Procrastination

If you tend to procrastinate, worry not about this article. Normandy Alden's piece on procrastination get's right to point and will take you as little time to read as a few Facebook status messages. Normandy offers a useful reflection on what happens in our minds as we procrastinate and she also invites further discussion and reflection from her readers. Please share your experiences in the comment lines. -Editor

“I’ll have more time tomorrow. Besides, I have some phone calls to make… and I’ve got to run to the store before the weekend. Maybe the right snack would help me focus. Okay, Fig Newton’s were not the right snack, maybe a piece of cheese? I wonder what the weather will be like this week? Checking Facebook….”

These and similar thoughts have been the creation of my procrastinating mind. I have been procrastinating about writing this article for over a month, in fact. Originally, my idea was to write about the impact my yoga practice has had on my spiritual life. Once I realized that I had been procrastinating about the article because I didn’t really want to write on that topic at all, I decided that perhaps a more apt topic for me would be “Dealing with Procrastination”! What has finally brought me to the keyboard was the idea that I could apply spiritual tools to a very mundane, frustrating issue.

I first went to Divine Providence 317-321. In number 318, Swedenborg writes,

There is nothing we cannot rationalize, and we can rationalize falsity more easily than truth. Once we have justified what is false, we cannot see what is true; but once we have justified what is true, we can see what is false. Our ability to justify whatever we please is not intelligence. It is only cleverness, which even the worst of us may have.

What are the untrue things I tell myself on a regular basis? What am I doing to seek, know, and love the Lord’s truth in my life? The sobering line from Divine Providence 318, “Everything we adopt and justify becomes virtually a permanent part of us,” has really motivated me to examine closely my mental habits.

My hope is that these words can begin a forum where others can share how and why they deal with procrastination in their life. What tools do you use to meet your obligations? What gets you to do what you know you should, but have a resistance to?

Normandy Alden

Normandy is a ceramic artist living in upstate New York. She is married to Edmund Brown and grew up in Bryn Athyn, PA.

Comments

[Jared Alden]

Great Article Normandy,

You've touched upon something in which we all have experience. Personally my reflections have taught me that I tend to procrastinate important tasks where I lack competence. I believe it's a fear of failure that underlines my decision to justify putting it off. Another reflection is whether or not something is truly procrastinating: I believe there are many tasks (like organizing the storage room) that are useful but not urgent! If I keep neglecting this task to spend quality time with my wife or daughter or to catch up on sleep then I don't see myself as truly procrastinating that task - I see the task as too low of a priority to be worth my immediate time. For me procrastination is when I am neglecting to do something that I know I should be working on.

[Ropemaker]

Like. :)

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