Saturday, August 6, 2011

Newton's First Law of Motion

Since I started purposing to make a few changes in my life and make time for me, I've noticed a few interesting things.  The most important one is the incredible resistance I am fighting from my own body.  It just doesn't want to move once I sit down.  

I actually have to fight it - and fight it hard - to get it to obey me.

When I googled the word "inertia" I discovered that it's not only a state of being, it's also a law.  Newton's first law - of motion that is.  It says that the velocity of a body is constant unless it is acted upon by an outside force.   In other words, it is why a body at rest resists being set in motion, or why a body moving at a certain speed or in a certain direction resists any change to that speed or direction.  It is a property common to all matter.  

And the second law is like it.  It states that the external force required to affect the motion of a body is proportional to that acceleration.  Applied to everyday life, the greater the inertia of a body (which increases with its mass or weight), the more force is necessary to put it in motion.

Which explains why it's such an effort for me to change my routine and do a few simple things I am not used to doing. I'm breaking a law here. . . (hee hee).  Rather, I need to apply more force than would be considered necessary in order to create a new habit, one of looking after myself, when sheer inertia would have me continue to keep on the same old path, doing the same old things.

Today I got out my electric guitar from its case.  I had to get up, go over to the case, unzip the thing, pull out the guitar, pull out the cord, make sure the amp was plugged in, tune up the guitar (it was badly out of tune from disuse) - all of which took about ten minutes before even getting to the good part.  All this in order to play the instrument for ten minutes before my chording fingers said, "Enough!! what are you doing to us??" Yet I had a smile on my face as I put the instrument back in its case, placing it in such a way as to be more accessible next time I use it.

Yes I was rusty.  Yes, I've forgotten a lot and need to relearn some things.  But it felt wonderful.

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