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Every Friday, I discuss what I learned that week. Lost? Read the archives.
This week, I realized how important it is to have a serene social life.
A friend blew up at me last weekend. It was over me asking her to be quiet in a movie theater. Yes, I kid you not. Most likely, she was simmering on something else, and took any excuse she could find. There are more details, but this blog is about magick, so I’ll leave it at that.
For most of the week, I didn’t have the focus for much magick. I did some healing work on myself, the calming effect we’ve talked about. I did some manifesting. I wrote a little. But I didn’t really accomplish anything.
Working in an office, there’s a social structure to force you to work. It also has busywork for you to do when you can’t focus. My magick practice has neither.
Smaller versions of this have come up before. A lover who gets upset over small things, a friend constantly in trouble. In the past, I’ve only been unfocused for one day at a time, so I’ve ignored it. But those days add up. And I’m seeing the difference between a friend who needs some support, vs a friend who takes their stress and unhappiness out on you.
Four years ago, I chose a career path offering lots of free time, so I could focus on magick. Now I’m realizing, I also need to choose a serene social life, surrounding myself with calm people. It’s the only way I’ll accomplish what I want to with magick.
(Friday, I also learned more fundamental skills for the sensation technique. I’ll post about those next week.)
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Yes, this. Too much frenetic activity can really do the damage, and it accumulates sneakily in a way you might not notice. You just get a bit ‘clumsier’, a bit less focused, and so on, less effective.
Those days do add up. As do days that are non-constructive. Sit about for too many days, and that becomes 10 years.
Aside: I’m interested, what do you do in terms of ‘keeping focused’ on things? Do you set goals, follow progress, or go for a more always listen to your intuition approach?
I track progress. I have 3 notepad files. One is my daily notes, what I’ve learned or tried or whatever, so I can refer back to it later. The second is a summary of what I’ve done each day, with a list of questions and things to look into that grows faster than it shrinks. The third takes those summaries and organizes them by month and year, so I can get a big picture of my progress. That third one is important — I often feel like I’m going so slowly, then realize that the techniques I struggled with 2 months ago are easy today, and feel much better.
Thanks for the link, and the good term, non-constructive.
Interesting. I definitely need to be more organised. I’ve been doing everything as iPad notes, plus linked entries in calendars, but it’s got messy quickly. Time to revisit.
I heartily recommend the related book. All about keeping focused, practical, regardless of circumstance, in the real world.
To become impervious to emotional interferences, we can physically or mentally “zip up” our central meridian (which is like an antenna that channels other people’s thoughts and energies into us)
Here’s the technique:
http://www.yangtown.com/inner-game/how-to-build-non-reactive-emotional-strength-using-the-zip-up/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLOPwk8_TGw
That’s interesting. In the example also, simply imagining a boundary or a bubble between you and the person can work nicely, to “reduce your noticeability” or vulnerability in situations when they suddenly arise on you. I’ve never thought about doing a practice to get in such a state in advance. (Although I try generally to stay ‘lower-centred’.)
Similar to the ‘invisibility’ spell that was around a few years ago: essentially, shut down or reduce yourself from ‘broadcasting’. It works pretty well (although, like, not for cameras and stuff, but people are less likely to point one in your direction in the first place).