Lockdown seemed the ideal time to attempt to become one of those people who hits their deadlines while eating mindfully. Who knew my inner elephant could actually be tamed?
A hypnotherapist once explained to me at a dinner party that willpower doesn’t work. I had assumed that it was just mine that was broken. Apparently, it’s because the conscious is such a small part of the brain. Almost everything you know and have experienced has to be stashed downstairs most of the time so that if you’re at the movies, say, you can focus on what Cruella is saying, the taste of the strawberry ice-cream, the second-dateness of the situation – and the kid kicking the back of your seat. There’s no room for more.
We’ve all seen a person riding an obedient elephant, but we know that if the elephant wants to run rogue, there’s not a thing the rider can do about it. People who want to go to the gym have an inner-mental elephant that was going to go anyway. The only way to access this elephantine unconscious is to put your know-it-all rider of a conscious into a trance to shut it up. I decided that lockdown was an ideal time to align my goals with my shoddiest behaviours to see if I could become one of those people who hits their deadlines, while eating mindfully and folding their laundry.
