Breaking the Blog Blah’s

23 Mar Breaking the Blog Blah’s

I’ve been sitting here on our leather sectional, drinking decaffeinated tea and waiting for my laptop to reboot. I was also staring at the tv screen with its floating song title and thinking that Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3 is very long . . . and then I realized it was only the first movement. All of that sounds like I am so much more intellectual than I am. Or maybe it doesn’t, because a true classical enthusiast would know how long the first movement of a sonata would be, but my limited experience takes me back to a sonatina I used to play and the first movement was much shorter than the first movement of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3. Natually, a sonatina would be shorter. Anyway, the sonata was beautiful and I wanted to listen to something nourishing, but not distracting. And yes, I think listening to music (especially classical music) while writing is acceptable multi-tasking.

So why on earth haven’t I written a blog post in two and a half weeks? I have no idea! (That reminds me that Camilla’s favorite response lately when I ask her a question is, “I have no idea!” I wonder where she gets that.) Back to why I haven’t posted–I think I’ve been cleaning too much. I’ve also been reading up a storm, which has been great. I started reading a book a friend leant to me after she read my first post on single-tasking. The book is The Not So Big Life by Sarah Susanka. It’s brilliant, but alas, I take forever to read non-fiction. So I’m slowly making my way through it and trying to absorb all the insights that resonate with me. I want to share one particular such insight:

“If we are trying to accomplish a project by frenetically racing around in a vain attempt to get everything done, the results will embody that frantic energy. But if we return to our original vision and hold that clearly in heart and mind as we engage each moment fully, the completed project will be an embodiment of this much more authentic expresssion of ourselves.”

I wish I could write these words across the inside of my eyeballs, in a scrolling marquee. However, that might add to the chaos in my mind, defeating the purpose entirely. So I’m just going to try to remember it, to integrate it into my life in little ways.

I’m also going to blog more often than every two and a half weeks–not just about simplifying and slowing down, but also about writing, and my family, cooking and gardening. Did I mention we’re getting chickens? I’m becoming quite the country bumpkin in spite of my long-standing desire to be a city girl. Argh! Groceries are too expensive and last summer I just loved fresh basil in my primavera. It was divine. So I will grow things, if God blesses our soil, and gather eggs too. I don’t mind as long as it doesn’t steal my (precious little) writing time.