Sunday, October 02, 2022

Revitalized


Autumn in St. John's. Photo courtesy of Ray Mackey.
Click to embiggen.

I try not to focus too much on all that ails me. I whine to a tiny selected few who have their own ailments and cranky bodies and saucy organs. And not every day as some days are fairly manageable.

Today I rekindled my writers' workshops and had forgotten completely how I felt in prepping for them, sending out prompts, interacting, discussing ideas and editing and plotting out the release and launch of our next anthology which is in its final editing.

We were all masked and sanitized and distanced.

And it was such a joy being around these enthusiasts. It's been six months since the last one and Zoom was anathema to the majority. Unfortunately. I was just too ill to physically hold them and my concentration had vanished.

Though still with ailments, my spirit has been fed and I have this sense of wellbeing which can only be supplied, I believe, by being fully engaged in the creative process.

Daughter was here yesterday and said she spent far too much time "doom-scrolling." I mean, let's face it, many of us do. The planet is in dire straits on so many levels and we could all be blown to smithereens with one Putin temper tantrum. On top of everything else.

So I said to her why don't you just stay where your hands are and just work on your art? And she was gob smacked. And then her face lit up and she  said "of course." Art of any kind is a great distraction and I tend to forget it myself. 

I can do nothing about the Ians and Fionas and their attendant devastation. Or Ukraine or Pakistan. 

But if I stay with what I do best and feed my spirit I am so filled that there isn't room for anything else.

33 comments:

  1. Wise, wise advice. Which I need to take on board. Thank you for the timely reminder.

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    1. I have to remind myself regularly EC! Odd that. How we can't pin down a daily practice and stick to it :)
      XO
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  2. You are right. We need to stop our unrelenting focus on news. In decades past, we did not have this minute by minute focus.

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    1. Good point Andrew, this minute by minute is exhausting. And affects our attention spans.
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  3. You are so wise, and strong to gather more joy to yourself.

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    1. We all need to seek it out and find it Joanne, though in old age we have many distracting challenges.
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  4. Doom scrolling is what is wrong with many people these days. They get sucked in to all that "end of the earth" thinking and don't see a way out. Let's not mention the festering hate that is also everywhere.
    I stay away from all that, although I did a few posts on the nastiness of the Trump followers and the jokes that were posted.
    Far better to just stay in my own little world and do the things that make me happy.

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    1. Yes, I had this rage recently as you know but I have put it behind me as marching is beyond me at this stage and so is staring too hard at my own past. Doing what makes us happy is excellent advice.
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  5. Yes, some form of creativity is a good antidote to all the horror of the world around us. Which is one reason I've kept my blog going for so many years. I don't go in for doom scrolling. A quick look at the day's gloomy headlines and that's it.

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    1. I do a nightly world news watch now on PBS which covers the globe and that's it Nick. I don't go down the rabbit holes anymore.
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  6. Very encouraging and even cheering. Keep the spirit fed and all the very best.

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    1. Yes screen sucking can take an inordinate amount of time from our one wild and precious lives, Jackie.
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  8. Good attitude! I myself have found I've been more "doom avoiding" -- for all the reasons you mention. Hope you're feeling okay.

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    1. Feeling a little better thanks Tom, my breathing not so ragged and I am so grateful for the small, tiny improvements and accepting more of where I am. I hope you are well recovered from your fall.
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  9. I'm a BIG believer in staying small...remain in your own neighborhood, town, and take care of those around you. If we all did better in our community, I believe the world could be a better place.

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    1. You so so very right Delaine, Just stick to our hands and our little surroundings and help there when needed. The Big Stuff is beyond our control.
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  10. It's good advice, sometimes hard to put into practice, but we should all try harder.

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    1. I am certainly trying these days David and blogs such as yours really help me.
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  11. I am not sure when I changed to be able to read negative current events and not be concerned. If we are under a tornado warning or told to boil water for drinking, of course I will shelter or boil water. I do like good news of course. I will do a little research and vote.
    But I feel I have gotten to the place in life where I am physically not able to do much to contribute. If I am lucky I will live another 10-15 years and those will require me to stay healthy which takes most of my attention. I try to get personal enjoyment out of the time I have left. If I can help someone along my way that would be wonderful.

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    1. A very good philosophy and we would all do well to follow it as we age when our piss and vinegar needs to be used for our own betterment and not sprayed out at what is beyond our ken to control.
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  12. I need to practice this, especially since I'm writing the draft of my next book. Wonderful advice!

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    1. Yes I need to immerse myself more in all the writing projects I have going, DB.
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  13. Brava Mary! Wishing you a wonderful time and meow from himself.

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    1. Thank you so much e, it takes me a while in the mornings to pull it all together but the afternoons are quite splendid, say hi to Lukas.
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  14. Absolutely. I too doom scroll more than is healthy and it depresses me no end. Concentrating on the few pleasures there are left at the end of one's life, grasping the now and here, that is what makes life bearable. There is so little we can do to steer the way of the world.

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    1. I keep reminding myself of this Friko and it's hard to pull away from it. "Keeping informed" I call it but seriously, do we need this Doomsday educations?
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  15. This was the post I needed to read Mary and these are the comments I find myself fully in tune with. I really am taking life one day at a time now. Each morning a quick check on Apple News to see if we still have a World out there then a huge mug of tea and the kitchen door opened onto trees, birds, city noises. Pottering, connecting with the people in my life I really value, planning what to eat, what to watch, what to read.

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    1. I hear you on the birds Anne. They keep me sane as they fly about plotting their meals, not a care on them. Animals teach us so much. I am down to the world news on PBS once a day now.
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  16. I did doomscrolling through our bad fire season in 19/20 and i doom scrolled through some parts of the pandemic but mostly i avoid news for the sake of my mind.
    I tend to get stuck in a rut of not doing much of anything, waiting for someone to go out or come home or get out of the bathroom. If I created more i might get less stuck. Great advice!

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  17. I could swear I commented here, something about never watching the news for the sake of my mindset.
    I'm so pleased you're travelling better at the moment, long may it continue

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    1. Thank you Kylie. Yes, keeping our little minds busy with good stuff really helps.
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