Relaxation...
Nov. 12th, 2013 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpI had a small epiphany on the way home from tai-chi this evening. To wit: relaxation is the hardest thing in the world.
To be sure, before setting off, it would make a lot of sense to define what I mean by "relaxation," perhaps even by identifying what it isn't.
That said, I now find myself tongue-tied.
I was going to start by noting how quite a number of sports activities, such as boxing, are not examples of "relaxation," but then I recall the course of this evening's tai-chi session, and pause. Sifu was relaxed. I was not.
I suppose I've gotten off on this tangent because a lot of recent reading I've done about memorization pretty much considers "relaxation" to be an absolutely essential factor for successfully memorizing information.
And it occurs to me that quite a number of folks that I know—despite protestations and that includes me—really don't know how to relax.
It would appear relaxation is a learned skill, or something that is achieved by unlearning other behaviors. (This raises an interesting question: Can one "unlearn" something? Or is that merely a flowery way of saying "to learn something to replace what has been previously learned"?)
I seem to be going nowhere with this line of thinking. I wonder if that's evidence of stress? Because one would expect, if one were relaxed, to be able to think lucidly.
* * * In other news, yesterday and today have seen an uptick in incoming work, which is always a good thing.
To be sure, before setting off, it would make a lot of sense to define what I mean by "relaxation," perhaps even by identifying what it isn't.
That said, I now find myself tongue-tied.
I was going to start by noting how quite a number of sports activities, such as boxing, are not examples of "relaxation," but then I recall the course of this evening's tai-chi session, and pause. Sifu was relaxed. I was not.
I suppose I've gotten off on this tangent because a lot of recent reading I've done about memorization pretty much considers "relaxation" to be an absolutely essential factor for successfully memorizing information.
And it occurs to me that quite a number of folks that I know—despite protestations and that includes me—really don't know how to relax.
It would appear relaxation is a learned skill, or something that is achieved by unlearning other behaviors. (This raises an interesting question: Can one "unlearn" something? Or is that merely a flowery way of saying "to learn something to replace what has been previously learned"?)
I seem to be going nowhere with this line of thinking. I wonder if that's evidence of stress? Because one would expect, if one were relaxed, to be able to think lucidly.
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no subject
Date: 2013-11-13 05:16 am (UTC)One conclusion I've come to in my ruminations is that many people conflate relaxation with a calm state of mind. Sometimes these two things go together, sometimes not. Maybe it's concurrent challenge, stilling the body's muscles and stilling the racing thoughts.
I've been wondering (for artistic/philosophical purposes) lately if it's possible to purposely forget something (not something traumatic or horrible), I wonder if that's similar to your 'unlearn'. Most of the advice I've received from people on how to accomplish this point to replacing concepts or ideas with others.
I do rather hope we can go on learning, and that the adage "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" is false. Learning is the best thing about life.
no subject
Date: 2013-11-13 05:08 pm (UTC)Worry, of course, is not restful. That is something we all need to learn how to purge. I think we all sooner or later fall into worrying. I have a theory about it. I call it the spaghetti theory. At a time in her life when my mother shouldn't have had a lot of heavy topics on her mind, she lamented to me about having gone to a friend's house and having brought spaghetti sauce. She moaned and groaned to me about how the sauce was too thin. I'm thinking in my mind This is worth worrying this excessively about? Whereupon I realized that we basically will worry no matter how trivial the subject. It's as if our brain scales down until it finds something to obsess about.
Unfortunately I have reached a point in my present life where worrying is creeping up on me in spite of having a clear excuse (recovery from brain surgery) to not go to work for several months.I have very little which I am responsible for these days. I have been stymied in my goal to go out and shop for necessities like food, or fun things like home remodeling materials, since I have been told it's too early to drive. I have begun to plot how to overcome this prohibition. I think I will begin to walk to the nearby grocery store which I don't normally shop at because their prices are a little steep. (Ralph's) I should figure out the public bus system. In European cities I use them regularly. Somehow, here, I never have. I don't even know the bus routes or its cost! Anything I worry about now definitely falls into the category of "I need a life!" And while I find ample time to over-think the details of my sons' lives, I still haven't taken the time to figure out holiday gifts for everyone.