This quote is a powerful reminder to get on with our lives and mind our business. If our minds are busy, there’s no time for nonsense. We focus on rowing the boat and moving ahead with our tasks. it also talks about the power of concentration and how important it is to focus on what we do. the moment we lose it, the mind runs haywire and it is hard to reign it back in. There are elements of controlling the mind. But the main message I’d focus on is being busy and minding our business.
Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat!
An idle brain is a devil’s workshop. It can concoct various scenarios and make us question about what’s happening in our lives. The best way to keep this mind occupied is by being busy. Not just being busy for the sake of it. But being fully engrossed in the flow of doing something and concentrating on it. Time can be an obnoxious companion when you don’t know what to do with it. (Related: Idle brain is a devil’s workshop)
If we are rowing the boat, our focus is on ensuring that we keep moving ahead. We are also focused on keeping it afloat and looking out for dangers that can sink it. In other words, we have our minds fixated on a purpose where there’s very little space to think of something else. The moment this mind becomes free – it starts running various situations in our mind. Some of these situations can be great while some others are painful. But none of these are in our control because we are not fully involved in something. So, if you find your mind wandering, be like the guy who is rowing the boat – not the one who’s rocking it just because he has the time.
Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat!
Jean Paul Sartre
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I have observed that about 90% of the time we have thoughts about most random things. Very few of them are useful or insightful for our being. The more attention we pay to such thoughts the more complicated it gets and we end up running around in circles. If we pay attention to frivolous things, over analysing, brooding, or regretting , we end up rocking the boat. For me, the bad “boat rockers” are the above three.
As you said, sometimes it’s good to rock the boat by questioning our approach, in fact that’s absolutely necessary. Easier said than done but questioning the most obvious sometimes offers great insights. How else would we know our mistakes?
Good to hear from you Jayasurya. I agree – I think it is a really tough one to control all the dimensions our mind goes in. At the same time when we know some of these can be distractions it can be really hard to appreciate them.
I do realise though in the process of being disciplined we end up being a bit hard on ourselves and not appreciating the different dimensions of thought our mind can get into. I suppose this discussion was perhaps a way to question that and understand
– why am I thinking like this
– what is the use I get in this approach?
– how can I make this benefit me?
Granted these questions are perhaps very difficult to develop as second nature but they sure can make a tremendous difference to our approach