Playing for Time

***

It’s a typical HumpDay, a stream-of-consciousness stretch of time. There are days simply made for it, when that spaced-out mindset rolls in like a marine layer, the horizon is smoke-hazed for the nth week in a row, it’s neither hot nor cold outside, you’ve managed to rearrange appointments and commitments in such a way as to free up several days in a row of NO OUTSIDE RESPONSIBILITIES, meaning you can do ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO, and now you have no clear idea what that is. Or rather, you know exactly what it is but you don’t know where to start. Or let’s be real, you’ve begun, you’re ready to move ahead, but you’re stuck. See, progress already: we’ve exposed the “smoke haze” for the smokescreen it is. You, meaning of course, I, am existentially asleep at the wheel. There, that’s one thing.

So what else might be available for providing clarity and focus since we don’t really function without those things, at least not longterm. Well, first of all this morning, the fog was clearly the fault of our coffee grinder, which growled its dying breath without doing ONE LAST TIME the only task ever asked of it. The ignominy after we’ve provided a comfy home for at least fifteen years, is what I’m thinking! Little ingrate made me add a bra to my morning wardrobe and schlep over to Grounded Coffee, where the incredibly cool young guy behind the counter greeted me with smiles and complimented my sweatshirt. My years-old pink “mom” sweatshirt with the fuzzy white heart, matching my fuzzy white head which I’d tried with only partial success to plaster down a little before showing up in public. Wow, great cold-brew though, and as it turned out a cheery way to say hello to a Wednesday. Whatever gets the molecules moving.

**

You’ll want to carefully consider the source, but I do recommend a few ABCs for getting ducks to line up. You’ll have to name your own ducks, but basic principles apply:

• Sit with yourself, in silence or music or nature or all of the above, until you can hear yourself tick.
• Name the thing uppermost in your conscious mind. Take your time, that thing sometimes tries to hide, for reasons all its own.
• Ask yourself how you feel about the primary concern that’s occupying your thoughts and requiring your energy. Don’t lie to yourself, it’s supremely counterproductive.

• If writing is your thing, or if it isn’t but you’ve always thought you might be darling at it, now would be the time to try it out. There’s nothing like seeing your own words in black & white for figuring out what you think.
• This one’s hard, but try not to take things personally, nor yourself too seriously. That challenge speaks to every insecurity of every breathing human, so it clearly requires the most work, but I’m pretty sure getting there would be worth the cost.

If you’re this far and still envisioning an orderly Duck Line in your near future, follow me for more tips. I promise to keep you posted.