Stop fixing things

Are you constantly trying to ‘fix’ things – to turn your current circumstances, feelings or the people around you into something else? Isn’t it exhausting?

In their book Mindfulness for Health, Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman write:

By not rushing in to put things right, but just resting your awareness on the breath, you learn that a great many things do not need to be fixed immediately.”

Try this exercise from Padraig O’Morain to help you let go of that impulse to rush in and fix the things you don’t like:

For an hour, notice imperfections and annoyances that you don’t need to fix right now – your slow computer, a habitually irritating colleague, and so on. Practise tolerating these imperfections without criticising either out loud or in your mind.”

When you next find yourself in ‘fix it now’ mode, take your awareness to your breathing for a few in-breaths and out-breaths. Then quietly say to yourself “It doesn’t need fixing now. I’ll deal with that later, if I need to.”