For many years, I would find myself in the grips of what I call the “urgency” process. I've had difficulty getting enough distance from this process to do the things that would assist and support.  I was getting bamboozled and kept from Recording and Listening at these times.

In huge thanks to the recent Socratic email class with Cheri, I was able to see through this process in a most significant way.  Recording and Listening was a major part of this.

In one of Cheri's responses, she asked something like: “How do you get distracted from Recording and Listening?”

Over the next few days I closely watched and made notes and recordings of the ways I get distracted from Recording and Listening, especially when in this “urgency” process.  I made the list as succinct as I could so it would be clear in my consciousness.

I then made a recording of the ways I was getting bamboozled and distracted from Recording during “urgency.” Several times a day and all night I listened to this and other recordings from the email class.

Here's an example of how this assisted me in breaking free of this process: While cooking dinner one night, an insight drops in.  The still small voice suggests recording that insight.  Conditioning comes in “I can't record now, I'm cooking dinner.  My hands are busy. I can't stop now.  Later.”  Having listened to the ways-I-get-distracted-recording several times, I stopped in the midst of cooking.  I said out loud “There it is!  There's that distraction that says I can't record now, my hands are full.”  Then I said, “yes I can.”  I went upstairs, picked up my recorder and made a recording of that very experience.  “There it is – I see it – there's that distraction that says I can't record when my hands are full.” 

This was very exciting. 

By seeing and acknowledging the distraction, by not going with the distraction, and by stopping in that moment and making a recording, I felt exhilarated.  Then it was as if breaking-free-of-resistance led to more breaking-free-of-resistance.  Several more times that evening and for the days that followed, I've been more free of this “urgency process” and I have been Recording and Listening significantly more frequently.

Gasshō 

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