Wednesday for most of us, unless you're in China or Australia and then it's Thursday. Today I'm going to make a new monster list of all the things I need to do to be squared away and then I'm going to chip away at it. Once I hired a life coach for a very brief time (didn't work out), but the one thing that stayed with me was her initial interview and the questionnaire she had me complete. One of the exercises was to go through your day and week and log each and everything that brought you worry or even just minor annoyance. And wow, there is so much!!! I think we underestimate the "drag effect" (I just made that up) that the little things, when taken in total, have on us. Upon waking, my list would start with: humidifier by bed not working cuz I need to order new filters, brand new expensive air filter not working - needs to be cleaned?, carpeting stained, cat hair on comforter, jasmine plant needs pruning (half of it died), canning jars that need a home - and I haven't even gotten out of bed yet! The list would go on and on and on, from crumbs in the silverware drawer to the car that threatens not to start on a cold day. The thought is that all these things deflate us without us even realizing it, they rob us of our will to take on the big stuff.
Yesterday I picked up Martha Stuart Living at the grocery store and I always turn first to her calendar. This month we're supposed to be oiling and sharpening our garden tools in anticipation of Spring, starting our outdoor annuals in our greenhouse, checking the burlap on our hydrangeas among other things. Why do I think her car always starts the first time!? Here's one woman's funny take on what she suspects Martha is up to this month:
Feb. 1 - Pick up green cards for Manuel & staff.
Feb. 2 - Climb Mt. Everest. Gather oxygen for making water.
Feb. 3 - Work on script for "Martha" the movie.
Feb. 5 - Sleep for half an hour.
Feb. 7 - Re-glaze greenhouse.
Feb. 8 - Stencil driveway.
Feb. 9 - Move chicken coops two feet to the right.
Feb. 10 - Detail lawnmowers & weedwackers.
Feb. 11 - Organize leather closet.
Feb. 13 - Work on script for "Martha" the musical.
Feb. 14 - Stencil street.
Feb. 16 - Scrape & paint Westport, Southampton, and Vermont homes.
Feb. 17 - Order 100 varieties of apple saplings.
Feb. 18 - Prune prune trees.
Feb. 19 - Force forsythia, hyacinth, quince, and Manuel.
Feb. 20 - Stencil turnpike exit ramp.
Feb. 21 - Aluminum-side trailer home behind main house.
Feb. 22 - Breakfast at Tiffany's. Lunch at K-Mart.
Feb. 24 - Sue Martha's Vinyard over name.
Feb. 25 - Gather wild rice in Minnesota for chicken soup.
Feb. 26 - Surf Bonzai Pipeline.
Feb. 27 - Meet with Norman Mailer on "Martha" the book.
Feb. 28 - Consult with Pope at Vatican (possible stencil op)
OK, I make fun of the woman but truth be told I aspire to be like her much of the time. My recent carrot cake obsession should have been a tip off. Oh, and I made another one last night - a beautiful two layer one with toasted walnuts and coconut in the batter and scraped vanilla bean seeds in the frosting. Madeleine said it was perfect but I know there is still room for improvement. There are ten more recipes I'd like to try out even though there isn't time. I'll make at least several more before Patrick's birthday on Sunday. He'll never know how much went into the cake. And I'm starting to suspect that less is more with carrot cake. At first I scoffed at one recipe's assertion that a simple sheet cake with no tropical ingredients added and no nuts was the best, but now I'm thinking they might be right. It's an adventure and a fun mini obsession.
So, the serious thought of the day is thinking about how our immediate environment impacts us. I think it does - A LOT. I suspect we can't enjoy deep contentment unless all our chickens are put to bed in a clean and tidy coop. I'm thinking of sedimentary layers and how we spend a lot of time perched on the top of landfill. Especially when you've reached middle age, the accumulation of stuff and responsibililties piles and piles. If you're like me, you deal - you manage to get through each day with a semblance of order. Today I felt a millimeter more squared away because I got my car washed before I came to the office. Next week I'll get my highlights done. It's all cosmetic, pretty flowers planted and tended on top of a garbage landfill. It gets me through the day.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to bulldoze the landfill? Find the energy, will and courage to take it all on? Put your life on a bit of hold while you renovate? What would that look like for you? For me, it means, evaluating everything, everything, and deciding does it go or stay, knowing that every single thing we acquire ends up weighing us down. I think of how Virginia Wolf died. She put on a heavy coat and filled the pockets with stones and walked into a river and drowned. Before she took her life, I wonder if she felt like she was perched on a trash dump, the sedimentary layers of life's junk shifting under her, not providing a stable, healthy foundation.
The challenge today could be thinking about your own infrastructure and imagining if your life could be easier and lighter if there were not so many things screaming for attention. Winter is the perfect time to take on projects. Maybe start with a list of the things (no matter now small) that take up a little piece of your brain every day. Then knock them off, one at a time. Just imagine how squared away I could be if I took that carrot cake energy and applied it to the garage, or basement, or office archives!
Peace,
Sarah
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