There is a popular superstition in some villages in India. As soon as the sun sets, the villagers fear that ghosts and demons will come to their homes. So in order to save themselves, they have a sign painted in red at the door that reads "Naale Baa," meaning "Come Tomorrow." The idea is that, on seeing the message, the ghosts and demons will know that they are supposed to visit this house the next day. But as tomorrow never comes, neither do the demons! Isn't that wonderful?
But in your life, for all those things that are essential, you have put up a "Come Tomorrow" sign, too. Whether it is about working, exercising or even practicing yoga for inner peace, the sign will still say "Come Tomorrow." This "tomorrow" is a deep trick of the mind. In the morning, if your mind says, "I will not get up and do yoga," your ego will then say, "How can you not do it? You must do it." A feeling of guilt sets in, so the mind very cleverly says, "Let's do it tomorrow." Tomorrow is always a good day, isn't it? But when you say "tomorrow," everything is over, as tomorrow never comes.
Tomorrow is the biggest demon in your life; this is what the rural wisdom is trying to say. Most of your life and energies are spent on a tomorrow that never comes in your experience of life. Tomorrow is an idea for which we must plan, but we can never live it. Whatever you need to do and experience in your life, you can only experience it today. You never experience tomorrow; it is just your imagination, and yesterday is only your memory.
So exorcising this demon from your life is a spiritual process in that you begin to live your life, not just imagine your life. What happens tomorrow is essentially created today with the right kind of thought, emotions and actions. If you wish to do anything, whether it concerns your internal or external well-being, creating the necessary atmosphere is a must. Whether you want to run a business or lead a peaceful family life, maintain perfect health or a peaceful state of mind, unless you create the necessary atmosphere, there is no prospect of things happening well.
There were four friends who tried their hands at several businesses, but no matter what they did, their business ended up in failure. Then one of them suggested that they buy a car and start a taxi service. They somehow managed to buy an old cab and parked it at the train station, but no customers came. Then they moved to the bus stand, but still no customers. Then they drove all over the city, yet they couldn't find a single customer. Do you know why? Simply because all four were sitting in the car!
They had the desire to run a business, and they wished for the business to be successful, too. But with the way they went about it, would they ever be successful? In the same way, whatever you want in life, if you do not understand what is needed and do exactly that, you will only end up doing some work in the end, but there is little chance of reaping any fruit.
If you want to wake up early and do yoga, you have to understand what kind of atmosphere is needed. If you eat an entire pizza at 10:00 at night and plan to do yoga at dawn, your body will say, "Shut up and sleep!" But if you eat earlier and a little bit less, your body will awaken at dawn. And in the morning, if you take a cold shower, your body will say, "You can do yoga."
You have to create the necessary ambience to do what is needed. If you create the resolve in your mind and the necessary settings for the body, you will be eager to do any activity you set for yourself. If you continue doing it for a few days and start reaping the benefits, then there will be no need for anyone to remind you to do it. You will do it all by yourself.
A tomorrow does not fall upon you. Tomorrow is created today. If you exorcise this demon from your life, then your life will come alive in many ways.
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Outer Child – the hidden nemesis whose acts of self-subterfuge interfere in our daily lives – shuns today, that is, accept when it comes to satisfying its incessant need for immediate gratification. Then its policy is all about TODAY: Eat cake today, diet tomorrow; shop today, save tomorrow.
Outer avoids consciousness – refuses to “be in the now†in any conscious sense and prefers instead to remain unconscious by numbing itself with overeating, over sleeping, over shopping, over drinking – whatever it can to deaden the moment of NOW. Outer revels in putting off, until TOMORROW, the constructive, consciousness-enhancing stuff you know is good for you.
Also thinking is more likely to produce a fearful state in me, while feeling makes me feel loving and allowing of sweet energy to flow through me . . . more in contact with my body and grounded.
Sonia Choquette often encourages people to get out of their minds and into their hearts, saying the mind gives you "lions and tigers and bears" and the heart lets you "trust .. breathe . . follow."
I've had some luck going from my mind to my feelings by focusing my attention on my heart.
"BlackYowe .... If you have to get up in the night with a child throwing up or have elderly parents in need you can't fixate on your self. If you have a job as a caregiver or are being yanked around by your boss and have mouths to feed its pretty hard to get up and do your Yoga."
Those situations sound more like being over-stressed than being a procrastinator.
Some mindful meditation sounds like a better tool for that situation than yoga because less time is needed.
Meditation could even be done while siting in the bathroom at work.
Your comment makes me wonder if procrastinators are just people who don't admit they need help for stress.
Where is some practical advice to help them?
Are you trying to say 'rather than just put the task off, think ahead and try to at least do some prep work to make the task easier and avoid surprises'?
The situations that you mention are external stressors and you are correct that they cannot be dealt with as simple procrastination. I think that being a care giver requires real stress management.
Yoga is a form of energy work, which I haven't tried yet; but I practice other forms including meditation. Generally, energy work is good for handling external stress and procrastination. I haven't tried yoga because I don't have the time. I have found that it is much easier to find time for meditation, as I mentioned in another post. Leaning meditation is as easly as listening to a few guided meditations, which are available for free online from UCLA. Once meditation is learned, it is just a matter of finding 5 to 20 minutes of quiet to practice it.
I know that meditation is not very likely to solve many problems for people. But, what it does do is clear the mind, making it possible to deal with problems more efficiently.
I also know that many people dismiss energy work for any reason they can think of. I only suggest that people give it a try, and meditation is one of the simplest ways to start.
Don't know about the cold shower first thing in the morning though! BRRRRR!
Katherine
If Sadguru still lives in India, a cold shower is welcomed most of the time. I know from personal experience.