Sunday, March 21
Today really isn’t Sunday, it is Thursday. Fully four days later than my goal, my intended day to write this post. Initially I wanted to leave a blog post once a week, I still intend to do that. Sunday is the target date, I may not get to it on Sunday as I intend. So, rather than be discouraged by may apparent lack of ability to hit self-imposed deadlines I thought I would laugh about it and set intentions to continuously improve. The struggle is real. It speaks to the full schedules of almost everyone I know. We fill our schedules with stuff just as we fill our garages and houses with stuff. I am no sage, that is not a secret. But I do believe that for most of us we need to incorporate a more minimalist view of our schedules as well as our house, garage, workshop or studio. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to say no more often. Even writing it down seems counter-intuitive, even selfish for one who wants to live a life of service. I don’t believe it is though. As we hold less, do less, it gives the things we do invest time in a deeper, more full examination, the quality not quantity argument. There is value in soaking in a sunrise or sunset merely for the experience of being there in the moment. Same for many things. For me having a full schedule creates tension all by itself, knowing there is no time for something that may come up that is really special. Tension and creativity are not good playmates. Tension and productivity perhaps but not creativity. There are patterns to when we are most creative. For most people a surge of creativity during down time will follow an intense intellectual bout of work. You need to have both to maximize creativity and production. One without the other lends a bias towards the area where you work and leaves the other area without a nod. Creative thoughts and ideas are not useful until production of some sort where they are brought into the world to leave their mark. For me I am intent on releasing the reigns on creativity. I will at the same time increase productivity. To do both of those things I will say “no”, more often and free up time for the primary goals and the areas I can best serve. When I fail I can embrace that failure with laughter knowing full well that failure is a part of the process of growth rather than a stumbling block to hold you back. Fail forward and laugh.
God left us this in Genesis 21:6. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” and finally a quote from Jean Houston that I appreciate, “At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities”. American author Jean Houston and her husband, Robert Masters co-founded The Foundation for Mind Research.
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