July 27, 2009Poison Phrase: Work on

Filed under: Poison Phrase of the Week by merylrunion |

I just posted about my friend whose use of the word “have to” reflected a sense of burden.

My word to watch is:

-work on

When I considered changing a series of jokes with a negative theme into it’s complementary opposite with a positive theme, I used the word,

- work on.

I changed it to

play with.

I’ve been meditating for over 35 years, and my practice is based on effortlessness. Basically, you can’t work on relaxing. You can’t use the sympathetic nervous system to switch on the parasympathetic nervous system. Far too often, we turn what could be a pleasure into a job. Ironically, we often get much better results when we take a lighthearted approach.

I suspect my writing is much more compelling for you after I’ve played with ideas than it is after I’ve worked on them. So I am working on … I mean playing with … being more judicious about how I use the word “working on.” I invite you to join me in my efforts … I mean my adventure.

Okay, how many of you are “workng on” your love relationships?