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Each Next Thing

barbara bates • Sep 19, 2019

How to know what to do next

A few years ago I had some serious surgery from which, thankfully, I seem to have completely recovered. It was, paradoxically, in some ways a time of peacefulness, and that little phrase 'Each Next Thing' kept popping into my mind, and still does. To quote the film 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', I thought to myself, this must mean something!

I'm usually very busy, fully occupied and always Doing Useful Things. At that time, I just couldn't, and I had to slow down and accept it. Then I found this to be a blessing all of its own. I would notice things more, now that I wasn't whizzing past at the speed of light. It was like getting out of my great big fast car and ambling along my the roadside. Or even better, getting on your bike and getting fit as well, as my cyclist hubby would say.

So I would go, Ah! I am awake. Right. Have a cup of tea. Get showered and dressed. Do my prayers and mindfulness. Go and get breakfast. See to the laundry. Think what we'll have for dinner. See if I need to contact anyone. Practice my recorder scales and that really hard arrangement of Bach's Second Violin Partita....each of these things being done one at a time, slowly and with presence.

If I didn't know what Each Next Thing was, I would just sit there and 'be' for a bit until I did know. Sometimes there not being a Next Thing was actually the Next Thing. So I would sit some more. 

Reflecting back on this now, I see how valuable this still is - concentrating on what I am actually doing now. My studies with Sarah McKay of the Neuroscience Academy have taught me more about why this is so important. For example, we can only do one thing at once; if we think we are multi-tasking we're not, we're switching our attention and depleting our mental reserves pretty quickly!

So, Each Next Thing. In this moment, what's yours? 
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