Self Care and Daily Habits

Writer on a roll...That's what it feels like when I get going on a writing spree. There are those days when I don't seem to get much accomplished. There are other days where I am focused on business, personal or professional, and then there are days when I get caught up in outside activities or I'm on a trip and my 'daily routine' falls apart for the sake of being present where I am.  Since becoming a full time writer and photographer, based primarily in my home office and studio, I have found it challenging to separate the different parts of my life.  Something always seems to suffer at the expense of the other. 

Today is a good example.  The reason poet Robert Burns' quotation "the best laid schemes of mice and men/often go awry" is still quoted today is because it is still true. Universal in the sense that we humans seem to think that simply by making plans, those plans will turn out. And, more often than not, they don't. Or at least they don't turn out the way we imagine they will. Nevertheless, we strive, we bear on, relentlessly trying to make things work. And then we get engaged in something that really speaks to our heart, and the plan disappears, time slows down, and we go deep into the well of imagination, inspiration, and ideas where we let ourselves go. We drift, saunter, float, and ride the rapids of our dreamworld and intellectual cornucopia pulling ideas together into sentences, seeking meaning and connections between our disparate thoughts, and sitting dazed and stunned, our hands riding across keyboards or following the path of the pen across a page, sending thought into ideas formed in paragraphs and stanzas, to be read, recited, sung, or acted somewhere beyond this moment. 

Yes, getting up with a plan of action for the day, THE LIST, my day goes something like this:

Wake at 7:00
Do my Morning Pages (journal where I record dreams, ideas, and make lists)
List for the Day:  
Make a cup of tea.
Write
Go to yoga at 10:15
Return from yoga by 12:30
Have lunch
Do the laundry
Work on framing of photographs
Housework. 
ETC.

That's the schedule for the daylight hours.

It's now 1:20 and I have just completed the first big article of the day, and as you can see, am inspired to write this blog post. Nothing that was on my schedule has been done, except the writing. For today was one of those days when sitting down to write, I just wrote, and wrote, and wrote. I was writing on self care, and coincidently, not taking any of my own advice.  My appetite has disappeared, though I did have breakfast about 9:00 (yogurt, fruit, and cinnamon).  I took care of a couple of pieces of business, but other than that, I missed the bus to go to yoga, and it was too late by then to walk or call a friend for a ride. I kept writing, and forgot to heed the call of my own body...hunger. Of course you're not supposed to let yourself go into the hunger mode...it's not a good thing. And stretching and taking breaks (the main reason I have a daily yoga practice); hasn't happened yet.  My hand and wrist are beginning to scream. Doing some wrist and hand stretches and releases helps, but stopping and limiting the amount of time spent at the computer is necessary. I know all this! I've suffered the consequences of not taking care of my hands and arms, but when writing, it's just so hard to stop myself.

So that said, I will now take the much-needed break, eat something nutricious, take a shower, and then a long walk (or the other way around) and read, garden, and take a nap later. That THE LIST for the afternoon that's left. Will I follow the list? Who knows?  I may let you know, but those of you who write, sculpt, paint, carve, shoot, or design know what I mean. In theology this is called chiros time...the time where we get lost and disappear into the moment, the time that stands still, the time that holds us captive. Chronos time, the lateral time that we mark with clocks, watches, sundials, digital announcements, and calendars...that is the time that holds us captive, that orders our lives, that allows us to make plans, create schemes, and set off at the proper time to catch our train, plane, ship, or the perfect opportuntiy...perchance to slip again into Chiros time to create and get lost in space. 

For today, there is a Grand Trine in Water Signs, and the muses are about, waiting to jump into our energy fields to nudge us to another journey, to another survey of the imagination. Calling us to answer the call of Intuition, Imagination, and Insight. Calling us to create, to make life more beautiful, and to share something lovely with those who seldom slip out of Chronos into the Serendipity Pool of Life. Let yourself slip away.

Restless Sea                                                                                                              Catherine Al-Meten

I probably should post a photo of the pile of laundry that has stacked up, but even now in my photographs, I remain, in Chiros Time, lost is space.