Intermediaries

Intermediaries are any action or object that facilitate another action or reaching a destination. In this discussion, I am using the word intermediary is a step that’s not required. In my examination, I have found intermediaries to be ineffective. For example, caffeine to study, mantras to focus, self-affirmations or self-talk to gain self-confidence. All of these represent an unnecessary step from accomplishing what you truly want. 

One can study without caffeine if they genuinely are interested in the matter. 

A mantra is not needed to quiet the mind and to feel the spirit. 

Self talk degrades self confidence. Self confidence is a knowing.  The battle is won before it is fought. Before you step on the field, you know you have won or not. 

Self-talk/ self-affirmation reveal a mind that’s on the brink of collapse. Do you need self talk to drive to work, to call your mom, or walk the dog?  Those things you know how to do. Any new situation, job, role or task are one or two iterations away from being understood, if you choose to understand them.

The first time I cut a patient’s skin for a procedure, I did not need self-confidence. That is my job, I had seen it done before and now it was my time to grab the scalpel and do the job. Without intermediaries you do what you know you have to do, in the least steps and least energy expenditure possible. You can immerse yourself completely in the task at hand. 

Complete awareness of the weight you lift and your muscle contraction. Total immersion into the text you read. Complete immersion into performing the task itself. 

I wish to state one obvious point. Some of the intermediaries I describe are side steps, or facilitators. They have a loose cause and effect relationship with the task at hand. An intermediaries is not an integral component of the system. If a diabetic stops taking insulin, because they wanted to remove an intermediary, they would be removing a critical component of their physiology. 

Caffeine to study, music to workout, alcohol to socialize, are all unnecessary missteps that distract away from total immersion.

To feel the spirit, that naturally lives in me, is a decision, just like taking a breath. I didn’t need a single extra step to choose to take a breath.