In The Comfort Book, Matt Haig suggests, ‘Get a routine baggy enough to live in’. Sometimes it seems as though self-discipline, our diet, our daily regime are the only things we can control in this precarious world, and it can make us somewhat rigid in our outlook. That inflexibility (“No thanks, I never eat during the day.”) can be martyrish. Which wouldn’t matter so much if it only affected ourselves, but often it affects those around us too. We may become a bit of a perfectionist and that can be sensed by others as controlling. (“Was she hinting that I eat too much or don’t make enough effort to lose weight?”)
When
someone is in an example-setting mood, it is hard for them to see they have
become too strict with themselves and unyielding: “Self-discipline is good, right?
And I believe we can all do better, so I don’t see any need to change.”
‘Strict’
comes from the Latin word for ‘drawn tight’, or taut. The Rock Water essence can help us to ease
the ‘ought’ and ‘should’, worry less about controlling every aspect of our
lives, and help us to be less like an immovable rock and more like the water that, without
effort, always finds its way round any obstacle.
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| Photo: Ally Matson |
