ONEspiration
Wednesday July 10, 2013
Inspiration comes at us a thousand different ways every day – we simply choose whether we tune it in, or tune it out. And me manage (or not) our own expectations . . .
Bumper stickers, sticky notes, calendars or daily messages – serve as much and as well as daily quiet time for finding the will to get a little better every day at what we do, at who we are and at what we contribute.
Writing of my ‘get off the treadmill’ plan again – not just to keep my commitment given to Frank Dabb’s urging me – make time in my life for my writing life. To give it chance, to be what it can be, what I want it to be – re-focusing myself on that lately, enacting my 9-day plan, making it work with assurance priorities won’t slip out of reach, scheduled work won’t slide off into obscurity drawers or dust-bunny corners, business development processes won’t slip off track – time, energy and inspiration intersect like one of those three-circle Venn drawings, leaving that intersecting sweet-spot of time, opportunity and energy so inspiration can flourish.
I hadn’t expected several byproducts – from personal clarity to keeping laundry up-to-date, from charting paths and projects more deliberately rather than treading water as it were, as I have wasted too much time managing how far I was behind. I felt more like the mouse on his wheel than a bee moving from flower to flower. I’m not yet rocket propelling an explorer to some new place in space, but I fully expect that . . . and soon.
I can’t say it is the 9-day plan, or reading more, shedding some monkeys-from my back or taking a different tack dealing with some people in my life (some in, some out, some changing their roles . . . )
Most of the time – at any stage of life – we busy ourselves getting through the day, at work or play, taking care of needs – interacting with our peeps, our pets and our fellow protagonists in the struggles of life. More pleasures than pains. More positive than sad. We figure some things out as we go along. Or we plan. Some people believe in a master plan that has been done for us. Others, in which I count my number, believe the only plan is the one we master . . .
Rising, meeting next-day challenges, hurdling, climbing across hostile landscape of boulders and deep fissures of emotional terrain – and back again, taking our next leap of faith – our next belief in someone or in ourselves to make the tiniest of dream come true, make the unlikeliest wish show through as possible.
Tomorrow is possible, we just need to get through today.
Last night, at a Toastmasters meeting, I was explaining my project to the audience – that I had postponed to ‘tomorrow’ several times and that ‘all my tomorrows’ were over. The grammarian remarked later at my interesting phrase-turn. I packed up, went home and spent some time thinking about that in context of what I’ve been doing lately. It didn’t begin as an effort to purge my procrastinatin’ ways but the results are feeling more like that. I haven’t fully dissected it yet – this re-jigging, like so many before it, is in progress and too soon to tell if the lasting impact of changes will produce the work/life balance I seek, if it will be permanent, tossed aside as another failed experiment of be what I hope for – a progressive flexible and dynamic approach – a process that gets more done in less time, better separates urgent from important.
I only have today.
When tomorrow comes, again, I’ll only have today.
I have today.
So do you.
I know what I’m doing – have a full one planned, but I’ve plenty of flexibility to put more into it without taking anything out.
One day, one night – and then another.
Then another – like endless series of mirror reflections into a facing mirror, seems like it will go on forever.
It won’t but it seems infinite.
We get just one life. Some believe we get another, and another. Bonus if we do, but for now I have a choice to make more of my life, to make more lives of my own within this one I have. Maybe I can help others see that too.
Fill it with inspiration, perspiration and respiration.
Overflowing is OK, don’t worry – you can handle the volume, the flow.
Just one.
Mark Kolke
294,316
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: 12C / 54F, sunny, light breeze, unfamiliar faces walking and jogging – haven’t seen them before, Gusta enjoyed an alternate route, fresh sniffing-zones . . .
Comments Received:
Hey Mark, Last evening I was amusing myself on your MarkisMusing site! I saw your China poetry and even watched your Toastmasters video! Very. Intense in getting your message across, J, Stratford, PEI
As the famous line spoken by Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men" goes, "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth" No truer words were spoken. It seems that when the truth is spoken and it is badly received, it can destroy an otherwise good day. When the truth is spoken and it is good news, it is greeted with cynicism, not to be believed. So, the conclusion is that we say we want the truth, but then are we prepared for it, no matter which way it is delivered? GW, Brady, Tx.
