Exercises of the Will in Daily Life

by Roberto Assagioli

Daily life, with its duties and occupations, presents countless opportunities for developing the will. Most of our activities can be helpful in this way, because through our purposes, our inner attitude, and the way in which we accomplish them, they can become definite exercises of the will.

In the morning:

• Rising in the morning at a definite time can be such a drill. Rise ten or fifteen minutes earlier than usual.
• Getting dressed in the morning by performing the various necessary movements with attention and precision, rapidly yet not hurriedly.

Here is a very important precious ability to develop in daily life: to learn how to “make haste slowly”. Modem life with its stress and strain tends to create in us the habit of hurry, even when the occasion does not require it—a result of “mass suggestion.”

To make haste slowly is not easy, but it is possible; and it paves the way for efficiency and productiveness, without tension and without exhaustion. It is not easy because it requires of us that we be almost dual: the one who acts, and the one who simultaneously looks on as the observer; yet simply to try to do this constitutes a good way of developing the will.

During the day:

• Learning serenity or “self-recollectedness” during one’s daily work, no matter how tedious the task may be
• To control emotion and acts of impatience when confronted with minor difficulties and annoyances, such as finding oneself in a crowded train, or waiting for the opening of a door, or when noticing the mistakes or faults of a dependent, or experiencing the injustice of a superior.

In the evening:

• Controlling the impulse to give vent to our bad temper—perhaps caused by various vexations, preoccupations or business worries —bearing serenely whatever comes our way and trying to adjust any disharmonies in the home.
• During a meal control the desire or impulse to eat quickly, while thinking of business, etc. We should compel ourselves to masticate well and enjoy our meal with a relaxed and calm mind.
• Resist the allurements of people or things that tend to divert us from our chosen tasks.
• Whether away at business or in the home, wherever possible, we must resolutely cease working when tired, controlling the desire to hurry just to get a job finished.
• Give yourself wise rest and recreation. During these rest periods, a few muscular exercises or relaxation by means of closing the eyes for a few minutes will suffice.
• For mental fatigue, physical exercises are generally the most beneficial, though each individual can find out by practice what suits him best. One of the advantages of such short and frequent interruptions is that one does not lose interest in, nor the impetus for, the work in hand, and at the same time one overcomes fatigue and nervous tension. An ordered rhythm in our activities generates harmony in our being; and harmony is a universal law of life.
• Retire at a fixed hour, resolutely interrupting one’s reading or an interesting conversation.

It is difficult, especially at first, to do all these exercises well, and to attempt them all at once would easily lead to discouragement. Therefore, it is advisable to begin with only a few, spread over the day; and when success has been achieved with these, to increase their number, varying, alternating the exercises and performing them cheerfully and with interest, scoring successes and failures, setting oneself records, and trying to meet them in a competitive sporting attitude. Thus the danger is avoided of making life too rigid and mechanical, and we make interesting and colorful what otherwise would be tiresome duties; also all with whom we are associated become our cooperators (without their knowing it!):

• A dogmatic superior or an exacting partner becomes can become the mental parallel bars on which our will—the will to right human relations—can develop its force and proficiency.
• Delay in being served with a meal gives us the opportunity to exercise patience and serenity, as well as the chance to read a good book while waiting.
• Talkative friends or time-wasters give us the chance to control speech; they teach us the art of courteous but firm refusal to engage in unnecessary conversations. To be able to say “no” is a difficult but very useful discipline.