I’m sitting on the floor mat made of twigs and thread; and as I’m writing this, my gluteus muscles are screaming in discomfort. Every half an hour or an hour, I look to my left and talk to the plants, in the little indoor garden I’ve created in my room. I never saw my room from this angle ever before, because there used to be a low cabinet in this space. It didn’t take much effort to be honest. I just had to sit with the furniture and decide if I needed a few things it kept; if I was still using the things or just hoarding them. I can only say that the scanning was totally worth the effort because now my room feels so much more like me. More oxygen. More space. More learning.
Altering my physical space, I usually find a lot of clarity. Here are a few tricks that I learnt; in all this, rearranging and cleaning of drawers—
- Have limited things and keep it spacious. If you have lesser things you’ll be able to find everything inside. Ask yourself “Do I need this?” —(Start being more aware of the b.s. thoughts that are cramming your mind-space. Ask yourself “Why do I have this thought and how is it helping?”)
- Rearrange the physical things; more organized; compartments and slots for everything. —(Time slots for thoughts—Not more than 5 min over a silly argument).
- Keep the most used stuff in the most accessible spot—(Same as giving priority to your main thoughts)
Last week I spoke about how we learn narratives and form beliefs of what every relationship entitles you to. To change these narratives what does one have to do?— (find on Real Talk Monday on my Instagram page @mycoffeeweather).
Today’s Topic is—‘UNLEARNING’.
For the longest of time we have been taught ‘how to’, ‘what to’, ‘when to’, and ‘From whom to’ learn, and everything is focused on learning. What about UNLEARNING? The story of the Zen master asking his student to empty his cup to learn more, —was he supposed to figure out on his own, how to unlearn?
All the information available to us is using up mind space. Every experience, conversation and observation creates thoughts and they are getting saved in our minds. In one part of our country it’s learnt, not to burp loudly and in other parts burping is a sign of a hearty meal. In one part of the world greeting ‘Good morning’ to everyone you meet, is normal; while in some its considered creepy. Different cultures, locations and societies teach differently and that makes it all the more important to unlearn.
Other than time for cleaning, the lockdown got me used to working out at home. For warm up, I usually run up and down the staircase. Today, I randomly stepped down backwards from the terrace down, instead of the regular way. Basically, imagine a rewind video of someone going up the stairs. It’s fine if you step down at a slow pace; but it took some effort, concentration and balance to do it at a normal pace. I just figured something as simple as a staircase can be challenging if we use it differently. If we changed the way we see it, different from how we know it. Everything we have learnt can be unlearned, if we just do it differently.
(Okay Wait… let me sprawl on the bed and continue writing this article… since my gluteus have given up now).
The new view is gone; the greenery is near my feet now and my shoulders are back at getting strained. It’s so easy to go back to your old comforts right? Even if we realize and know our pattern of thinking; even after knowing that it is not good for us— we cannot help but go back. This is exactly the point where you’ll be separated from people who change versus the ones who don’t.
(Okay! ….Slithering out of bed, back to the floor.)
It won’t be uncomfortable forever when you unlearn something, so get back in the game!
That’s all there is to unlearning. It’s keeping whatever you know aside and willingly moving towards discomfort. Writing something on a new blackboard with chalk is easy, but when we have to erase it with the duster it takes some effort. That feeling of a clean slate to start over again is priceless though. Keeping that in mind, watch what thoughts your chalking; and if you think burping is uncouth; try burping loudly once!
The last post was a Story “The Chest full of Nothings“