4. Work Until It Is Time To Stop

The fourth and final Principle of Work is “Work until it is time to stop.” It’s kind of boring right away. It hits me and I tune out because it assumed I would know when that time was. It doesn’t speak to me, I’ve never had a use for it. Aaand I’m hemorrhaging lost time. 

I don’t usually cite eastern philosophies, I find them too esoteric for practical use. They’re triumph is in simplicity, beauty and wisdom, not the tactile. That said, when I consider how I might know when it is time to stop working without the aid of a boss or a bell, the only answer I can think of is stillness. The kind that is fostered in meditation and stumbled upon in nature. The kind that comes from nothing, grabs you and leaves. Pardon what sounds like a platitude, but the kind that rises from inside. 

I’m prescribed an hour of meditation everyday, half at the beginning and half at the end, by the School of Practical Philosophy in Manhattan. It’s a unique school, it’s where I was introduced to the four Principles of Work. My father was a student there for about 15 years and taught there for the last few. He enrolled me as a birthday gift when I turned 27. It’s not an academic institution, necessarily. We don’t matriculate after four years. We do discuss and study philosophy from around the world through out known history. As it is the school of practical philosophy, we are supposed to practice what we learn in the world and discuss the results. The course material leans heavily on plato, socrates and the greats of western philosophy. The Eastern stuff is delivered in and around a healthy practice of meditation. 

“How does this all tie back to regression therapy?” You may be asking. Let’s look at the principles. 

1. Attend to the working surface. 
2. Trust the instruments to do the job.
3. The work is more important than our ideas about the work.
4. Work until it is time to stop.

In regression therapy, the mind is the working surface. It’s labyrinthine in nature. Regression therapy can provide a map, a light or even open doorways that weren’t there before. How that happens depends on the client and the work that is being done. The instruments that do the work also start in the mind. They include focused attention, visualization, memory and reason. There are many ideas that pop up and distract us. For example, disbelief in what we’re seeing or a criticism. They aren’t part of the work, they’re part of what keep us from it. Defenses such as judgment or sarcasm, they’re usually childish, block us from truth.

What if the work is more encompassing? What if we’re talking about a lifestyle overhaul? Someone who is redesigning their life to better accomodate action, progress and achievement from the ground up? Can the principles be applied? I think yes and it’s the fun part, especially for creative people. We get to be artists designing the systems of our daily lives which, often unconsciously, create and sustain the ways we think and feel too, for better or worse. And without attention and continuous effort, they do get worse. Usually, it’s through neglect or attrition.  

What if we’re talking about a job that takes place in an office or cubicle from 9 to 5? Then the principles can be applied rather literally. I should have said earlier, all of this is assuming that the subject is fullfilled by their work. If this hypothetical person isn’t, I suggest they ask themselves why they do it, weigh the answer, choose a next action and refer to principle three.

Anyway, I love lists, especially wise ones. Together these four principles have given me a powerful practice. I know their power mostly from the times I haven’t practiced them. Finally, after the fourth is uttered I hear an implicit “repeat”, reminding me that it is a positive habit, an action, a continuous effort. 

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.

-Winston Churchill