The beauty of brinkmanship.
Leaving things to the last minute isn't only for the lazy.
All our lives, we’re conditioned that success and preparation are correlatively linked.
But more often than not, planning and preparation tend to create unnecessary stress and take us out of the present moment as we attempt to anticipate and plan for every potential problem that might arise.
I’ve previously written more about the nuance of this idea back in August:
When we approach life this way, what we’re really saying is, “I don’t have confidence in my ability to navigate that demand in the moment, so I’ll need to prepare for every eventuality now and save my future self the embarrassment.”
We are taught that waiting until the last minute is for slackers, underachievers and delinquents, but I would also add meditators to that list.
Whereas the first three groups I just listed are likely not meeting demands with any great amount of success, meditators are often found to be meeting them most successfully of all, despite their lack of planning.
The Art of Brinkmanship
It’s not that meditators are lazy or complacent. It’s more that meditators tend to be more clear-headed as a result of not carrying around decades of accumulated stress, so we’re usually able to deal with demands as they arise, without too much forethought or fuss.
Our favorite way to get things done is to just do them when the time comes, and not think too much about them until then.
In the Vedic worldview, we call this brinkmanship.
This doesn’t mean moving lackadaisically through life, spiritually bypassing challenging situations and avoiding studying for tests, planning travel, or anything that requires any degree of forethought.
What it means is having some simple awareness of upcoming deadlines, but knowing that we’re not afraid of performing under pressure, because readiness is borne from restfulness, and we rest deeply twice a day.
This quiet confidence allows us to enjoy life to the fullest without constantly worrying about what’s around the bend.
Elephants seem to move slowly but are actually much faster than humans; they only appear slow because they move so gracefully and with so much ease, fully confident in their own capability, fearing nothing, and without any need to prove anything.
The more powerful and capable we become, the comfortable we feel moving calmly with that same royal pace and royal grace.
The elephant moves while the dogs bark.
Let’s discuss these and other ideas during Collective Effervescence, our online group meditation series, this Sunday January 25th at 12PM ET. Drop in for meditation only (first 30 min) or stay for discussion + Q&A on this and other life topics from the Vedic perspective. Join the WhatsApp group to receive reminders 24 hours before each session, or click Subscribe on this page to have all upcoming dates automatically sync to your preferred calendar.
A true brinkman, A$AP Rocky took his sweet time finally releasing Don’t Be Dumb a full eight years after 2018’s Testing.