To the Most Important Person | The Design of Daily Practice

Previous ↑

I will also try to organize my thoughts on how to spend my time.
I think this falls under the category of 'those who believe shall be saved,' but knowing this versus not knowing it should make some difference.
I hear that winter is a disadvantageous season for nerves and fatigue.
During the time when days are short and cold, stress might not be the only factor.
Recently, my shoulders and neck have been a bit stiff. I went to a nearby home center to buy a neck warmer.

Regarding avoiding abnormalities and moving toward care as much as possible,
a strategy that balances 'defense' and 'recovery' is realistic.
1. Environmental adjustment (defense)
・Clarification of the scope of involvement
For areas outside of my reach, I will 'not intervene' and 'wait for a response'.
・Ensuring physical and psychological distance
Work from home or leave my seat as needed, and keep conversations to a minimum.
・Recognition of re-traumatization factors
If questions or situations that could be burdensome are likely to arise, I will prepare my mind in advance.
2. Ingenuity in the direction of care (recovery)
・Accumulating small 'success experiences'
Complete work within my own pace and scope with certainty. Feeling a sense of accomplishment contributes to mental stability.
・Limited sharing with one trusted person
Share only the minimum necessary information with a junior or an understanding colleague. Treat it as 'sharing the situation' rather than seeking advice.
・Physical and psychological self-care
Breathing techniques, light exercise, nutrition, and ensuring sleep. These directly affect brain blood flow and energy shortages.
3. Ingenuity to avoid trauma recurrence
・Prepare templates for answers in advance for situations where failure might be pointed out
→ Prevent outbursts of anger or anxiety
・Do not take on a large amount of responsibility at once
→ Prioritize recovery with 'quality over quantity'
4. Mental safety measures
・Tell myself that 'at worst, I have the right to escape'
→ A psychological safety valve. It becomes easier to relax tension.
・Interrupt work immediately when mood swings are strong
→ Prevent worsening of headaches or feelings of heaviness
Conclusion
'Protecting my own safety zone while securing opportunities for small recovery' is the most realistic best strategy. Maximize the care possible in the current environment.
It seems important to reduce excessive load and stress.
(Regarding revving up the engine or trying hard)


In the current state, the priority is to divide the load on the brain and body into small parts without overdoing it.1. Act based on the premise of concentration limits
・Work blocks within 1 hour
・Always include breaks and physical/breathing care
・Divide into small tasks that can be completed in 1 hour

2. Precautions when gradually increasing the load・'Gradually revving the engine' is OK, but if the load does not match the mind and body, it will have the opposite effect.
・Since concentration is currently unstable, the priority is to accumulate success experiences with low load.
・Repeat the loop of 1-hour concentration → break → simple task for a sense of accomplishment → break.

3. Ingenuity in aggregation work
・Reduce the burden with the help of mechanisms, templates, and automation, rather than 'concentration that requires effort'.・Set a standard that 'it doesn't have to be perfect' to relax brain tension.

4. Management of psychological load
・Do not force yourself to think 'I must return quickly' or 'I must do my best'.・Always have self-permission to do things 'little by little' and 'only within what I can do'.
・Prepare to get through tasks that might touch on trauma factors with minimal response.
Point explanation


・Prioritize important tasks in the morning when the brain is relatively fresh.・New or difficult things should be limited to 1 hour in the afternoon.
・If you cannot concentrate in the morning, move to the afternoon.
・Tasks that touch on trauma factors should be short.
・Anxiety about the past or future tends to appear at night, so minimize thinking about work from the evening onwards.

(...I feel like I naturally fell into this style while exploring the situation.)(Regarding the benefits of sleep)



It is extremely important for brain and body recovery, resetting stress hormones, and replenishing energy, but it does not have the effect of directly erasing the trauma itself.
Elements necessary for recovery
1. Ensuring a safe environment
・Avoid situations and stimuli that reproduce trauma.・In the current case, this means a workplace environment with low load or remote work.

2. Gradual re-experience and integration
・Experience past events and reactions little by little in a safe way, and let the brain relearn that 'it is no longer dangerous'.・Often supported by professional psychotherapy (such as EMDR or exposure therapy).

3. Habituation of self-recovery behavior
・Breathing techniques, light exercise, regular life, and daily routines that maintain psychological safety.Q. Does it count as trauma if I have flashbacks like 'I don't want to see that person's face'?
A. It can be considered part of the reaction. The point is 'the body and brain reacting in connection with strong stress or discomfort from the past'.

・When seeing a person, hearing a voice, or interacting causes past negative emotions or tension states to be reproduced, the brain recognizes it as a 'danger signal'.
・It can happen regardless of whether you understand it rationally.
・'I don't want to see their face'
・'I feel uneasy'
・'My head feels heavy / I feel tense'
States like these are also considered to be the brain remembering and reproducing past stress experiences.
・Rather than trying to erase them by force, a realistic response is to take distance, ensure psychological safety, and adjust the load to gradually soften the brain's reaction.
The image is to gradually erase psychological resistance through success experiences.
・Psychological resistance often strengthens if you try to erase it by force.

・It is realistic to repeat: interact within a safe range → accumulate success experiences or a sense of having finished something → resistance gradually softens.
There is no need to expect big changes; it is better to make 'gradually regaining the sense of recovery' the goal itself.
・Success experiences can be small. Finishing one task, finishing a short conversation safely, having time where you could concentrate, etc.
・The important thing is not to overdo it and to let the brain think 'this is okay'.
In the process of doing this, if psychological resistance appears, understanding that 'the brain is just reproducing a past experience' allows you to respond without panicking.
...And so, I feel like this has become a practice of searching for the 'Middle Way' I wrote about some time ago.
The Middle Way is not simply determining a compromise between things, but thinking about a better place for me, who is sitting here.

I haven't thought of work as just 'a moderate balance,' and while there was a lot of spinning my wheels, I think it was a year where I got many opportunities to think about something important.
I must have had a rough physical and mental state that could be overcome just by sheer willpower.

The heating in the workplace is poor, and my feet are cold.
I recently decided to do remote work at home, and the calmness of my feelings the night before is incomparable.
For some reason, I've been feeling tired easily lately.
It seems good to use these things well too.