LOGAM

I recently read about the Swedish concept of “lagom”.  It generally means something like just the right amount.  Not too much, not too little.  It differs from “sufficient” or “average”.  Those words imply a bit of deficiency or lack or withholding.  Whereas “lagom” means exactly right…. do I really need more than three pairs of black pants?  Does this piece of clothing fit in every way?  Can I donate three blouses to Goodwill?

The article on Facebook went on to talk about how messiness is not really a problem of clutter, it is a problem of seeing too many choices…. “My office is such a mess I don’t even know where to start.”  The problem is not the messy office, it is a problem of not starting.  The Lagom approach might be to take one surface and spend 5 minutes clearing it.  Whatever can be done in 5 minutes is enough.  Do it.  Check it off and move on.  The next day tell yourself to respond to three emails you have flagged and not acted on.  Only 3.  It is a way of training yourself to START and to start small. Allegedly this will teach your brain to limit the overwhelm and just begin.

I can see the relevance of this to spiritual practice too.  We determine that we should meditate, so we decide to meditate for 30 minutes every morning.  That lasts about a week and we give up on the project.  Lagom might tell us to meditate for 5 minutes today.  Check it off.  You did it!  Maybe you’ll do it again tomorrow or maybe not.  What you will do is START.  And start small.  I am intrigued by this idea.  It’s not so much settling for the small steps as it is a way to begin thinking differently.  I think this could apply to a writing practice ss well.  We all want to write the great American novel.  But, real writers write bad drafts every day… and eventually they find enough good words in there to have a novel, or a poem, or an essay.  I think the message is something like Nike tells us. “just do it!”