The blog is working.
As I’ve stepped back and evaluated the direction my life is taking, vs. the direction I wanted it to take when I was young and idealistic (a common middle age crisis kind of thing) I’ve identified a number of items that aren’t quite what was going for.
One of them is my spiritual focus. (Don’t worry – I’m not going to get into a big religious thing here. That doesn’t qualify within the established parameters. Just making a point). It’s not as strong and well established as it once was. I’ve looked back over the last 10 years or so to see where I diverged. Basically I’ve decided it is a reflection of what I spend my time thinking about.
The most recent things I put in my head impacts my focus in direct proportion to the amount of the thing I’ve put in my head in relation to the other things I’ve put into my head most within the same time period.
Pretty deep.
Basically, the time I spend reading or talking about the spiritual aspects of my life has faded away. The solution, read the scriptures more, attend more services, write about it, think about it. Then it will be more focused.
Now, this blog isn’t going to help me spiritually, but it is facilitating the same thing creatively. As I’ve put this up and started posting, I find myself thinking about being creative. How to do it, making time for it, etc. My work goal for today was to get the TV antenna up. I put it up late last fall to see if we could pick anything up with it. Thought I did a pretty good job until a wind storm blew it down a month later. So, second try. Got it up. Goal achieved, time to burn. Now what?
Throw some pots.
While I was getting the tools and stuff I needed to do the antenna I flipped the heater on in my pottery room in the garage. So when I put my tools away, the pottery room was nice and warm and just crying out for me. I decided – two bowls. I’ll just throw two bowls and we’ll be good. No big effort, no attempt to create something magnificent. Just two bowls.
I grabbed a bag of nice warm clay and threw two bowls. No big deal. Just did it.
An important element of this whole effort is the doing of the thing. I have a tendency to put to much weight on ‘doing things’ to make a giant production. I’m an amazing planner, organizer and get-ready-for’er. Then, with all of the pieces in place, way to often I fail to do ‘the thing’. I decided to do the pottery thing two years ago. I found a used kiln for a decent price. Took a class. My wife bought me a wheel for my birthday. That was cool. Over that summer I rearranged the garage, pulled in the other odds and ends I needed and ended up with a fairly decent pottery studio. Then last winter was just to cold. I bought a heater, but it wasn’t big enough for the whole garage so it never really worked. (Another me fact – I HATE being cold.) So last summer, after I put in the new sprinkler system, which then flooded our basement, which required the placement of all the basement furniture in the garage until the basement was cleaned, re-insulated, re-sheetrocked, re-painted and re-carpeted, I finally put a barrier up between the pottery studio and the rest of the garage. Notice – no significant amount of pottery going on during this period. A whole lot of other things going on around it. But now I had a studio I could be warm in.
A month or so ago I went out to work, turned on the heater, set everything up, and grabbed a bag of clay. It was frozen solid. So I moved it to a kinder environment. And once again, I didn’t do. I don’t have to make up excuses, they just happen naturally.
But today I did do. I had some time, I could choose to do anything I wanted to fill it and I threw two bowls. No big deal, just did it.
I credit the blog in my making that decision. It’s always in the back of my mind. I need to post something. I need to do something to post about. I find my focus sharpening, growing tighter.
Just put one foot in front of the other…
