4 ms·
This reminded me of the following exercise, which I hopefully recite correctly. I’ve first heard it in a podcast with the monk Anselm Grün, who counsels burned
by JesseMReeves 6y ago
This reminded me of the following exercise, which I hopefully recite correctly. I’ve first heard it in a podcast with the monk Anselm Grün, who counsels burned out managers in Germany:
Think about what you could do for hours as a child. What kept you so interested that time just passed by?
Then examine what wish, image or interest underlies these activities. You will often find clear links to your current occupation.
The assumption underlying this is that our interests are unique and not random, and that we have to find or rediscover them as they tend to get overshadowed over time, which removes us from feelings of flow and focus.
- amateurdev 6y agoThis is actually good advise! Could you link the podcast episode? I've had a hard time with some of my hobby projects, but now I think my approach could be very different. The ones I've completed have sort of fit the notion 'Im doing it because I want to do it', not because I have to do it.
- JesseMReeves 6y agoHe briefly discusses it in this episode of „Das philosophische Radio“: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/wdr-5-das-philosophische-radio/id255571403?i=1000497513517 https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/wdr-5-das-philosophisc... I went on listening to other interviews with him on Apple Podcasts where he touches this and other ideas, but eventually got one of his books that is specifically about burnout (“Vom Burnout zum Flow”) as an audiobook, where he describes such imagery exercises in detail. I also liked how he chooses his words very carefully. It’s all in german however, a lot of his books have not been translated yet. He often mentions that C.G. Jung influenced him, but I’m not familiar with his writings at all.
- rige 6y agoThanks for the recommendation! That podcast episode sounds interesting - I'm always looking for new German shows to add to my podcast queue :)
- amateurdev 6y agoWelp, I don't know German at all sadly! The idea you mentioned in the original comment is certainly helpful though. Something to chew on, so thanks anyway :)
- rigmarole 6y agoThis sounds similar to exercises in the book "Play it Away" by Charlie Hoehn; a book on recovering from burnout via play. In that book you look back and create a "play history" to find common elements for your recovery approach.
- FranklinMaillot 6y agoThis is the idea developed in A Lazy Man's Guide to Success by Bill O'Hanlon. It's a very short book, I highly recommend it. It was eye-opening to me.
- fancy_pantser 6y agoFree copy of the book is distributed by the author online for anyone interested: http://www.billohanlon.com/LazyMan/files/lazy-man-e-book.pdf http://www.billohanlon.com/LazyMan/files/lazy-man-e-book.pdf
- Privacy846 6y agoDoesn’t a monk have better things to do than to counsel burnt out professionals?
- JesseMReeves 6y agoLook up “Seelsorge” (not sure whether “pastoral care” is the equivalent in English).