Page 36 of All That Has Flown Beyond
“I think it’s preciselybecauseyou felt rudderless for so long that you’re overdoing it with work and, in turn, feeling so much anxiety about it. It’s unpleasant but, yeah. Pretty normal.”
“Yeah, this feels super normal,” Kaiyo said sarcastically, but he grinned at Claudia. She smiled back.
“Okay, so. Breaks. Any idea?”
“Um…I honestly have no idea.”
“Okay, well, what research shows is that the best breaks have a clear start and a clear finish. For example, reading a few pages of a magazine or a book or watching a bit of a series—anything that gives you the option to go on and see more of it—don’t make great breaks. They tend to leave you feeling unfulfilled and restless, because you’re left with that niggling, ‘Oh, just one more article, or page, or episode’. Instead, let’s go for something that has set boundaries. For example, is there a hot drink that you like?”
“Akiko has kind of converted me to green tea.”
“Okay. That has caffeine, so let’s do a decaffeinated version after four o’clock, but that’s great. What about music, do you like that?”
“Yeah, a lot.”
“Okay. How about this. You get up and make yourself a drink. This gets you out of your room or where you are working, which helps our brain switch from ‘work’ and into ‘break’. We sit somewhere comfortable and listen to a premade playlist that has the exact number of songs you want to listen to. For a short break, this can be two or three songs, even. How does that sound?”
“I’m…not sure, really. I’ll have to try it out.”
“Good. We can also do something sensory. Play-Doh, fidget toys, sensory pillows, anything that feels good. We’ll have to try a few out. If you want a slightly longer and more engaging break, we can try some little doodle books I have here. Each page is smaller than a Post-it, so they can be completed pretty quickly. We’ll try different combinations until we find the right one. How does that sound?”
“That actually…I mean, sorry, when you first started talking I was like, ‘There’s no way this is going to work, breaks don’t work on me’, but yeah. One of those or a combination of those has got to work.”
“Great. We can approach the reward and rest time in a similar way. We’ll make some lists, try them out.…It’s all about trial and error and making it specific for you. Just because I would like a piece of chocolate as a reward doesn’t mean you would.”
“Yeah, no. I’m not big on chocolate.”
“Heathen.”
Kaiyo laughed. It felt good to be able to.
CHAPTER SIX
Kaiyo and Akiko were in the forest. Another seed, another patch of land. This time the earth was dry, the sky overcast.
“Last time, I asked you to make a seed grow using just your Ousía. Why is this different?” Akiko said.
“Because I don’t have enough to give to make the seed grow. The conditions are too difficult. The seed will become a tree, so it’s more complex. The energy it would take to make it grow would be too big of an ask.”
“Good. What can be done to make the balance easier to settle?”
“We could change the conditions. Wait until the sun is out. Water the land, give it nutrients. Wait until the seedling grows a little to help us along.”
“Good. And if we can’t change the conditions?”
“Use a spell or a ritual.”
“What are those used for?” Akiko asked. Kaiyo tamped down a sigh. They had gone through this many times before.
“Well, the Ousía you have access to inside yourself is like water. The amount differs between people. If you’re conductive, you can move the water and affect the water around you by changing the currents or the direction. Being receptive helps you know the quality of the water around you and what is in it. Rituals and spells are used mainly by conductive people to help them control the direction and intensity of their own water, even if that much isn’t accessible to them, therefore allowing a more efficient use of it.”
“Good. Tell me the difference between spells and rituals.”
“Spells are less powerful than rituals. They are used for things that take less energy. For example, if the scope or duration of the effect you are seeking is lower. Rituals are for the occasions when more energy is asked for.”
“What makes rituals and spells effective?”
“Well, they help you connect with other Ousía. So…correspondences help, which are human-creating things like objects, symbols, colours, et cetera, that mean something to the caster. So, like, if I am performing a binding ritual and the colour purple, for whatever reason, helps me identify with the concept of binding, it will help the ritual. Correspondences also have a history. Objects, or symbols, or whatever, that have been consistently used for a type of effect will help access it more easily. So, like, for example, white candles for commencement rituals.”
