finding no-purpose in work
Apr. 15th, 2002 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iamomSome days I really have to steel myself for my work day. I'm one of those people who often feels a tugging at the sleeve while working; it's like there's someone at my elbow saying, "Isn't there something more important you're supposed to be doing right now?" When I was younger, that voice would be really loud and bratty: "Hey! This task isn't worthy of you! You should be somewhere else, helping people and becoming enlightened!" Now, the voice is a lot quieter, and usually just asks simple questions: "Will what you're working on right now make a difference? Is it important for you to be doing that? Is it the right time to be working on that, given the circumstances surrounding that task at the present moment?"
Timing is everything, isn't it? I always feel like I can see solutions to problems at work and in society, and I feel a drive to try to solve them. Whenever I encounter an inefficient or ill-advised process at work, I usually want to try and fix it, changing it for "the better." However, I'm getting better at recognizing the fact that even those problems which seem to require solutions are really no different than any other experience or thought that might arise. Acknowledging that what I perceive to be a problem is just another way of looking at the same reality, helps me to accept the "problem" as part of the same piece of fabric, and allows me to forget about trying to solve it.
At least for a little while. For me, this cycle of problem-identification and problem-resolution is just the way my mind seems to operate. Letting go of the desire to see the problem resolved is far more important than discovering the correct solution to the problem. At least, that's the way it works best for me. Focusing too much on finding solutions to perceived problems generates little but excess anxiety in the active mind.
Timing is everything, isn't it? I always feel like I can see solutions to problems at work and in society, and I feel a drive to try to solve them. Whenever I encounter an inefficient or ill-advised process at work, I usually want to try and fix it, changing it for "the better." However, I'm getting better at recognizing the fact that even those problems which seem to require solutions are really no different than any other experience or thought that might arise. Acknowledging that what I perceive to be a problem is just another way of looking at the same reality, helps me to accept the "problem" as part of the same piece of fabric, and allows me to forget about trying to solve it.
At least for a little while. For me, this cycle of problem-identification and problem-resolution is just the way my mind seems to operate. Letting go of the desire to see the problem resolved is far more important than discovering the correct solution to the problem. At least, that's the way it works best for me. Focusing too much on finding solutions to perceived problems generates little but excess anxiety in the active mind.
