laws of the motion of life

with apologies to isaac newton

I was going through my archives — through blog posts and journals — and I suddenly realized that this overwhelm I’m feeling about all the things I have to get done before the end of the year isn’t new. In fact, it turns out that I feel this way almost every year around this time. I supposed there’s just something about the holiday looming in the near distance that feels like a wake-up call to the year coming to the end. Only a couple of months left, I think. Time to get going.

But I also came across something I wrote almost 4 years ago — I called them my personal laws of the motion of life — and I’m happy to report that they feel as applicable now as they did back then. With apologies to Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion, I thought I’d share them again, in case you’re also finding yourself a bit out of sorts as the year’s end approaches.

Newton’s First Law of Motion: A body at rest tends to stay at rest and a body in motion tends to remain in motion, in a straight line, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

First Law of the Motion of Life: A body at rest tends to stay at rest — which is good for a while, but then a body needs to get back in motion. But a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and you need to be mindful of putting it back to rest before an unbalanced force knocks that body on its ass so hard it has no choice but to involuntarily remain at rest.

A wise woman once told me that the only way to create longevity in the work of activism — but indeed, also in our lives — is to tap into our natural rhythms, our ebbs and flows. A rhythm of rest is the way we keep gathering our energy to go back in and fight the good fight. And I don’t know about you, but I’ve found that when I push myself too hard — work too many hours, or neglect self-care — that’s when I get a cold or the flu, or some sort of ailment or injury that makes so I have no choice but to get in bed. I suspect I’m not alone in this.

So remember, after you've done what you can to help the world, do what you can to help yourself. Look at something beautiful. Practice a hobby that fills you up.

Build a cadence of rest.

Newton’s Second Law of Motion: Force equals mass times acceleration.

Second Law of the Motion of Life: Progress equals intention times movement.

Sometimes, when I have a lot to do, I find become so overwhelmed that I ignore it, paying attention to doing any little thing I can — clean my office, empty the dishwasher, put away laundry — anything to avoid doing the big task that I really need to get to.

Just me?

My latest manuscript was a year-long lesson in this: I would have to tackle a chapter and would get too overwhelmed trying to figure out what to write, so I would procrastinate by doing a n y t h i n g e l s e besides actually sitting down to write. It became a problem. But as my book deadline loomed, one day I finally figured out that the best way to make progress was to pull out my journal and just start long-hand writing anything related to my chapter. Somehow, writing it in my journal gave me permission to write complete nonsense if I needed to — and then, when I pulled out my laptop to retype what I’d written in my manuscript, it became an easy job to edit it. Intention x movement — I intended to get words on paper, moved in that direction with my journal, and suddenly, I was writing a book.

The Second Law of the Motion of Life reminds me that anytime I’m stymied, the key is to simply make any movement in my intended direction, no matter how tiny. Works every time.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Third Law of the Motion of Life: Same, actually — for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

I believe, whether we’re talking about good or evil, darkness or light, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The trick is to be mindful of what actions we put out in the world, ‘cause those laws of motion say they’re comin’ right back at us. I figure we never go wrong if we err in the direction of kindness and justice.

Because, as I always maintain, kindness is a power move.

So, happy coming-to-the-end-of-the-year, friends. My wish for us all this week is that we remember the Laws of the Motion of Life. And that, as always, we remember to breathe.

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