Yuko Okada
New Year's Resolution: That's the way 'twas done this time!
New year is the time for resolution. Year after year, I resolve to begin something new or change a habit or two. It goes well for January, everything is fresh and hopeful, then somehow the resolution seems to lose its exciting new look and evaporates into thin air…
Being a student of the Alexander Technique, I am resolved again this year, to tackle a habit, or at least to examine it.
"That's NOT the way!" , my critical mind protests when I see someone close to me, a family member for example, doing something wrong. Well, to be honest, I have to admit that s/he is not doing it wrong, but rather not doing it my way. For a perfectionist who gets a pleasure out of precision, an artwork hung 1/8" uneven causes a severe mental and sensory pain. In other words, it drives me crazy!
So, how to change the mental habit of saying "That's NOT the way!"? I cannot stop noticing how things are done around me. Dulling my senses or awareness is not the answer. How about replacing the thought with something more neutral and less judgmental? "That's the way 'twas done this time." It is a bit long, but I gave it a try.
I soon became aware that my old thought came to me instantaneously like an arrow of light. And, oh, how so difficult to catch it before it seizes me! It is no joke, it moves awfully fast! In order to replace it with a new sentence, I had to change my strategy.
Instead of remembering and saying the new 'mantra', which could never beat the old and powerful one, I began singing it in the tune of ' Here we go round the mulberry bush' 🎶 "That's the way 'twas done this time, done this time, done this time, that's the way 'twas done this time on a cold winter morning!…" and so on.
Well, it shifted my critical mind into a more playful one. When I manage to catch it at the entrance and sing it away, I sense a space opens us within and around me.
It has become an ongoing experiment and daily practice of self observation and inhibition. It is so intriguing to the point that I don't need entertainments, as I can entertain myself.
May your resolution be a happy one!
