Lots to say to @m_ashcroft's question here. First thing is that you've already taken 2 excellent steps! 1⃣ notice you're off the wagon & want to get back on 2⃣ make that into an opportunity (in this case, for me to write about what to do here publicly, & for all to learn) 1/🧵
Returning to a practice after falling off the wagon
10 tweets · June 2020 · 44 likes · 1 retweets · read on Twitter
Turning unwanted situations into opportunities is a really valuable move to make, because it interrupts the downward spiral that can occur there and turns it into an upward spiral instead. "we can build on this!"
Another vital distinction to note is the difference between being able to get back on the wagon once vs ongoingly. If you get back on with "this time, I mean it, I won't miss a single day", that may work great… …til you *do* miss a day, and then it'll be *harder* to return.
Similarly, if you feel inspired this time to get back onto Complice by going and filling in a bunch of past days as best you remember, and doing your weekly review… …be careful you don't set yourself up to feel like you *have to* to that every time to get back on!
That is: what makes sense one time may not make sense later. In this sense, Tom here is kinda onto something, except that most people will hear the "just" as implying it should be easy. If it required no reorganization, you'd already be doing it.
Instead I'd say something like: 1. Ask yourself: what will it take to get back on the wagon this time? 2. Answer the question. Not with words, necessarily: enact the answer to the question. (I'm sure you grok a lot of this stuff from your Alexander Technique experience!)
On a much more content level, cleaning out anything that feels stale can help, and starting small. Just sign on and set one intention that's important for today. Maybe 2-3. @AbhayPrasanna's suggestions are great: twitter.com/AbhayPrasanna/…
While I'm here, I find myself musing about the "fall off the wagon" metaphor *googles* Seems it's short for "falling off the water wagon", ie drinking alcohol after abstinence. Framing of addiction-to-sloth isn't uncommon, but probably not ideal.
Instead maybe a metaphor drawn from meditation or similar practices 🧘♀️ How can I return my attention to what I deeply care about (on the level of goals, or values) when I discover that it has strayed? 👁️ Similar to returning attention to the breath, or:
Might do a longer write-up at some point, but that'll suffice for today's thread! If anyone reading this is curious about the app I built inspired by some of the principles in this thread, you can learn more about the Complice philosophy here: complice.co/philosophy