Fatigue
I’m watching Friends, and laughing as though I haven’t seen the episode before (the one where Chandler is moving in with Monica). Friends are just such a mind relaxant. Kudos to the people who made it such a joy. And then my wife made a comment…
“You must be really stressed…”
I think she’s right, as usual.
I’m still reading the biography on Maria Montessori, and then I came across this line…
“Fatigue arises when mental activity and motor activity are forced to act separately.”
It sounds like it could be lifted off a Tai Chi textbook, and yet I found it in a biography about a woman and her research on children’s education.
In Tai Chi, we’ve been told to focus the mind on the action. Where the mind leads, the body should follow, all in unison. I guess that’s where the “flow” comes from. Athletes talk about this flow as well, when everything seems to connect. It’s when you’re “in the zone”.
So what happens when you’re not in the zone? Maria Montessori tells us, it’s fatigue. You get tired when mind and body are not aligned, when you’re doing what the mind is fighting against. She sees it in kids, where they’re being told to do what the adults think they should do, but the child is living in a child’s world, not understanding the adult’s definition of their world.
I guess I am feeling tired. I didn’t seem to feel it, until I laughed too loudly, at the silliest jokes. No offense to Friends, but I think it’s time to align my mind and body. How am I going to do that? I think the body’s going to tell the mind, which will in turn tell the body what to do. Sounds a bit loopy… ah… now I see where the word “loopy” comes from – going in loops (circles)… Another word for Wordie. 
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Category: Guides to life | Tags: books, education, Montessori, office, Tai Chi, work 2 comments »
May 28th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Great insight. Thanks!
May 28th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
I think the different may not exist between adults and kids only but among adults as well. Sometimes we may not agree or able to understand what our boss ask us to do, or what our spouse demand from us. Differet people with different background and mindset tend to see things very differently.
And, laughing too loud may not be the sign of fatigue or stress but loneliness.