The daily transition from willful to non-willful activity

requires shifting into a relaxed state of receptivity in a welcoming setting.

The medical model of metabolism has been compiled from measurements of bodily functions. Food labels display a calculated calorie count, based on their fat and protein content. Muscles are contracted under laboratory conditions to measure the amount of blood glucose they consume. These results are then used to calculate calorie consumption. For example, using this method, you can eat a 150 calorie potato, walk around the block to work off 50 calories, and be presumed to have 100 more calories available. Of course, all of us can draw on our daily experience to see how incomplete this picture is. Mood, stress, one’s degree of commitment at the moment, these and other cognitive factors affect how we marshal our resources. I believe we need to seek a deeper explanation that incorporates these influences.

The great spiritual traditions of the East refer to prana or chi as a source of energy that sustains our presence. Meditation schools treat mindfulness as an exercise, a practice through which one gains the strength to remain focused. So with this in mind, I propose a new cognitive model of metabolism. The model I suggest includes our present state of awareness and considers how our ‘inner order’ influences the efficiency of the body’s energy consumption. In other words, the rate at which resources dissipate will encompass the great range of an individual’s internal climate, from feeling frantic and threatened, to remaining calm and attentive. We can, for instance, have a confrontation that lasts only minutes, but will drain us for the rest of the day. We can also work in a light-hearted manner for the whole day, and feel tired in a way that is not at all draining; rather it becomes a sense of contentment and completion that allows for deep rest.

Another assumption about metabolism is that energy consumption is determined by the effort the individual makes. Effort is, of course, a major factor. In general, the greater the challenge, the more energy we must give to bring the task to completion. But the rate of energy consumption also depends on how tired we are. This is because the will wears out. The will tires and becomes ineffective, just as our muscles do. We are beginning to understand that the body’s energy is not stored and released like a fuel tank. On the contrary, the degree of centered presence we maintain greatly determines the rate at which our bodily resources are consumed. How well we are able to focus on the task will have a lot to do with how fast we run out of energy.

As the day wears on, stress accumulates and with it, the distractions that interrupt our determination become more and more frequent. We lose focus, we become frustrated, and our drive for completion flags. This is because, as the cognitive model shows, it is our attention that contains and marshals our resources. Consequently, our energy flows out faster, as we tire, precisely because we lose our focus. Pulled off center as stress builds, our attention wavers, and so our will depletes rapidly. For this reason, we use energy at a faster rate in the latter part of the day. Each time our attention strays, we have to recover, refocus and then resume, all of which takes time and more energy. We grow tired, and then our attention strays more frequently, as we attempt to finish out the day. What this tells us is that, even more than the strength and endurance of our muscles, the will becomes depleted.

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So what does this cognitive model of metabolism tell us about recharging? If we know that remaining calm and attentive, that is centered and present, is how we can put the will to best use, how do we maintain our center during daily life? Of course, anything you can do to relieve stress, such as massage, soothing music, or relaxing with friends, will help when later turning to the task at hand. The problem, for most of us, is that our experience of deliberate choosing has mostly remained in the realm of willful activities. Since we don’t acknowledge the need to relax the will, we don’t think about making an active transition into non-doing activity. Instead, we simply ‘relax’ into familiar pastimes, often producing stress, because the will continues to engage. When we recognize how ineffective the will becomes with poor energy management, we realize that our daily transition holds the key to sustaining our bodily resources.

The need to actively manage our energy is most easily discovered when we self-reflect on the quality of our daily experience. Are you able to fully engage the events of the day? Or do challenges overtake you and create frustration? Are you content with the quality of the relationships in your life? Are you able to interact in a relaxed and open way in the company of family and friends? Or are you too tired or out of sorts to enjoy such moments? When we examine our daily work habits, we notice certain activities that we routinely gravitate toward at the end of our workday. Since the efficiency of our daily energy use depends on the way we transition from work to play, the quality time we have for ourselves and our family is a major influence on our workday. This is not evident, because, we do not typically recognize when we are using our will. We don’t give much thought to what is, or is not, a willful activity, during our daily tasks. In the evening, we also don’t really think about how to relax. We just follow the habits we have formed in our adult life, often following the cultural tradition of our family.

Many people make the transition from the day’s activities into an evening’s relaxation with a cocktail, others workout at the gym, or swim. Performed in an offhand manner, such activities yield partial results. A great deal of our potential can be unlocked by being mindful of the way we transition into the evening. That transition is so important, because it will determine how restful the evening becomes, and so how replenished we feel the next day. Yet we give this daily transition so little thought. If, for instance, a family traditionally shares a meal together, and that meal is usually a place of good cheer and relaxation, then this has become an effective way for them to manage the day’s transition. Look at the way you transition from your workday, and consider how rested you feel the next morning. The cognitive model of metabolism strongly indicates that we need to make our daily transition into non-willful activity as deliberately as possible. This may be easier than it seems, once we realize that we are only managing the transition, not the entire evening.

