Doing What Needs To Be Done

I started my day a little discombobulated. What to do and how to get it done? Then I thought about the basic tenets of Morita Therapy, a Japanese psychotherapy that draws heavily from Zen Buddhism: Accept your feelings. Know your purpose. Do what needs to be done.

I then proceeded to perform a myriad of mundane tasks that needed to be done. I washed, dried, folded, and put away clothes; made mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and green beans for lunch and for a few meals to come; treated my dogs for ear mites (which caused them to look at me with a mixture of confusion and unhappiness); dyed my hair (no, that dark brown is no longer my natural color); boxed up and mailed a watch we sold on eBay, looked over bills; sent out billing for my students; emailed people in reference to my business, Ray’s business and church business; tidied up my house, went to the grocery for a few necessities; and talked to Ray, who is in Texas.

Now it’s mid-afternoon and my students have begun to arrive. I will be busy until 7. After that, I am going to a writing group at 7:30. (Oh, I also made sure I had some work I could take to my writing group, which I luckily did.)

The tenets of Morita Therapy are good for moving forward and not getting stuck. They are based on not giving feelings an unnecessary amount of credence. Accept whatever they are, remind yourself what needs attending to in your life, and attend to it. Period.

That generally is a good approach to living for me on a day-to-day basis, to keep my life and mood on track.

Enough said.