It is somewhat ironic that the day after I post about burnout I deliver what is the shortest blog in the history of the 10 minute rule. I was burned last night and could not put together much in spite of staring at the screen and poking despairingly at the keys. This too is a part of the process. I never stop wishing people could be more like computers in that you can shut down and debug a computer, clearing out the bad. Upon restart the computer runs like new. We don’t have a restart. We have a sleep cycle, but that is truly hit or miss for most of us. All of this brings me to my point on writing for the day. The good way to reengage yourself in good writing is mindful thought.
No, I’m not talking about meditation. That has value in the process, but specifically I am talking about listening to the natural world and thinking about what you hear. The term natural is used loosely here. I mean turning off the TV and the phone and any other digital distraction and listening to the wind, the cars moving by, the birds chirping, people in the streets, the scuff of shoes on hot pavement, the hum of an idling bus. All of this serves to trigger our minds to reflect and to catch up with the fleeting thoughts banging around inside our minds that we never take the time to settle in on. I don’t know if your story lives in those thoughts, but I do know some forgotten moment of your day/life is waiting there to be realized.
Generally speaking our society is geared towards time moving forward and consuming as much as we possibly can. Little is geared towards reflecting on what is consumed. We take it in, we enjoy it, we share it, we move on. In a society of consumption little is thought about the mental waste consumption inevitably creates. That is what I want you to consider in your pause. That waste–that mental debris is what is killing our creativity and our focus. So, as with all waste, we need to take a minute to face it. Perhaps ten minutes.