Simpler Times

Crescents of claw sheaths on the seat warmer control of a car

Day Eight Simple Wild Musings with Renee Magnusson Peaceful, Easy Feelings

I’ve determined that the best way for me to simplify my life is to become a Nike Ninja and Just Do It! Of course some days that’s easier than others but mostly I ponder everything fifty times before I do it then wonder where my day has gone. It got lost in a swamp of pondering. I’ll get so much more done when I recognise this and just move forward with the next thing instead of wondering: 

a) what the next thing might be
b) if that is the next thing then what is the next next thing
c) what if the 1st next thing isn’t really ready to be the next thing
d) what are all the consequences of going ahead with the 1st next thing being the actual next thing
e) what if the 1st next thing is something I haven’t even considered yet
f) what if I get interrupted or the actual next thing takes longer than expected

Soooo complicated. My life would and could be much simpler if I do instead of contemplate. I also can move on faster with all of this when I’ve first done something to please myself, often art. I have a tendency to push my art, particularly aside until all the emails are answered, all the banking is done, all the tedious stuff done. I know this is a usual way to do things—the reward after but it seems to work in reverse for me, especially as I sometimes never actually get to the reward!

I noticed this today. Instead of thinking about all the dirty dishes, I decorated a journal first. Thrilled and energised by that, I just set in to the dishes, finished them then worked on the journal some more as it was dry by then. Came back downstairs and put all the now dry dishes away. That was so simple, so stream-lined. 

For years I had magnetic curtain rods on my front and back doors as the doors are steel. I lost track of how many times the curtain fell on people, making them look like Carol Burnett in her infamous Scarlett O’Hara and the curtains sketch. Those curtains made life anything but simple. A good friend had bought a set at the same time and when I remembered to ask her about hers she told me she had gotten rid of them years ago. “Life can be hard enough without adding to it with curtains that are a nuisance,” she said. Oh so wise! I tend to endure things. Often for no good reason!

When my dear friend Linda came to stay with me from B.C. when I was freshly single, she set to putting pieces of cardboard under the feet of my dining room table to steady it, wedging some under the top of the table itself so it didn’t tilt every time someone leaned on it and finally pulling a drawer right out and re-setting it into its space so it didn’t almost fall out every time we opened it. All those things total took her half an hour at the very most. Me? I just anticipated it all and adjusted to it. But that takes energy, that adjustment each time, that niggling ‘oh I should fix that’ or even worse, ‘everything is breaking around me’ victim mentality. “Do what you can about what you can while you can,” said Linda. “There’s too much uncertainty in life to be not dealing with the little things you can change, things that make your day to day life easier.” 

I have the wisest, smartest friends. Now I just need to remember and learn by them!

Day 322 of 365 days of haiku

1. Clawing through his crate
Grey Cat eager to get home
galaxy of crescents

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