clevermanka (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
clevermanka) wrote2012-01-06 11:16 am
clevermanka) wrote2012-01-06 11:16 am
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I've kinda gotten used to this three-day weekend thing. Adjusting to the normal schedule of the coming week is gonna suck. We get one more three-day weekend for MLK day, though, and I'm going to take at least the Monday of my birthday week off. So...three three-day weekends in January? Not bad.
And very necessary since I won't get another vacation opportunity until March. After that, I won't get a chance for more than one or two days off at a time because once April hits, I'm into my second-busiest time of year (at least as far as my Real Job is concerned). Come May, things are coming down to crunch-time for the CSSF Summer stuff, and then June and July is the CSSF Summer stuff, then the new grad students get here in August. September and October are a blur because of KCRF and then whoa it's November and application season starts up again and then it is 2013 Holy Shit People This Is My Life.
O_O
At least I get to leave work at the end of the day and rarely do I take anything home. Very Good.
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ms_danson posted an inspiring notion yesterday that I'd like to share with my circle here:
"Practicing the skills I want to have."
The skills in question are people skills and emotional management skills. I've been trying to avoid reacting and switch my mind into the meta-game mental space of "how would I act if I had these skills". This changes things around a bit. Instead of thinking "you fucking bastard" and just getting angry or acting out; I think "what outcome do I want" and "how do I act in order to encourage this outcome".
To make it clear: this is a brain hack I'm doing on myself to change my own behaviour to something more desirable to me.
Isn't that a great way to approach something you don't really want to do? It goes along well with the idea that willpower is a muscle that we can use only as much as it's exercised appropriately. With that in mind, I am going to start pretending that I am a full-time professional dancer and behaving as such. Well, you know. To a point. I'll skip the anorexia and chain-smoking (delightful as that might sound). But choosing to exercise before indulging in evening wine? Mostly, yes. Saying no to fruit--which I know causes insulin spikes and weight gain? Mostly, yes.
New approach to self-improvement: Go!
I love how the tags to this entry are paired opposites.
And very necessary since I won't get another vacation opportunity until March. After that, I won't get a chance for more than one or two days off at a time because once April hits, I'm into my second-busiest time of year (at least as far as my Real Job is concerned). Come May, things are coming down to crunch-time for the CSSF Summer stuff, and then June and July is the CSSF Summer stuff, then the new grad students get here in August. September and October are a blur because of KCRF and then whoa it's November and application season starts up again and then it is 2013 Holy Shit People This Is My Life.
O_O
At least I get to leave work at the end of the day and rarely do I take anything home. Very Good.
ms_danson posted an inspiring notion yesterday that I'd like to share with my circle here:"Practicing the skills I want to have."
The skills in question are people skills and emotional management skills. I've been trying to avoid reacting and switch my mind into the meta-game mental space of "how would I act if I had these skills". This changes things around a bit. Instead of thinking "you fucking bastard" and just getting angry or acting out; I think "what outcome do I want" and "how do I act in order to encourage this outcome".
To make it clear: this is a brain hack I'm doing on myself to change my own behaviour to something more desirable to me.
Isn't that a great way to approach something you don't really want to do? It goes along well with the idea that willpower is a muscle that we can use only as much as it's exercised appropriately. With that in mind, I am going to start pretending that I am a full-time professional dancer and behaving as such. Well, you know. To a point. I'll skip the anorexia and chain-smoking (delightful as that might sound). But choosing to exercise before indulging in evening wine? Mostly, yes. Saying no to fruit--which I know causes insulin spikes and weight gain? Mostly, yes.
New approach to self-improvement: Go!
I love how the tags to this entry are paired opposites.
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There is a difference between thinking something and FEELING something and acting out on it. I can get hella pissed off, and not act out. Maybe I'm saying the same thing with different words, though.
Well, now that I'm sitting with it, I think that "what outcome do I want" is NEVER why I act or don't act.
I don't think there is anything wrong with getting angry or being annoyed. I think that anger is an appropriate human response to injustice, for example. Maybe it would be more my style to feel that anger, NOTICE it, think about what it means, then try to let it go.
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Well, yes. Obviously. But this isn't about other people's actions and behaviors. It's about our actions (or, rather, my actions). This isn't about evaluating anyone. It's purely internal.
I agree that there's nothing inherently wrong with anger, but look at the wording of her example: just getting angry or acting out. Just being angry, without letting the anger motivate you toward a healthy solution isn't helpful. Neither is acting out ("acting out" being a much different animal than "action").
Keep in mind, this isn't a philosophy or manifesto. This is a brain hack to trick ourselves into different behaviors. Willpower not working? Try a game of make-believe!