The exercise of judgment destroys your capacity of discernment. In no instance is this more self-evident than in the matter of handling pressure. The ability to relax into pressure rather than judge it and consequently react negatively or withdraw from it is one of the greatest keys to unlocking your full potential in living.
Increases in pressure, whatever their provenance, test the integrity of your body, mind and heart at any given point in time. If you dedicate your life to the pursuit of truth, for instance, you will bring pressure on anything related to the subject at hand that is not aligned with the truth.
Those who have invested in faulty logic or reasoning, so that their understanding is composed of the “bricks without straw” of human opinion instead of on the immovable rock of truth, will tend to see those who represent the truth as foes, rather than as allies. That reaction or friction will tend to create an unnatural pressure and that pressure, dear readers, is your friend. By relaxing deeply into the pressure you overcome the reflexive mental and physical constrictions that harden you to the forces at work and put you in opposition to the increased energy inherent in pressure. That reflex is not instinctual, it is conditioned and most people are trained incorrectly from a very young age in this regard.
Rather than scanning your life in a attempt to affix blame somewhere else, why not skip that step and assume full responsibility for how you handle pressure? When the heat comes on, resist the temptation to blame, complain, withdraw or lash out.
Look instead to breath the pressure in metaphorically-speaking, just as an Aikido master would draw the attacking energy of an opponent close to himself so that it can be redirected from as close to his axis of balance as possible. Breath out or apply yourself to the solution at just the right moment (it takes practice) and you’ll find that the pressure you once reacted to is now working with you rather than against you.
Gregory Hake 
As responsibility is accepted for the personal handling of one’s world there comes a sense of relaxation. Here there is a release of the human tendency to blame, complain, withdraw or lash out. Opening up to this responsibility of integrity in the deepest sense does bring the awareness of that axis point of balance from which to act. Thank you for your words so pivotal to living a fulfilling life.
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It takes a certain courage to relinquish the strategy of reacting offensively to pressure, because the underlying feeling tends to be that one will be overwhelmed. “I’ll lose; I’ll be beaten, I’ll fail.” In fact, the opposite is true. If we wish to be victorious, if we wish to succeed in life, the strategy you suggest is crucial. As we practice this deliberately, we find that the pressure works for us, not against us, and that we really need that pressure!
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this is probably the best advice you could take fully to heart and to be an example of to others.
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I really appreciate your description of this seeming paradox. I’ve heard about it but not described so definitively for me, thank you. Judgement is such a wrench in our emotional and mental machinery. I’ve found that correcting myself whenever I recognize that tendency appearing has helped the state of my heart immensely and immediately. Just saying to myself “that’s not my concern”. It’s rather like quitting smoking. There are only upsides to it! If relaxing into pressure is a learned skill, hooray, it’s available to anyone who will devote themselves to it. Great beginning for this week, onward and upward!
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Understanding that pressure is a friend is fundamental to success when living an uncommon life. If you live life always shying away from a pressurized situation, you end up living a life that many others have lived. It is the same if you get angry, blame others for the discomfort, etc. It is truly the uncommon man or woman that can relax when pressure arrives, and use the pressure as momentum for forward movement. This is a very polarizing thing, and people who see you do it will have a wide array of reactions. They might feel angry, or envious; or they could feel inspired. If you are able to relax when pressure arrives, your impact in life will be guaranteed.
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Great post to gear up for the week with!
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