That “certain force” turned out to be nothing but laziness

— Mrs Nino, we often want to do some good work, or simply to carry out our ordinary daily business, but “a certain force” hinders us; and afterwards we find that this was simply laziness. How are we to overcome it?

— It is very important that a person should discover in himself that laziness is fighting against him in particular. It fights against everyone in greater or lesser measure; in this world you will not find a person who has not at least some small experience of fighting laziness in his life. At such times the planning of the day and a regular order are of very great importance. It is extremely important not to fall out of our daily biological rhythm: to sleep at night, as God has appointed, and to work by day. Besides this, we must plan every day. There are short-term plans and long-term ones; psychologists advise us always to write down the plan of the day. Such plans help a person very much to overcome laziness and in many other things as well. What does a short-term plan mean? It is a plan of the things to be done over the next three days or within one week, and it must be written down on paper; we take a small notebook in which we write what we have to do in the next two or three days, and whatever of that list we do, we cross out. Then we tear out that page, throw it away, and so continue writing this short-term plan.

Psychologically, writing is of very great importance. When you write and fix a certain thought, at that moment the gathering of vital energy for that particular task takes place, which you then direct towards that task, so as to carry it out afterwards; therefore this fixing, this writing down, has very great psychological importance. It is not necessary to write into these plans, say, the buying of bread at the shop, or a task we do every day; but whatever differs from this even a little must certainly be set down. This helps a person greatly in the fight with laziness. Besides this, the holy fathers of the Church advise us to ask help of various saints; there is such an experience in the Church, that in various trials we call upon various saints. In the case of laziness one may call upon any saint who by his struggle obtained the Kingdom of Heaven; in this matter all the saints will help us, and before all — the Mother of God. When a person feels the onset of laziness, it will be very good if he turns for help to one of the great saints: to Saint Nicholas, to Saint Seraphim of Sarov, to Saint George, to the Mother of God as the Mother of all people, or to his own patron saint, or to his guardian angel. The holy fathers write plainly that at such a time, first of all, it helps us greatly not to spend much time in bed in the morning as soon as we wake: this acts very badly upon the soul. At that moment we must turn to our guardian angel, and he will help us to get up quickly and set to work. The reading of the ninetieth psalm also helps. We must not rely only upon our own strength; we must certainly ask the intercession of the saints and of the Lord. If a person comes to see how much he might have done, how he might have glorified God with his life, and that only through laziness he failed to do it, then a wondrous repentance will take hold of him. This is yet another way to overcome laziness; in this direction too a person should think — how many good works to the glory of God he has failed to do because of laziness. A good work has this property, that, like a chain reaction, one work is followed of itself by a second, as its consequence, as its fruit; that is, one good is of itself followed by many more, and the understanding of this will be a very important spur for a person, that we may overcome laziness and think about glorifying God with our life; and in this laziness must on no account hinder us.

— Sometimes we are willing to bear even reproaches, only so as not to fight laziness, and to some degree we even grow used to this state...

— In all this there is a certain element of habit: you grow used to the state of laziness and create for yourself a “comfort”; but this is a false comfort: it is as though you feel calm, yet in truth, if a person looks closely into himself, he will certainly see that he is in a state of agitation. The holy fathers distinguish three kinds of thoughts: human, divine, and those that proceed from the evil one. The holy fathers advise us that, if we wish to tell one from another — which thought is divine and which comes from the evil one — we must look closely into ourselves. When a certain thought arises in you, then, if at that moment you are in a state of agitation, it means that this thought proceeds from the evil one; and if a person looks closely at his inward state during laziness, he will see that it will certainly be agitation. We must not think that at such a time we are calm and comfortable: all this is false, an illusion. Christianity leads us precisely to this, that we should come out of this illusory world and look at reality. It is bad when laziness becomes a habit; but even if it does become a habit, a person's character can still overcome it by working upon himself, only this, of course, will require great effort.

— If we see that someone close to us is lazy and makes no attempt to correct himself, how are we to help him?

— The greatest power lies in personal example. In my own life too there have been several particular and clear moments when I spent several hours beside a person who gets a great deal done, whose time is planned and set out, who knows what to spend it on and clearly sees his goals. To be beside such a person calms one wondrously and shows one one's own weakness. It is just such a personal example that has the greatest power. It is important to show another person how you use your time, how you have planned it and how you use it; sometimes there is no need to say anything in words — only by one's conduct. Whatever you may say to a person in words, there may be no result; but when he sees with his own eyes what good a thoughtful ordering of time can bring, that will be a great example; then little by little a change will certainly take place in the other person, only he must really see such an example.

