12.3.SAT
To say “no” to various options, various actions we might take, including mental actions, is an essential part of managing ourselves. That’s obvious enough, I suppose, but it’s valuable to me to repeat it for my own benefit. I tend to get distracted, literally “thrown off the tracks.” This can be a creative thing to do, of course, a getting out of our ruts, boxes, habits and the like. But it has its own (opportunity) costs. Truth is, I say “yes” to more things than I can manage. Most of these tasks are of my own design, which is to say, the ideas spring from my own mind, and then the executive branch of my mind either says “sure, let’s do it,” or the “ship of Dave” turns that way while the captain is looking through his telescope at the mermaids on yonder rocks, snoozing, boozing, or otherwise inattentive. Actually, the captain is sometimes aware, but has this rule of thumb that suggests that he’d better do or pay attention to this or that because we’ve got to keep our bases covered, ducks in a row, and stay on top of things. I think it’s a kind of compensation, an attempt to be acceptable, good enough, worthy, a good boy/man, perceived as in control, etc. And good to a point, but after that: diminishing returns.

I think this lack of discernment, this underdeveloped ability to steer clear of options that, while worthwhile, take time and energy away from more worthy tasks and projects, and burden the captain to the point of disorientation, stress, and strong need for heavy doses of Fukitol (the new miracle "insouciogenic" euphoriant). Stop. That sentence simply got out of hand. It’s probably a good example of trying to do too much. Here. Let’s practice brevity.
I usually try to do and think more than I can manage.
I can and will be more discerning, choosy, and discriminating about what I do and what I think about.
I don't think my cousins who see ADHD in every other person are right when they suggest that I have attention deficit disorder as well. I think I simply need to get better at being choosier about what and how much I put on my plate (in the dining room of my ship, walking down the road of life...O.K., maybe a mild case, if it even actually exists)


I’m going to post that to “Dave’s Deliberations,” the blog I set up quickly and without a great deal of planning, evaluation, or dithering. That’s another aspect of steering our ships: "who's to navigate and who's to steer?" as Dan Fogelberg put it. Nevertheless, I think only Paul is reading the blog, and he already knows that I often overflow the banks of the river. “A friend is one who knows all about you and loves you anyway.”
One more thing. These thoughts were catalyzed while I was reading in “The Simple Living Guide” by Janet Luhrs. I put the title in quotation marks because I’ve yet to discover how to italicize or underline when posting to this blog.