In my reading this morning I find myself searching for the “right thing” to write about in these very difficult moments. Our world has changed, regardless of the similarities each of us has experienced a monumental shift in the lives we were living two weeks ago. It is with this sensitivity that I find myself careful not to push but to continue to inspire, even when those I am speaking to likely cannot receive inspiration.
There were a number of topics that came to mind but one that I thought might be worth a week's worth of attempt. It starts with this quote:
In a dark time, the eye begins to see. — Theodore Roether
I then follow with this quote:
We are always doing something, talking, reading, listening to the radio, planning what next. The mind is kept naggingly busy on some easy, unimportant external thing all day. — Brenda Ueland
Now I offer this excerpt from my reading this morning:
It is a paradox that by emptying our lives of distractions we are actually filling the well. Without distractions, we are once again thrust into the sensory world. With no newspaper to shield us, a train becomes a viewing gallery. With no novel to sink into (and no television to numb us out) an evening becomes a vast savannah in which furniture-and other assumptions-get rearranged.
The Artist’s Way — Pg. 96
Regardless of choice, our lives have been thrust into “less than”. Less work, less traveling, less socializing…less. However, in all of the “less”, we can find “more”. More of what we never had the time or space to do previously. Space to do things we never even considered before or knew we had an interest. In this coming week, I challenge you to turn off the news, you already know what it is going to say, and shift to a place you have not given the time. Is it reading, painting, redecorating, meditating, ______________ (fill in the blank).
In every environment life is changing, you are forced to do it differently than you were doing it before, don’t fight it but instead, flow with it. We have been forced to reduce the distractions through recommended self-isolation so honor yourself in it and don’t fill one void with another; fill that void with a new place that offers insight, appetite, and room. Give yourself room to process it all and see what comes out on the other side. You may be surprised if you just take this time to explore a distraction-less world.
Life as I am living it — L.
Originally published at http://alwaysstarting.com on March 22, 2020.