#compartmentalize

“Okay, boss,” he says, crouching down, “this is gonna suck, but I’m kinda sure dying sucks more, so just…just stay still for me.”

The Knight gives no indication that he understood any of that, but it’ll click soon enough.

Compartmentalize.

It’s been a while since Antoine had to do something like this without the reassurance that a medic would be there soon to fix any fuck-ups, and if this needs stitches it’s probably gonna scar, but from the looks from the looks from the looks

Compartmentalize.

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?”

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed—incapable of doing anything.”

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Drinking a glass of water, we can gain profound insight into the power and importance of picking up and putting down. When we are thirsty, we pick up our glass of water to drink. When we are done drinking, we place our water back down. Why go around carrying our water any longer than we need to? It is unnecessary.

The same truth can be found with our stresses. When we are walking into the door for work, we pick up the stresses of work. When we walk out of the door from work, we place those stresses back down. When we are walking into the door of our home, we pick up the stresses of home. And when we walk out of the door from home, we place those stresses back down all the same.

Stress, in and of itself isn’t a bad thing. In fact, stress can be quite beneficial—it’s pressure that catalyzes growth. Without a sufficient amount of stress, we might not leave our comfort zone or ever produce our best work. How we perceive and manage our stress, however, is where things can start turning negative.

As is mentioned in the short story above, holding onto stress for a brief period of time isn’t the issue—it’s holding onto stress for long periods of time. Why might we do that? Well, we might be procrastinating and avoiding doing important work—that will keep us holding on. We might be “taking our work home with us”—that will keep us holding on. We might be trying to mask or suppress our stress with passive entertainment, social media, drugs, alcohol, binges, etc., rather than confronting it, dealing with it, or “putting it down”—that will keep us holding on.

And while this isn’t necessarily a jab at how you might be handling your stress, it is an inquisition as to why you might be holding onto your stress for as long as you might be. Because here’s the thing: the more stressful and heavy your load is, the more important and intuitive this message should be: put. your. glass. down. It doesn’t matter if you’re carrying around an 8oz, 12oz, 20oz, or gallon glass of water around—put. that. damn. thing. down. Don’t carry the thing around with you all day every day—it’s absurd. This ability—the ability to put down your “water” after you’re done with it—is the ability to compartmentalize in life.

The idea with compartmentalization is simple: wherever you are, be there. When you’re at work, be at work. Put down your glass from home and pick up your glass from work. When you’re at home, be at home. Put down your glass from work and pick up your glass from home. And when you’re working out—work out. When you’re eating dinner—eat dinner. When you’re reading a book—read the book. When you’re relaxing on the couch—relax on the couch. And when you’re doing any of those things, don’t do any of the others. And so forth. Compartmentalization is the art of keeping tasks separate and in their place so that you can focus your full attention to whatever it is you’re doing.

𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 : 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒. 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒. 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒. 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑖𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠; 𝑖𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢.

𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑘𝑎𝑦. ♡

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is..” ~Albert Einstein

“Our global species has cut reality into pieces. We compartmentalize everything, and so do not see the unity, the beauty, the wholeness that surrounds us, the living works of poetry that we are.

We've commodified the arts, we destroy and divide Nature into pieces, to sell off for profit. Our hearts and minds have been colonized by lies of technological "progress" and "development." Blocking us from seeing the sacred beauty and interconnectedness of everything our species has been destroying. 

All that has true value has been separated in our minds and cultures. When unified, the arts, spirituality and science can be experienced as an exploration of the sacred, a journey into mystery. People forget how this world is a rare and precious gift from the Universe, from Nature. 

There's a whole Universe that surrounds us, and lives within us, that connects us to each other. The atoms and energy that dance within you (and as you) have billions of years of history. 

Life is more precious than diamonds or gold. Yet our values are so warped that billions of humans don't see this. We are taught to crave what is meaningless and ignore what has meaning.

Caught up in dramas and delusions of politics, economics, technology, entertainment and money, we fail to see the mystery and beauty, the sacredness of everything.

Imprisoned by false beliefs, we have forgotten that we are all living miracles, living a miracle. 

That every flower, child, river and tree is a creative expression of the Universe, a sacred and precious gift of this beautiful mystery. 

Good at boundaries. Too much of a good thing?

New journal comic about boundaries and self-awareness.