READ 12 Incantations for a Centered Life
Incantation 3, “I am doing my work,” is the most interesting and intricate of the incantations. Each time you use it, you insert a new phrase that names some work that you hope to accomplish. There is great centering power in mindfully naming your work, as, by naming it, you at once fortify your intentions and create a simple plan. Breathing-and-thinking “(I am cleaning) (the closet),” “(I am writing) (my novel),” or (“I am paying” “the bills”) has a calming effect even as it calls you to action.
The work you name can be the work you are about to undertake, like practicing your instrument or cleaning out the garage. You can also use Incantation 3 to announce an intention, for instance that you will write after work (“I am writing after work”) or that you will clean out the closet when you get home from the supermarket (“I am cleaning when I get home”). You can also use it to work on a quality that you want to manifest, like courage or patience, or a state that you want to enter, like a calm, enthusiastic, or receptive state. For example, you might use “(I am waiting) (patiently)” at the dentist’s office and “(I feel open) (and receptive)” upon entering a gallery of avant-garde paintings.
Incantation 3 can be used in an infinite variety of situations and possesses great flexibility. You might name your work in any of the following ways and in countless others as well:
(I am returning) (to my business plan)
(I am) (a real artist)
(I am working) (on my courage)
(Today) (I am calm)
(I accept myself) (completely)
(I will start) (my marketing)
(I am making) (that phone call)
(I am ready) (for that conversation)
(I will work harder) (than ever)
(I surrender) (to what is emerging)
You will get better results from the centering sequence the more accurately and appropriately you name your work. For example, if you name work that you can’t really support, like paying bills when you know you’re overdrawn, the outcome will not be a centered state. A certain honesty and awareness is needed in order for Incantation 3 to prove of use. You want to name your work truthfully and you also want to name it with clarity and exactness.
Let’s say that you intend to make a difficult phone call to your mother, one in which you mean to tell her that she can’t come to visit you over the holidays. That’s the work you plan to name using Incantation 3. The obvious phrase to incorporate is “I am calling my mother” or maybe “I am making that difficult phone call.” However, your real work might be to tell your mother what you’re feeling or, conversely, to carefully hide what you’re feeling. Or your work might be to stay calm as you speak to your mother or to stay strong in the face of her accusations and complaints. Therefore, any one of the following phrases might be the one you actually choose to use:
“(I will speak) (my truth)”
— or —
“(I will stay) (very calm)”
— or —
“(I won’t reveal) (very much)”
— or —
“(I will stay) (strong)”
Each of these phrases refers to the same task, calling your mother, but each puts you in a different frame of mind and relates to a different, particular intention.
Take some time and think through a variety of “name your work” possibilities. Look them over and practice Incantation 3 using different possibilities in turn. The more you practice this step and deepen your understanding of what “naming your work” means, the more value you will find in Incantation 3.
Here are a few reports from coaching clients and study participants:
From Theresa:
“Incantation 3 places a greater burden on the individual than the other incantations, making it the most difficult incantation and also the most exciting one. At first, I found myself naming tasks that were far too daunting. I began to see that I set myself up for failure by doing exactly this all the time. This afternoon, when I returned to my practice, I tried to name little ‘bites’ of something rather than the whole meal. I really like the ‘bites’ idea. I’m going to try to keep the work small, whether it’s something I want to do or something I dread doing.”
If the work you name is something impossible or even just something implausible, you won’t center and you won’t get your work done. If you set aside an afternoon and say (“I am working) (in the garden”), you will work calmly and productively. If instead you say (“I am completely” “overhauling the garden”), you’re more likely to run from the house than get out your gardening gloves.
From Sandy:
“I think that naming your work is an essential step in order to gain clarity and have a precise vision of what you want to do. For me, I found it a bit difficult because I have a hard time narrowing things down and pinpointing one thing at a time to deal with. Today, it was about finding compelling people to interview for my show. I am in the process of finding, and asking, people to interview and that is at the forefront of my mind.
“First I used Incantation 2 to release expectations. Otherwise I would have approached ‘naming my work’ with too much fierceness–an ‘I WILL accomplish this, damn it!’ approach. By first releasing my expectations, I found myself growing calmer and much more willing to focus on how I was going to get this done, as opposed to whether or not people were going to accept my interview request. Then I used “(I am ready) (to call)” for Incantation 3. And I felt ready! I made one call after another without procrastinating or feeling any stress at all.”
This begins our look at how one incantation supports another. Sandy used Incantation 2, emptying herself of expectations, as a preliminary step to employing Incantation 3. In the space of half-a-minute she accomplished two important tasks, detaching from outcomes and announcing her intention to get on with her work. Not a bad use of half-a-minute!
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To learn more, please take a look at Redesign Your Mind and Ten Zen Seconds.
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