This is a reflection on balance. Anything in excess or applied at the wrong time or for the wrong reason can be detrimental. Excessive pleasure is dangerous. You can be too nice, too giving, too brave. Everything must be in balance. Just stay with me here.
One tool that I have developed for myself is the regular use of checklists. This is a useful tool for me in managing anxiety (and would be likely for others as well I bet). I always carry my short checklist of a dozen or so things in my wallet. That list includes things like wallet and keys and glasses as well as “correct shoes” and even “axe”. This is the list of essential things to remember to bring with me when I travel from our home to our trailer in the mountains (or vice versa). I split firewood at both locations; there is no need to alert the authorities! The last step before starting the car once it is all loaded and I’m ready to go is to pull out that little frayed folded piece of paper and physically touch each of the items in the car from it as I say things like “keys” and “phone”. I have forgotten to do this before when in a rush only to worry half-way home whether I put my wallet into my toiletries bag. That was un-fun.
I also have a checklist for shutting down the trailer before leaving, parts are printed in red that apply only in the cold off-season. This list really helps me not worry when the temperatures drop into the single digits up near the cabin whether I drained the plumbing or not. You may not need as many checklists or other tools, or you may benefit from more!
Another tool I use when I do heavy work like lugging around sheets of drywall is a lower back brace. With tools like this it is possibly easier to see the hidden downside of over reliance, or even of their use at all. If I did my sit-ups and pushups as I should, as I want to, as I don’t, I may not “need” the brace. The brace is helping reinforce bad habits of physical un-fitness and likely masking improper lifting techniques. One can only hoodwink nature so long with acetaminophen, back braces, and heating pads.
Sleeping aids and medicines of all kinds, spell-checkers, even seeking the council and support of friends or professionals. I am a huge advocate of professional counseling, it has massive benefits, but I would argue even it could possibly become a crutch for limited personal growth in some cases. How do we balance use with mis-use? How do we balance risk and benefit? This is the stuff of life.
Some of us likely lean towards use of tools and others away from their use. Each of us at any point in space-time would likely benefit from adjusting their use. But, I find, the most common blind spot is not in their overuse rather their under-use.
Of course, complicating all this is that we are human. Our identities and egos and all the rest of the gang in our heads and bodies are in constant change and in constant search of homeostasis or happiness or a warm bath. And all these entities are part of a living breathing evolving (yet continuously dying!) dynamic system of feedback loops, “virtuous” and “harmful” both. Too much pleasure masks its beauty, too much pain obscures the breaking sunrise. Balance, awareness, kindness, honesty, bravery, presence. It always circles back to presence.
lance, awareness, kindness, honesty, bravery, presence. It always circles back to presence.
