taekwondo

Today’s guest blogger is Camilla Orjuela, a peace researcher who in addition to peace is also interested in tango, poetry and life in general.

I think it's the small things that can get to you. If you suffer from a real disaster (losing someone who means everything to you or suffering a serious illness) you go into a kind of "emergency mode" and manage wonderfully in any way even though it cuts like a knife in the heart and you feel like you’ve been kicked into space all alone without wings. It is somewhat different for the small stuff - the things that can trip you in everyday life, which have the power to suddenly get you to sit on a sidewalk sobbing, kicking the wall and leaving marks or screaming at some innocent bystander. You probably know what the triggers are in your life. Perhaps a neighbor's disgusting taste in music is heard through the wall again. Your boss’s annoying voice at staff meetings. Pedestrians who are always in the middle of the bike path when you’re in a rush. The endless "press 1, press 2" while holding for customer support. The things that push us over the line into temporary madness.

For me it was the doors at work. I work at the university. Free thinking and openness, one might think. But no. A nightmare of heavy doors, access cards and codes. To go from the break room to my office with a cup of tea, an evening snack and a pile of articles while getting all the doors open seems more impossible than achieving world peace.

But you can outsmart your enemies. Transform them from evil mood killers to little moments that you fill with something good and useful. I started with an annoying electrical door that opens in slow-motion, slow enough to break you even on your most merry day. I began to kill the time by kicking. Kicking as high as possible (in the air that is) while the door opened. I became better and better at it each time I passed the slow-motion-door. Eventually I found it fun rather than tedious to go through that door.

You can use your little moments for anything. If you’re trying to learn a new language, you can choose a phrase to practice when your enemies show up. Or maybe a song verse you want to get really good at, or a dance move. If you’re religious you can use the time for a small prayer, where you thank God (or any higher power) for how wonderful life is (please specify). If you’re into self-help books an affirmation can be nice (tell yourself how cool and great you are).

After the slow-motion-door I went after the worst and heaviest doors in the stairwells, which squeeze you like the garbage compactor in Star Wars once you’ve finally pried them open. I decided to bend down and touch the floor each time before I try to get through (at least if no one is looking). I hope to become a bit more flexible from this exercise but it also leaves room for a little prayer ("God, I bow before your greatness and thank you for all the doors you give me to open throughout life", or something like it). If you manage to touch the floor, even though you’re carrying a tea cup and a sandwich and reading materials it’ll be a piece of cake to get through that monster of a door. Haha, you have lost the power to break me!