1. Attend to the working surface

This is the first of the four principles of work. Attend to the working surface. Seems obvious but do we overlook it too often? Yes. Some people can work in crowded coffee shops. Some can work with the TV on. Some can work while doing their nails, talking on the phone and driving their car. We are all precious little snowflakes, each different with our idiosyncrasies and habits. Where do you do your work? Is the area clean or kinda messy? What does the desktop of your computer look like? Some people think the environment we create in our homes and workspaces is indicative of the insides of our heads. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that when I clean my space, something inside me is also cleared out.  

I do most of my work in the kitchen. I live in Brooklyn in a modest but very comfortable apartment. The kitchen table, which is more of a bar table, was built by a good friend. It seats 4 and is made of light wood. I stained and finished it. The kitchen doesn’t feel like a kitchen, or rather it has a few different vibes happening simultaneously. It is kept clean generally. There are no windows but natural light seeps in from the adjoining bedrooms and creates the illusion of windows. There is a salon hanging above the table. We try to keep fresh flowers around. There’s a tea kettle ready and waiting on the range, and a coffee pot too. 

This is my work space and I like to keep it clean. Before sitting down to work I’ll generally spend a few moments tidying up and putting on a pot of coffee. It’s a ritual I don’t even realize I’m doing, but certainly prepares me. Once the work is finished there is usually a plate beside my computer (macbook pro) that has some crumbs left from the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I just ate. Maybe the cat is resting nearby. I’ll probably have about 8 tabs open in Chrome from various stuff being looked up. And it will be 4 or 5 hours later. First though, there was Principle #1. I attended to the working surface.

It occurs to me that the medical field might be among the best places to find literal practice of this. A surgeon cleans and shaves the body where the work will be taking place. 

Reminds me of an exercise in my philosophy class last year. Each of us oiled a rag and treated the wood that lined the walls of the beautiful old Manhattan brownstone where we meet every week. The exercise was simple. Place the attention where the rag meets the wood letting the attention rest precisely where the work takes place. It’s difficult to translate this kind of exercise to a computer, but imagine it with a guitar. You’d place the attention where the fingers and strings met. Or writing… Placing the attention where the pen meets the paper. I bring this up because this exercise accomplishes something very important. (At least for me) It is a forgetting of myself. The attention is taken out of the body and into the activity. At the risk of really getting esoteric, we become the unconscious observer and can view the play without judgment. Effortless, purposeful and free. It’s an ideal state to work from, with clear intent and everything available to you. Not easy for all of us to achieve but the principles do help.

How does this relate to Regression Therapy, you ask? In every way. The mind is the working surface, and we are attending to it. The better prepared and cleaned the surface is, the greater the depth of work. Rumi says “The mind is a wonderful tool and a terrible master.” Friendly advice, make sure you’re using your mind, and not the other way around. 

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