your daily chores with no judgement. If someone is critical of your individual tasks and activity take heed if it constructive and learn from it, but maintain the mindset of focus. The importance is to focus, and with ease of good purpose.

(Aside: A spiritual element comes into play when those who have a religious and or spiritual duty in life, the activities that they perform have a direct connection to a higher devotion.  It is not easy to please a human being and all but too often modt people cannot even please themselves. Engaging in “self-less” work in all aspects of one’s life without attachment to the outcome truly creates greatness of outcomes and builds character – and again, it does not matter if one’s work is not received with kindness from others.)

Notebook Exercise:

Take some time to sit and write down all the mundane and daily chores that you need to accomplish in a daily activity notebook. You can compile a loose list of all that needs to be accomplished for a week or month in advance and incorporate it into your personal calendar.

You may wish to categorize your activities. For example, all mundane activities are not necessary and that goes as well for activities that are more complex (as attending to fixing things around your home which may be mini projects).

Beside your list of activities, qualify your lists with a “must do” and “what activities “can wait”. Write down a tentative deadline or time for completing the activity.

A good rule to stick to is to at least complete a necessary task per day. Of course, you may have a general routine, such as making your bed up before you start your day. General self-care duties would seem natural but at times many of us who struggle with internal and/or external changes, lethargy and procrastination takes a hold of us. It is crucial to exert some discipline and be serious with it. In cases when life seems daunting and we cannot cope with life’s downs, it is easy to fall into a state of complacency, laziness and emotional indifference. Stay the course and work towards accomplishing at least one activity or chore a day, no matter how insignificant or small a task might be. Inadvertently, you will be cultivating some discipline.