Everyday challenges
This is a day to stay focused and keep pushing through. I have done all the dishes, two days of them--keep in mind that I don't have a dishwasher in this old house, and I've taken down the first load of laundry in the rain--keep in mind that the basement access is outside. I have a lesson to prepare for tomorrow on the book of Hosea which was almost utterly unfamiliar to me. I have a personal project on deadline for this week, and I almost forgot that I had a column due. I got it sent on time yesterday morning.
I couldn't sleep last night until past 4:00. I did not rise and shine early and alert this morning.
The reason for my unsleep was twofold. My neck was spasmed up and the rest of me wasn't that happy. That's feeling the effects of a weekend I really enjoyed, which is a draft in the list that I need to go back and finish. This photo project has consumed me, and since I couldn't get comfortable and drop off, my mind wouldn't turn off. Well, it would briefly and then kick back in, composing visuals, thinking of what I needed that I couldn't find or what I should use if I could find it from other sources, or what I should choose over what else among the various bits I've successfully turned up. (There's a whole box of pictures I hadn't seen for a long time, that we'd lost track of. I want things, though, from a box I did have at hand before we moved and can't find now.)
New creative enterprises do that to me. When I started writing this blog, it was hard to give over and turn it off and go to sleep, for the oh, this! and oh, this next! that clamored for my attention. I think some piece of me was afraid that I would forget my ideas or come up empty--lose the flow. You know, that's the book of Onmi in the Book of Mormon: uh, uh, (strain, draw a blank) I'm supposed to write something and I'm, um, not sure what I have to say, so I'm just passing the record along. Bye! I would turn over ideas, compose phrases and sentences, rotate them and swap them about to find their places, see how they best fit. I have a friend who looked at me one day and said, "Words are like toys to you, aren't they? That's what you play with." I try to build meaning, and she admired that ability. We all have different gifts.
I came to the point where I could relax and trust that I could connect again with what I needed when I needed it and write, when I was offered a spot to write a column for the new Nauvoo Times. That would not have happened without this blog being started up and read by its designated managing editor, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity. It has been one of the most important opportunities and experiences for me, along with my calling to teach Institute. It also set off the higher-alert-state in my brain so that I was back to not being able to turn off and go to sleep, until I could relax and trust that inspiration would not vanish and turn me into my version of the book of Omni. (Which is about what a headache does. Sometimes I just need a nap as well as a prayer.)
So anything new as a creative process, that really grabs me, spins around in my head until I can come to terms with it and absorb that process. Then I have something more in my skill set than I had before, and go back to it with more confidence. That's actually kind of cool.
We're all learning, or should be, in some way wherever we are in life. And when I'm done, I'll have fun things to share. Boxes of pictures and history of our lives.
I couldn't sleep last night until past 4:00. I did not rise and shine early and alert this morning.
The reason for my unsleep was twofold. My neck was spasmed up and the rest of me wasn't that happy. That's feeling the effects of a weekend I really enjoyed, which is a draft in the list that I need to go back and finish. This photo project has consumed me, and since I couldn't get comfortable and drop off, my mind wouldn't turn off. Well, it would briefly and then kick back in, composing visuals, thinking of what I needed that I couldn't find or what I should use if I could find it from other sources, or what I should choose over what else among the various bits I've successfully turned up. (There's a whole box of pictures I hadn't seen for a long time, that we'd lost track of. I want things, though, from a box I did have at hand before we moved and can't find now.)
New creative enterprises do that to me. When I started writing this blog, it was hard to give over and turn it off and go to sleep, for the oh, this! and oh, this next! that clamored for my attention. I think some piece of me was afraid that I would forget my ideas or come up empty--lose the flow. You know, that's the book of Onmi in the Book of Mormon: uh, uh, (strain, draw a blank) I'm supposed to write something and I'm, um, not sure what I have to say, so I'm just passing the record along. Bye! I would turn over ideas, compose phrases and sentences, rotate them and swap them about to find their places, see how they best fit. I have a friend who looked at me one day and said, "Words are like toys to you, aren't they? That's what you play with." I try to build meaning, and she admired that ability. We all have different gifts.
I came to the point where I could relax and trust that I could connect again with what I needed when I needed it and write, when I was offered a spot to write a column for the new Nauvoo Times. That would not have happened without this blog being started up and read by its designated managing editor, and I'm very grateful for that opportunity. It has been one of the most important opportunities and experiences for me, along with my calling to teach Institute. It also set off the higher-alert-state in my brain so that I was back to not being able to turn off and go to sleep, until I could relax and trust that inspiration would not vanish and turn me into my version of the book of Omni. (Which is about what a headache does. Sometimes I just need a nap as well as a prayer.)
So anything new as a creative process, that really grabs me, spins around in my head until I can come to terms with it and absorb that process. Then I have something more in my skill set than I had before, and go back to it with more confidence. That's actually kind of cool.
We're all learning, or should be, in some way wherever we are in life. And when I'm done, I'll have fun things to share. Boxes of pictures and history of our lives.
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