There are a host of activities we can engage to help us switch from willful engagement into will-released following. There is, however, one activity that is made for this purpose, and it has been rediscovered over many centuries, as various cultures have searched for tools to help regulate the energy that gave them life. Many traditions teach that some form of meditation will help to regulate their energy. Unlike the monk on a mountaintop, however, we are not talking about a career of meditation, and we are not concerned here with the spiritual aspects of these traditions. Rather, we are interested in using it as a tool to regulate our daily transition from doing into non-doing. There are a host of different techniques that we may draw on for this purpose. We are looking for something that will lead us into a habit of better rest at night, followed by better focus the next day. Regulating our daily transition into non-willful activity can be accomplished with as little as a twenty-minute commitment. The following is a guided meditation that I have used to great effect, because it is specifically framed to optimize a practical exercise of daily energy management. It is a small tool that, consistently applied, has the potential to yield great results. I hope you find the effect to be as welcoming as I have.

Preparation: releasing the momentum of achievement

Many meditation practices include specific instructions for how to sit, how to breathe, and what to accomplish with your mind. The framing of this session, however, is a freeform, intuitive occupation of inner-awareness. Prepare by accepting that your workday is now complete. Then find a place where you will be uninterrupted, deliberately enter this space, and make yourself comfortable. Lastly, set your alarm, so you will have no need to look at the clock.

Fullness: completion in the timeless moment

Now you can begin. Accept this place, your present state of mind, and this moment, just as they are. This time is for you alone. This vessel of your conveyance is without description, so you are undisturbed by expectations. Expectations were part of the workday. Let them fall away for now. This expansive sense of inner awareness manifests without form. With the freedom we are now allowing for ourselves, there is no striving. You cannot, in fact, do this wrong. So just forget it. Just don’t try… a vacation from trying. Inside of this letting go we discover deep rest. Stay here. You own this space. It will always be yours. As you sit quietly, let your feelings come to the surface. Take your time. The day is over, and so the rush is over. You made it, and now you are here. As your feelings become apparent, breathe in this flow of sensation and accept it, without description, without blame, without thought, taking in the experience of the unfolding moment… just as it is. These feelings are yours. They are alright to have; and you are alright to have them. As you accept this tide of inner awareness, let the breath in gently, and allow this opportunity to relax even more. Everything is alright, right now, just as it is. As you accept this, it stops being a ‘truth’, and starts being an event of rejuvenation. This sense of revitalization is the experience we come into through our acceptance. Allow yourself to embody acceptance.

(ring, ring: alarm sounds completion of the session)

Transition: shifting into the quality time of light hearted interaction

When the alarm rings, don’t rush to turn it off, just reach over quietly and do so. Don’t jump up. Settle in just now, and remember the completeness of this moment. As you get up from your meditation, consciously participate now in this side of your transition. This is you, when you are off-duty. Easy does it. You have been rushing into the world all day. This evening, now that your transition has been made, the world will come to you. So sit back, breath into the stillness that is the center of your being, and allow the world to touch you. Notice that your relationship to feeling itself has now shifted. Feelings are welcome now, not impinging. Sounds, movements and encounters of the mind no longer press us, they merely meet our touch. Accept the depth of feelings that compose this sense of aliveness. This sense-memory will be vital in your transition. If you experience a jolt of compulsion to act during this evening, use this sense-memory as a guide for your safe return to non-doing. As you follow into the rest of your evening, expect this experience to culminate in your deep rest tonight and with refreshment for the day ahead, a day that will bring challenges that are exciting, because you shall hold the task willingly with focus and resolve.

If you find this meditation helpful, you may become encouraged into a consistent practice. When the benefits of practice are experienced firsthand, a better understanding of how metabolism replenishes us will follow. It is not the twenty-minutes of breathing, accepting, and calming that should be looked after. Pay attention to the overall transition you are making from doing into non-doing. Start to accept that you can arrange for your own revitalization through mindful practice. That realization will solidify your practice more than anything, because it proves that we have the freedom to come home, within ourselves.

What has been briefly outlined here can be applied in any number of ways. If your work is not an eight-hour, dayshift job, but occurs without a fixed schedule, this method will work for you, too. The important thing is to accept responsibility for creating your transition on a daily basis. The method and effectiveness of our daily shift into non-doing holds the key to health. In general, managing our bodily resources will greatly improve the quality of our lives. The issue here is not simply whether you are interested in meditation or not.

Too often, meditation is associated with an esoteric tradition that is mysterious to most of us. It sounds vaguely good, but do I really picture making time for this regularly? After all, how do I fit another activity into an already overloaded schedule? It seems that most of us are operating from an assumption that even if we do everything we can in one day, it never is enough. So how can I relax? The answer may seem surprising. Real relaxation, the kind that leads to deep appreciation, and the best sleep, is restorative. Only through acknowledging the need to relax the will, every day, does one begin to make choices that lead to a sustainable lifestyle. This is a lifestyle that does a great deal more than just keep you going, but one that allows for a full blossoming of genuine aliveness.