Current Jedi Mind Tricks

I’ve been super busy lately, and when I’m busy, I typically have a hard time maintaining my emotional equilibrium. But that is the trick: remaining graceful under pressure. Recently, I’ve been using a few Jedi Mind Tricks I picked up in the Dagoba system. This was a long time ago, in galaxy far far away. Still, they’re not past their sell by date:

• There is nothing else. Remind yourself that there is nothing else out there you “should” be doing. This, whatever “this” is, is truly it. At least here and now. Like the weather, most things are transitory. For any one chunk of time, though, there is nothing else.
• What Am I telling myself? I was immured in a hard project the other day. By about 3:00 PM, I was tired. I heard the following phrase obtrude into my experience: “God, I’m fried.” I was telling myself that every few minutes. Why? As an experiment, I starting telling myself, “I’m a bit tired, but I can still do this.” After a bit, I didn’t feel fried.
• Take it Bird by Bird Yes, when I was in the Dagoba system, Master Lamott was there, too, and imparted this piece of wisdom. Other ways to say the same thing are “one step at a time,” “divide and conquer,” or “solve piecemeal.” Break off a junk of the problem, and nom nom nom on it until it’s done. Then move to the next piece. Nom nom nom. Repeat as necessary.
• Don’t Anthropomorphize People. Yes, it sounds a little weird, but I’ve found that when I think about people as animate objects, I enjoy them a lot more. I look at this object in front of me that’s making noises, gesticulating, smiling—whatever. It has things it wants and I have things I want from it. The more I think this way, the more I smile.