Not too Tight, Not too Loose
The Art of Getting Shit Done through the Magical Accidents of Good Tension
I haven’t been great at working to a schedule over the course of my lifetime since school (so far).
I have more often found myself spontaneously working on things that have come naturally to me, things that I find easy, and things that easily follow some initial inspiration.
But it hasn’t been as easy as that sounds.
I’ve found that there’s a finicky aspect to realising inspiration into something real. Flirting through ideas that captivate, inspiration can quickly retreat into voidness during the stages between inspiration and completion.
Whilst I may see a flash of things clearly, a project in it’s finished form, the journey to get there can be a kind of wading through haze; and it has been easy to get lost.
Other times, I have tried to sprint towards the end state of a project and in doing so have lost the motivation to continue as a result of self-induced pressure overwhelm.
When I have been able to bring things to fruition, it is usually as a result of gently collected effort, intentional direction of attention, and magical accident.
Watching these different kinds of patterns in how I apply my agency to ideas in the pursuit of their realisation more recently, I’ve been playing with the idea of Good Tension.
So, what is Good Tension?
Last year, I met Hanuman Dass at George Harrison’s old house in Watford to record a conversation.
After the microphones had been packed away, we spoke briefly about the stress of running Go Dharmic (his super charity that responds to natural disasters, emergencies, and consistently feeds the hungry every single week of the year).
I don’t remember the exact words he used, but he did make the point that not all stress is bad.
This, for me, was an invitation to shift how I was approaching things. I had been operating in a way that was supposed to be no stress, but in truth, I was not entirely successful in this aspiration.
In short, I was still imagining that I could reach a point where I was living easefully without stress forever more.
But, what if some stress is useful? What if there’s a way to move with ease even in the presence of stress?
What if the goal is not to eradicate stress entirely, but to change ones relationship to it’s presence so that it becomes a kind of partner in the realisation of aspiration, as opposed to a hindrance?
What if there is a form of Good Tension?
This, almost 9 months later, is now a question I am living in.
There is a story of a harp player who was a student of the Buddha, who was considering giving up his meditation practice because, to him, it seemed that he was not making adequate progress on his spiritual path.
In response, the Buddha used the example of how this student had once tuned the strings of his harp, to communicate how he might go on in practice.
Here, I will paraphrase a part of the story:
“When your harp’s strings were tuned too tight, was it resonant and playable?”
“No, teacher.”
“When your harp’s strings were tuned too loose, was it resonant and playable?”
“No, teacher.”
“But when your harp’s strings were tuned neither too tight nor too loose, but fixed at an even tension, was it resonant and playable?”
“Yes, teacher.”
“In the same way, when energy is too forceful it leads to restlessness. When energy is too loose it leads to laziness. So, you should focus on energy and serenity, find a balance of the faculties, and learn the pattern of this situation.”
This, I believe, is a description of what I am calling: “Good Tension”.
Attention // A Tension
(Funnily, attention and ‘a tension’ are so phonetically similar one could be mistaken for the other in conversation)
When I reflect on the story above I can see where, in the past, I have gone wrong in trying too hard to make things happen and also where I have not applied enough effort.
In both situations, it has been my attention that has either become so tight and narrowed that I have lost sight of the joyous and light situation of being at all, or has become so loose and unfocused that I have not been able to follow through to completion without getting distracted.
Attention, it seems, when not too tight and not too loose, is the vehicle through which aspirations can be realised.
There is the opportunity in Good Tension to sense into the directionality of the next right action, as well as to explore and experiment into different options for what that next right action may be, with lightness and patience.
This, I can reflect, is how my favourite projects and forms of work have unfolded. It is also, how the best outcomes have been achieved.
Attention, it seems, is always in living relationship with the totality of experience.
Energy, the power that moves through attention, seems to resist total capture and wishes to move freely, naturally.
In both cases, an acceptance of change as part of the situation allows it to be integrated, whereas resistance causes issues.
Caged or forced, attention fails to flow with the same potency that it would otherwise be able to. It is for this reason that effort must be gently collected. It is this gentleness that allows energy to flow with life using the natural contours of experience, without the kind of struggle, pressure, or friction that eventually leads to burn out.
Undirected or too loosely held, attention fails to flow with the concentration necessary to guide energy into the present activity. It is for this reason that attention must be intentionally directed. It is this intentionality that allows energy to be focused into a particular project, return from dispersion in distraction and into more consciously placed unfoldings, and allows one to recover from or even innovatively utilise distraction on behalf of ones aspirations.
These two things working in concert; attention both lightly held and intentionally given; leads to a kind of present moment attention that is supple and flexible as well as concentrated and intentional.
Inherently, this collection of attention gives no mind to rigid notions of what should or must be happening right now, and in that sense creates a kind of openness and spaciousness that invites reality into a dance that delivers magical accidents and intention aligned unfoldings.
Then, somehow, things get done.
Practicing: Not too Tight, Not too Loose
A meditation practice is the perfect situation to practice this attentional principle.
There is gentleness, precision, and intention in how we set up our seat and prepare for formal practice.
There is gentleness, precision, and intention in how we rest our attention on the natural movement of the breath (or any other meditation object).
There is gentleness, precision, and intention in how we return our attention to the natural movement of the breath (or any other meditation object) when we notice we have been distracted.
(Perhaps also noting thoughts as “thinking” as is a classic instruction.)
If you’re looking to have fun getting shit done, I recommend slowing down regularly to rest in the present moment with gentleness, precision, and intention, as weird as that may sound.
In this way, a meditation practice has changed my life, and maybe it’ll change yours too.
There are ups and downs, but with diligence, my mind has become much more resilient, stable, and clear.
This is of great benefit to myself and the beings I love.
A meditation practice is something that one can do for oneself and for others simultaneously.
So is my intention with this writing.
May all beings be happy + well,
John
Find out more about John and his offerings here.