Asceticism - Secular & Spiritual

     "The word 'asceticism' comes from the Greek term askesis, which originally referred to training athletes. If you want to win the race, you've got to train; you've got to look at your exercise regime. You've got to look at your diet and your sleep, and conduct, because if you don't, you're not going to win the race. So the asceticism an athlete undertakes depends upon putting some other things aside. If you want to be a doctor, you've got to go through the mill of medical training, working a hundred hours or more a week as a junior doctor, being tested under grueling conditions so you can become a healer. That enormous degree of renunciation, which involves laying aside other interests and concerns, is completely accepted by society. If we aspire to the spiritual version of that same kind of training in order to realize our potential, we have to prioritize the way we spend our time and where we put our energy."
     Ajahn Amaro

Steve McCurry   http://stevemccurry.com/

Enthusiasm, Energy, Zest for Life - What does all that Mean?

     We think of having enthusiasm, vitality, "a real zest for life" as equivalent to being perfectly well-adjusted, healthy and happy. But the sobering fact is that more often than not, we feel less than enthusiastic about things as they are. Why? Is this depression - something wrong with me?
     As we mature, we naturally transition through very different priorities - what made us happy (or sad) when we were 5, may have the opposite effect of us now, and vice versa. So our requirements for meaningful fulfillment continuously change, becoming deeper, more nuanced & expansive - a gradual shift from egocentricity ("me, myself and I") towards allocentricity & ecocentricity (the biggest picture we're able to engage). This is normal, healthy maturation - don't try to medicate it away - celebrate it, investigate it!

     See also: http://healthyhealers.blogspot.ca/search?q=chasing

 

Massimo Ripani   http://travel.nationalgeographic.com

Prioritization, Balance, Towards Living an Undivided Life

     The documented decline in idealism, and increase in cynicism, during dental & medical training is blamed primarily on heavy workloads.

     “Task saturation” refers to high-pressure situations, in which pilots must suddenly cope with so many things at once, that they lose their ability to prioritize, with potentially dire consequences. I first heard this aviation term in relation to the 2009 helicopter crash off Newfoundland, during which 17 people died. "Rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic" refers to task saturation. 

     We in health care are exposed to versions of task saturation, starting in university. Like overwhelmed pilots, we may take our focus off what's important without even realizing it. Because there’s so much to learn, we tend to ignore personal wellness / work-life balance during our studies. Then training is immediately followed by the rush to establish a career, start a family etc. By this time, a goal-oriented, workaholic lifestyle is solidly established. Personal wellness and work-life balance too often languish on the back burner - until we “crash”.

     It's wise and healthy to periodically reassess our lives and reset age- & life-stage-appropriate priorities. Everything around us is changing constantly. We need to check in with ourselves from time to time and re-vision where we are, what we're doing, how we're doing it, even why we're doing it. All of these are constantly changing as well. To lead an "undivided life", our outer life needs to be heading in the same direction to which our inner compass is pointing.

    Many of us "will never retire. I wouldn't know what to do with myself!" Some retire, then quickly go back to work - or - quickly die. Many others "are busier than ever" after retirement. Let's face it, most of us are like the old donkey that spent it's whole life walking in a circle, pushing a pole to pull water up from a deep well. When it was deemed too old to work and set loose by it's owner, the old donkey walked in a circle till it dropped dead. Donkeys are not alone in suffering from a lethal lack of imagination!
     See also: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/11/432-i-try-and-i-try-but-i-cant-get-no.html