There’s something suspicious about this unfolding experiment. It’s not new it seems. I wrote the following more than 3 years ago and still can’t say that it’s “working”.
— Written in October 2012
So it’s 4.30 p.m. and I haven’t done my “write” for today. I’ve done lots of writing – emails to arrange lunch and coffee dates, enquiries about ceilidh bands and venues, feedback to clients, but nothing so far that counts towards my ’30 Writes In 30 Days’ experiment. So here’s hoping this will develop into “write” number 2 . . .
The title “On Doing Things In The Right Order” came to me when I found myself on the First Art America website creating an account and thinking about what to write on my profile page. I was planning on counting the profile as my “write” number 2 but it suddenly struck me that I was creating an account on a site that sells art when I don’t actually have any items ready to sell!
This is where it gets interesting.
If I look at this situation from my conventional thinking then I’d have to draw the conclusion that I was doing things in the wrong order or, at the very least, in an untimely manner. But, if I look at it from a more open-minded perspective then I can decide that opening the account without any paintings ready is perfect timing since it’s led to this blog post and I now have “write” number 2. I choose the latter.
This is a perfect example of how I’m trying to live my life these days, namely:
- just doing the next thing that feels right
- not worrying whether or not that next thing makes sense to me, and
- being open to “next things” that were previously unknown to me or, in the past, not considered significant or important enough for me to do.
- I’m noticing that this seems to result in a much more relaxed and interesting life. I find myself organising stuff that, this time last week, I had no idea I would be doing.
Looking back I can see that many of the mental conflicts I’ve experienced have been where I had an idea to do or not do something and rather than just go with that I started analysing it because the idea didn’t make sense. An example, is when I was struggling to decide whether or not to return to Phoenix for the end of the coaching programme. A couple of months before the end I started thinking that I didn’t want to go back but it made no sense to me. So I spent weeks struggling with myself trying to make it make sense and, in the end, I didn’t go anyway.
I would have saved myself a lot of struggle and heartache if I’d just followed my initial thought/feeling and left it at that.
So these days, when I have an idea that doesn’t make sense but feels right I try and insert a full-stop (period for US readers) before my mind gets to “but”. The Result? A lot less wasted energy and more unexpected, delightful outcomes.
—End of Oct 2012 writing
Am I missing something here?
15 of 366 book bits