Bits and Pieces

When my work days get so demanding, a lot of other stuff seems to fall to the side: blogging (reading and writing), artwork, life maintenance, cooking, reading, being nice to people, balance in general. I often wonder if I use work as an excuse for being lazy in all those areas, or if I'm just possessed of a finite amount of mental and physical energy and it's too easily depleted, or if I'm burn up what would be plenty of energy by being OCD worrisome and running too fast or whatever. And I have no answer. I tend to extremes, so I suspect I'm giving work more attention than it really needs, at the expense of the other parts of my life. So, today begins an effort to stop the maddness. (stay with me, this has a point...)

I'm thinking I need to slow down a bit and be more conscious of what I'm doing. I posed the question yesterday because I think there's some lessons to be learned by observing how people that are good at what they do actually do it. It occurred to me that folks that are really adept at things seem to do so effortlessly, naturally, fluidly. And then I've been reading some stuff about that very topic in a broad sense. Also this past week I read a blog entry about how doing something (in this case teaching a class) with a high degree of successful and engaging improvisation was the result of a LOT of prep work...by the timet the class took place, the teacher was so familiar with the subject, material and possibilities for presentation that she truly was flexible, intuitive and able to adjust and teach on the fly. So I reckon all around me are hints for adjusting and gaining a little more balance in the busy times that tend to wear me down. Maybe I can start be relaxing more, worrying less, not sweating the endless to-do list, and be willing to take things a little more as they come. Everything doesn't have to be a firefight. A little more patience, a little more acceptance, a little more of acting in harmony and sympathy with what's going on around me instead of constantly trying to change and control it.

For now, I need to get to it. We have SUN for the first time in forever, no wind, and it looks like it might actually be a spring day for a change! I'll go out into it and do my thing (whatever that happens to be) and let the questions of storytelling and what it is that makes people good at what they do bubble around in the back of my mind whilst paying attention to the stuff in front of me, however mundane it may seem. And maybe, I'll slow down just a notch, and take a minute to enjoy the blooming wildflowers, or how the light coming through the trees falls across the lane, or recognize there's more than one or two kinds of birds singing this morning.

Hope everyone has a great day!