Ways to Sharpen Your Wits

In one of my previous articles I promised to write about R n R or rest and recuperation which is what it stands for.  As a therapist, coach and trainer I love to hear and use metaphor to facilitate change in people.  A well crafted metaphor reaches our understanding on so many levels whilst at the same time allowing each one of us to decide how the metaphor relates to us and how it might help us in our quest of self actualisation.  Some years ago I ready a lovely story in a book the title of which I have forgotten.  I have looked for this story many times within the books that I have on my shelves but without finding the actual story.  Since I don’t want to be accused of plagiarism I will give you my abridged version below.

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A young man had a burning desire to work as a lumber jack. Unfortunately for him he did not have the build normally associated

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with lumber jacks, or tree fellers as they are now more commonly known.  Try as he might he could not get taken seriously and nobody would even give him an interview let alone take him on.

One day he managed, with his enthusiasm to convince the boss of a local lumber yard to give him a chance.  The boss stipulated that if he could match tree for tree one of his newest recruits that he would give him a job.

The young man arrived the next morning looking fresh and carrying his tool sack.  He rolled up his sleeves and began cutting down the trees on the plot that had been allocated.  The new recruit also began chopping and by mid morning they were neck and neck.  As the day wore on and got hotter the aspiring tree feller noticed that his rival was getting slightly ahead of him.  So when it came to take a break instead of eating lunch he continued to chop.  For a little while he got ahead but as the hot afternoon wore on it became apparent that he was behind and at close of day he had lost his bet.

The boss of the lumber yard felt sorry for the lad, but they had an agreement and he had not managed to keep up his end of the bargain.  The world of tree fellers is harsh and uncompromising. He bid the lad fair well and watched as he dejected walked out of the yard.  He felt so sorry for him that he couldn’t help passing on a little bit of advice to help him in his future quest.  He turned to the man and asked. “Hey fella, can you tell me….through out this whole day of sweatin’ and choppin’ why did it never occur to you…. just once ….to take time out and sharpen your axe.

You are not infinite energy

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In my line of work one way or another I deal with a lot of people who stressed out trying to juggle very busy lives and I often ask them how much time they allocate to their own rest, and recuperation.  The responses that I get a very telling because more often that not I hear that life is too busy to  rest, accompanied by a nervous laugh.  When I hear someone telling me this I ask them if they know where the root of the word discipline comes from.  People associate discipline with unpleasant things often; a visit to the headmaster, a brush with the police, overly strict parenting.  This sets up a mental barrier to the idea of discipline.  When I point out to them that the word discipline comes from the word disciple, which means to follow.   I often see the evidence in their expressions that the penny has dropped as soon as I tell them.  Taking care of yourself is not a luxury to be put off until tomorrow, or until all the work is done (as if it ever is). Taking care of yourself is a discipline that should

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be applied daily.  Sharpening your axe will sharpen your wits and protect you from burn out as well as helping you to maintain the energy to further those goals that you have set.   It allows you to distance yourself from the work and having done so will give you the opportunity to see more clearly what needs to bedone.  There are various ways to give your self a break. Go to a movie (we call it ‘the pictures’ where I come from) Wander around a car boot sale. Visit a friend, sit and play computer games if that is your thing.  Learn to dance or to play an instrument.  Go on! Treat yourself to a little bit of R n R.  If you get the chance to go for a walk take yourself outside, let the Schumann’s resonance do its work on you.    Ah yes,  the Schumann’s resonance later…more about that later.

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