It's really cold here this morning, 19 degrees. My hot water faucet doesn't work. The cold runs but not the hot. Ok, homeowners 101. Where is the turn off water valve? How do I shut off the hot water heater? I need to know all this. No work today, so I get to have an extended morning time. What do other people do in the morning? Have they berated themselves for years, like me, about not spending enough quiet/meditative time in the a.m., along with self-scolding about not exercising early and enough, not writing in the journal consistently, not eating a healthy breakfast, walking the dogs, reading the paper (s- local, NYT, checking out NPR online....), making a healthy breakfast for the kids, spending time with them before school? Is that too much to ask for the time between 5:30 and 7:00 a.m.????!!!!! That voice inside my head has told me for years that I ought to be doing all of this....do other people have that voice? Trouble is, I want to do it all. I met the Quaker cartoonist Signe Wilkinson last year when she came to Guilford (yep, there are perks). She said every morning she reads about 3 papers, exercises, and eats b'fast before she goes off to create her next cartoon at the office. I think about her a lot. I want to be that organized. I want to have a routine.
I have gotten into a sort of habit of writing morning pages a la The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. It's been a freeing process (thanks Kay for that book by the way) because her instruction is to free-write for about 3 pages, right after you wake up (I make coffee first). Just write, anything. "I have nothing to say my mind is a blank I don't want to do this" counts just as much as the occasional epiphany. She calls this a mind "dump" I think. Just get all of that chatter out onto the page so you can clear your mind. I love that.
That leads me to list some things I love to read (on and off line)...
The Artist's Way, the Julia Cameron book.
my friend Patti Digh's blog: 37days.typepad.com (if you haven't read this, do yourself a favor. She is a great, funny, brilliant person. We were at Guilford together but have recently gotten to know each other. I'll be stealing, I mean sharing, a lot of what I read from her blog here. I do read that every day.)
any links from Patti's blog (now she is becoming vegan, damn it. Now I have to reevaluate my eating habits! She does have some cool links to vegan sites, books, etc. Can I be a partial vegan?)
npr.org
storycorps
This American Life
FolkAlley (folk music streamed online)
Pandora (you create your own online radio music station...it's the best)
There's more, but I have to pace myself here! I want to know what you love online and otherwise!
I am obviously a blogging novice, and I'm experimenting with what I want to do here. But one thing I thought of is sharing powerful quotes that I come across. I now save them in this beautiful, little book, hand-made by Claire (I do love it Claire!). Speaking of houses/being a homeowner, here is one of my favorites:
Housing Shortage
I tried to live small.
I took a narrow bed.
I held my elbows to my sides.
I tried to step carefully
and to think softly
and to breathe shallowly.
In my portion of air.
And to disturb no one.
Yet see how I spread out and I cannot help it.
I take to myself more and more, and I take nothing
that I do not need, but my needs grow like weeds,
all over and invading.
I clutter this place.
With all the apparatus of living.
You stumble over it daily.
And then my lungs take their fill.
And then you gasp for air.
Excuse me for living,
but since I am living,
given inches, I take yards,
Taking yards, dream of miles,
and a landscape, unbounded
and vast in abandon.
You too dreaming the same.
-Naomi Replansky
I have to say, reading this again, is so powerful. The first part, when I read it, I do almost stop breathing again. I couldn't breathe for a long time. Breathing is so good.
Be well, and thank you.
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