Internal Judo Moves

Photo: SOON SANTOS on Unsplash

Dan Harris talking about mindfulness with James Altucher: 

"You don't have to analyze [boredom], you just have to feel it...

The move, when you're overcome by boredom, is to ask: 

• What is boredom like? 

• What does this feel like? 

• Where am I feeling it in my body?

• What does it taste like in my mind? 

And that is curiosity. That's a judo move, right there. Mindfulness is a series of these little, internal judo moves where you're co-opting whatever's coming up in the mind. 

Am I having a blast of anger right now? Well, what is that like? 

What's the value of that? 

When the blast of anger happens in your real life, or a wave of dull, deadening boredom comes over you in the middle of a conversation with another human being — what is that like in real life and can you not get carried away by it so that you don't do something that you later regret?

See also: The Taste of Embarrassment