Last week, while removing some dead stumps from the yard, I was struck by the paradox of how strenuous physical exertion was calming my mind and clearing my head.
I tend to delegate tasks that involve shovels, saws, hoes and backbreaking physical exertion these days, and focus instead on the mentally demanding tasks that generally are the substance of my work days. My work involves solving problems, analyzing complex design issues, thinking strategically, managing staff, satisfying clients, and ensuring adequate cash flow for my two businesses. It is hard work, for sure. This kind of work can often tie you up in knots – and drain you just as much as any physical exertion. Still rarely does it occur to me to untie these knots with more work, albeit a different type of work.
Somehow, however, I got roped into helping a friend with spring clearing, trimming and planting, which turned out to be both exhausting and cathartic at the same time. At first, I found myself taking out some frustrations by digging, chopping and hacking. As I worked through and beyond that, I sort of got into a comfortable rhythm that allowed me to tap into that place of inner calm and sense of deep serenity that I rarely access. By the end of the day, I had finished the job, and also dug through some layers of tension, frustration and annoyance that had been building within me for awhile. Who knows; maybe I sweated them out. Maybe I buried them with the new plantings.
At any rate, on Monday morning I had plenty of sore, achy muscles and more than a few blisters to show for my efforts. But I also found that I had managed to clear a few stumps out of my head in the process of taming the yard.
