I've found myself saying at various times that any relationship can be made peaceful if the two people can only achieve "right distance." To put it very simplistically, the person who you might not be able to tolerate as a neighbor would probably be perfectly bearable to you if they lived a few blocks over. It's a question of finding -- and keeping -- that distance at which you are both at peace.
Last night I found myself asking if I might not be able to get all my tasks accomplished -- even those on which I have delayed for years -- by the use of simple checklists. Pick a task; create a checklist; do the first three steps on it. A good checklist will rarely have more than five parts. I can almost always do 3-5 shortish steps on any given day.
Today I'm wondering if one can't wrestle some degree of satisfaction on any day, even one that is full of unpleasantness, by wearing blinders. And maybe using a checklist.
Maybe there's something called "right focus" too. If my day is going well, my focus needn't be all that concentrated. If it isn't, though, perhaps I need to put on my blinders, shut out all other considerations, and just follow one short checklist. And then, God willing, another.
Depression is, in so many respects, just a feeling of utter futility, of helplessness and ineffectiveness. The completion of even one short checklist can be a small, but significant, antidote against those large forces.
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