Nov 11 2013

Tracey Jackson

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Bravery, Freedom, Guides, Hanging In There, Happiness, Living Fully, Mindfulness, Patience

LET IT BE or SOMETIMES DOWN DOG IS ENOUGH

LET IT BE or SOMETIMES DOWN DOG IS ENOUGH

Sometimes in life you just have to let things be.  Now, this is not always easy for me and for many it’s often easier said than done. It’s a topic we address here are at Gratitude and Trust from time to time.  But last week I was blown away by an example that I just had to share.

I tend to be a serious type A. I worry when I’m not accomplishing and doing, and I have the not so attractive habit of sometimes looking over my shoulder to see who might be coming up behind me, or doing better than I am.  I can very seldom just “let it be.”  Though when I do great things often come to pass.   Letting go is something I need to practice with – a  vengeance.

I have a friend, who by his own admission, is a bit neurotic. He blogs about it on his site Elephant Bucks. He is my friend Sheldon.

He wrote a blog last month about how he was having the year of doing nothing.  He was going to yoga class each day. He was only writing when he wanted to write and if he wanted to write. He was not seeking it out per se.

Now for Sheldon this is unusual.  He has had a long and successful career as a TV writer.  He has written plays and films.

He has had enough success that he didn’t have to work.  But a time came last year, when he and his wife scaled down, sold their big house and decided to live with a bit less.

Like many of us in TV and film when Sheldon got to a certain age he did not work as much. He has been very honest about this as well.

His nature has always been to write and accomplish something even if he was not being hired. Sheldon is a writer, a good writer and he writes.  He has written books about writing. He is being given an honor in NY next month for being a playwright. Sheldon just writes.

So, I was very surprised when I read he was just doing his yoga and taking life a day at a time. He wasn’t stressing. He was just being.

Now you have to know Sheldon, Sheldon can stress, in fact the two of together send out so much stressful energy at times, if it was possible to convert that into electricity you could light up San Diego for a week.

I wrote him an email and I commented on his blog, I said “You must write. You are too good to not write.”  I butted my big, Type A nose into his year of happily doing nothing but yoga.

How could my partner in mania be chilling while I was busy working three jobs and stressing?

He wrote back and said he was happy.  If just doing his yoga poses was it for the day, he was fine. If he read and chilled and wrote his blog when the mood struck, he might.  If he had an urge to write a film, he might just do that. But then again he might not. He was just being.

OK, hard to argue it. But I think I chimed in with one more “You’ve got to use your talents.” Why? Really?  Does one need to do something just because one has done it for years or is good at it?

Leaving the big empty, white space can be scary, but it leaves the door open for so many things.

Sheldon was fine with that

Two days ago I emailed him about something else and he said he was really busy, he is working fulltime on staff at the show MOM.  He is back in the biz on a daily basis.

While he was chilling someone decided to bring him back on staff. He didn’t seek it. He didn’t stress it. I think if you asked him he might have said he could never see himself doing that again.

But by releasing all of it, it just arrived when he was deeply in Down Dog.

He just let it be and then it was. It’s a fine line between just being a sack of potatoes and not doing anything and taking a break while the next act is getting cast.  That is wise. That is patience and that is trust.

A lesson for us all.

Wonder if he is missing his yoga practice?

 

Tracey Jackson

Tracey Jackson is a screenwriter and blogger at traceyjacksononline.com. Her book Gratitude and Trust is now available.