— Children are often too lazy to study; how should a parent try to root out this harmful quality in a child?

— Sometimes children really are too lazy to learn, to go to music lessons, to prepare their lessons; at such a time quarrelling on the parent's part and constant reproaches are not justified. If we look closely, most important here is the right choice of teacher in the subjects the child is studying. I have not seen a child who had a good teacher in a certain subject and who was too lazy to learn that subject; in this matter the factor of the teacher is decisive. When a teacher approaches his subject creatively and strives to grow as a person, he is able to pass on the subject to the child in such a way that every lesson becomes a feast for the pupil. By rights, a perfect lesson is such; but sadly, in our reality — and in other countries too — it does not happen that every teacher approaches both his subject and the child's person creatively. Here a twofold approach is needed: first of all the child needs a creative approach; in him one must see a person, the image and likeness of God. Then, a creative approach to the subject, so as to discover something new all the time and to present it to the pupil in a new way. For all this to be joined in one person, in a teacher, is very rare; but where it is, there the parent scarcely has to quarrel with the child and give loud, constant instructions to study. But when there is no such encouragement from the teacher, then the parent is obliged to give the child this encouragement himself, to spur him on, to create certain conditions so as to interest him, to find further material, books, to show him films, so as to bring the child more fully into the world he is coming to know; or at least to think up some encouraging means, so as by this to fight the child's laziness. Life itself will prompt the parent what to use for this, so as to overcome the child's laziness.

— Of course every believer knows that prayer has the greatest power and importance; but in a person's life there are often such moments when for this or that reason, even from weariness, he is too lazy to pray and calls to his aid all sorts of excuses and thoughts. How are we to overcome this temptation?

— Such a thing happens very often; I know of no believer who has not many times experienced such a state. Upon this question Saint Theophan the Recluse focuses particular attention, and casts light upon it in a wondrously psychological way. He writes that it is very good, before we read the morning prayers, to sit down and to think about the attributes of God. He calls this “meditation upon God”. Each day should be given to one attribute of God, and one morning we should think about it for at least ten or fifteen minutes. Say, reflect upon the justice of God; the next morning, upon His mercy, and upon how this mercy is shown in our life too, and so forth. This will prepare a person for prayer. Prayer certainly requires a certain disposition; every holy father makes special note of this. To begin prayer straight away, unprepared, without a certain calm, is by no means possible. Before you begin to read the prayers, you must grow calm; it is good if you light a lamp or a candle: this helps us to create the disposition. It is good if we reflect upon some attribute of God and consider it both in general and in relation to this life, and this will give us such a disposition that afterwards it is far easier to read the prayers.

We are likewise too lazy to read the prayers before sleep. At night a person is sometimes very weary; at such a time weariness overcomes laziness, and after a whole day of work a person no longer has even the strength to listen attentively to the words read in the prayer book. Here too there are many counsels; at such a time one must certainly be guided by the counsel of one's spiritual father. For example, if you give ten minutes to the evening prayer, then, because of certain circumstances, if the spiritual father permits, those ten minutes may be spent praying with the prayer rope. Along with this there is also a short prayer, which is likewise read in exceptional cases; but this is not always a way out — it happens in exceptional cases and by agreement with the spiritual father. Prayer is communion with God, a conversation; true prayer is when the mind descends into the heart and we pray with our whole heart. Moments of laziness during prayer have come at least a few times to every Christian. Of course there were such people, holy fathers, who attained that degree where their prayer was truly a conversation with the Lord; we are not able to pray thus, but we are going towards it, we stand upon this road, and upon this road we must little by little move forward through the mediation, the help and the blessing of a spiritual father. The holy fathers counsel us at least not to refuse prayer because of weariness, but to read even the smallest part. It has happened that a person thought in his heart that because of weariness he would not be able to read the prayers in full and began to read only the opening prayers; but very often God gives us the strength to finish the prayers to the end. That is, this already depends upon our faith and our spiritual life. This, of course, needs years, so that little by little, step by step, we may gain the experience of prayer and with God's help be able to overcome laziness. The apostle Paul writes in his first epistle to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing.” If we look closely, it is first written “rejoice evermore”, that is, if we have no joy, then neither shall we be able to pray. The quality proper to a Christian is joy; a Christian always rejoices spiritually, he sees the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere. If we attain this state, the Lord will help us too, and prayer will no longer be hard for us.