Well, well, well. Maybe you noticed I’ve been gone for most of the week, that I missed my daily blogging. Maybe you’ve noticed that my blogging isn’t exactly daily. I’ve hit upon writing and publishing the blog 5 days a week, on the weekdays. That’s what works right now.
I’m always changing things up, figuring out what works on a weekly or daily or minute by minute basis. That’s how life works for me. I’m not an excellent keeper of calendars and I guess I like changing things up, or that’s how my machine works (yes, that machine idea is from “The Quiet Machine” by Ada Limón).
I was taking care of my machine last week by taking most of the week off from all of my jobs. I worked at the bookstore on both Saturdays. But other than that, I only wrote a few work emails. I spent time with my family and with our exchange student from Germany. Our exchange student went home yesterday. After she left, I walked for hours. Hours in the sunlight, looking at the plants and feeling the North wind. I was cold then hot, cold, cold, cold, hot. I wore my feet off. I tired myself out so I could get 8 hours of sleep before diving into a week of deadlines, bookstore shifts and teaching. (Yes, I’m teaching at the Ram & Bee Wellness Center this Wednesday at 7; join me for an hour of creative play).
These are my scattered thoughts before I fully immerse myself in 6 deadlines. I think that’s the right total. Whoosh. The images I’ll carry from my vacation: the green hills surrounding the winery we were at for two days in Eastern Washington. The startling gorgeous magpies. The owl that flew by me after I went in search of said owl. Liz asking me to go on a night walk. Our exchange student smiling at Dick’s Drive-In, a place she really liked! Caroline at the UW, walking in the sunlight and sharing her thoughts with me about her future. Chris delighting in the canyon road we drove along right outside of Yakima. The birds. The colors. The laughter on Easter Sunday as our friends sat with us in our dining room.
Life: it’s happening every minute. What images do you freeze and take in deep, in hopes that you can pull them up later? I’d love to hear about your images.
I am reminded of a Bruce Lee quote about water (though there are a couple)
Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot.
Essentially, remain fluid, adapt to the current situation, do what you must. Blog daily, once a week, 5 days a week, whatever works for you.
Images? I need some. Right now I’m too mired in stuff to have any reflection to sustain me, I feel like I’m going on inertia right now.
We are mostly water. I should think about this when I have trouble adapting. If I’m mostly water, why do I insist on being stone?