Monday 29 June 2015

How can I beat procrastination?

Indeed a question to many.

Have you ever paid attention to what is it that you shift to the future? Do you shift that to the future, which is really important, really enjoyable?

No, we shift to the future something which is not useful.

Understand this. Procrastination is nothing but the postponement of misery. ‘If I do it  right now, I will feel miserable.’ So I somehow try to escape by sending  the thing into the future.

If you find  yourself procrastinating a lot of times, if you find that you have fixed  a schedule for yourself and you can’t stick to it, then that is a clear  indicator that you have filled up your life with miserable tasks. Then  it is a clear indication that the climate in the mind is that of  suffering and irritation.

One does not postpone joy. One does not postpone freedom and love. One only postpones suffering. And that is procrastination.

Kindly do not think that procrastination  is about laziness. We often think that lazy people procrastinate. No,  it’s not about laziness. It’s about the climate of the suffering mind.  You want to escape the misery, so you are sending it away. You are  saying it need not happen right now, it must happen at some other time.

So let’s not ask, ‘How to end  procrastination?’ Let’s simply relate to the question of living in a  way, in which there is no need to procrastinate, in which the very  thought of procrastination does not arise. Can one live in that way? Is  that kind of a mind possible?

Procrastination is always about the  future. Procrastination means something apart from this moment. A  mind that is immersed in the present will not procrastinate. And a mind  that is continuously thinking of the future, will do nothing but  procrastinate. 

This question is a very good opportunity to find out  whether that kind of living is possible. And if it is not possible, then  you are saying, ‘Life must be hell. Life must remain hell. There is no other option available. I have  given up. I am dead.’ I hope we are not as dead as somebody who has surrendered to such a defeat.  That is what is meant by awareness. 

Awareness is not some magical  trick. Awareness is just about looking at your daily actions and seeing,  ‘this is my life.’ And what  you do from morning till evening, is life. If your life is full of  delays, procrastinations, gossips, worries, tensions, then that is what  you are living. Nothing good can come out of this kind of climate.

Misery begets misery. Miserable decisions  will lead to more miserable decisions. As is the seed, so is the fruit.  You will have to look at the seed. That’s extremely important. Find out  what is it that you will not try to procrastinate and give more of that  to yourself. Find out what is it that you do  not want to procrastinate and give more of that to yourself. Allow  yourself to have more of that.

And whenever the mind wants to defer  something, wants to send it to the future, then ask the mind, ‘What is  it that you are not liking? What exactly are you not liking?’ 'Why are you sending this away to future?  It’s a bad treatment that you are giving me.’

Procrastination is like saying, ‘Don’t  get hurt today, get hurt tomorrow.’ But ultimately you are admitting  that hurt is inevitable. Today or tomorrow it will happen. Instead of  this kind of a dejected surrender, ask, ‘Is it really inevitable? Why  don’t I like something? Why don’t I like anything? Why is it so that I  feel bored always?’

You are talking of procrastination  probably with respect to some activity. But ask yourself, ‘Is there  anything that I would rather not procrastinate?’ Given the opportunity,  we would not do anything. Just send off everything to future. Nothing  matters. There is nothing in life that is important because we have  actually never found anything which is important. That’s true. That’s  just true.

Find out that to which you can dance. Find out that which you can do even without being paid. I am not saying  that don’t get paid. But find that out which you can do even without  being paid. Find out a loving way of life.One never procrastinates  love.

Otherwise you are asking for a very miserable, very dreary existence. Don’t do that.

RS

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