First thing after getting up this morning, I was about to launch into a half hour of streamlining. Then I remembered one of my waking thoughts and listened to it on my Olympus voice recorder: “I spend nearly all of my time doing what amounts to errands, and very little time doing high-level things: processing, creating , reading, writing, conversation. What’s that all about? I mean, my time is pretty much all under my control. This is a big part of my dance with time."
Well, Dave, guess what? You can choose differently! Yee ha! That's good, if embarrassing news.
Embarrassing, really? “What fools we mortals be.” “Progress, not perfection.” So, let it go or I’ll womp you with more platitudes.
Uncle!
So, I’ll initiate the day with one or some quality engagements. I’ll start with reading a bit from The Happiness Myth. 12” on the timer with a cuppa chai.
(A bit later) Yes. I read Jennifer’s chapter on how shopping has become a national pastime, replacing the function of many of our prior social interactions. I feel fortunate to live in Fayetteville, which continues to improve opportunities for relatively casual social connections: the farmer’s market, the multi-use trails, parks, public library, coffee houses, Ozark Natural Foods, etc. I think Wade Colwell was right when he said at the Scull Creek Trail dedication that it would become "the social backbone of our community."
In terms of personal happiness; or flourishing as I'm fond of saying, I now turn to what I can do next, and then the rest of the day, week, month, life. How do I go about living this day. Right now in my life, I have a large measure of independence; of freedom and autonomy. This is a mixed blessing in that it requires more decisions in proportion to this independence. I accept the challenge. What choice, right now, do I have, after all? I can choose to begin, continue really, creating routines in my life, and/or “enrolling’ myself into situations that do that.
What are the “large rocks” right here and now? I’ll begin with continuing my weekly review, David Allen’s system for inventorying one’s complete collection of obligations, projects, plans, and the like: “Do, Delete, Delegate, or Defer.” I haven’t completed this exercise fully since I moved into my new digs here on Leverett. I predict that doing so will promote peace, prosperity, and play; and certainly foster flourishing, fun, flow, and fulfillment. And not only for me, because I’ve found that my experimentation and example send ripples out into the larger community pond, and some actually pick up the rhythm of those wee waves.
I'm choosing to post these excerpts from my journal as practice in writing and publishing. I'm uncomfortable inasmuch as these snippets are not exactly the profound and useful thoughts to which I aspire. I'm also not taking the time to polish much, or to present a comprehensive and authentic picture of my life, one that would show the more focused and productive elements. Good, I say. I get to practice presenting less than my usual persona.
