Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!
Really! Smellllllll the coffffeeee. No, those aren't typos. My fingers didn't get stuck on the computer keys. I'm talking about mindfully taking in that first morning cup. The anticipation of it. Allowing it o brew. Listening to the drips and bubbles as it percolates (if you are using a coffee maker). Inhaling the aroma of the fresh pot when it is almost ready. Pouring the coffee from the carafe and noticing the steam as it rises it up from the cup. Sitting with it. feeling the warmth of the cup or mug in your hands. Bringing it to your nose for a deep in breath. Taking that first sip and allowing the taste to swirl in your mouth. Then looking out at the view before you, or closing your eyes, as you savor the taste as you swallow.
It has - honestly - been quite some time since I have practiced truly mindful eating or drinking. This is my second morning at La Muse, the writing retreat in the South of France, and I am just starting to get into a morning routine that began with some yoga stretches, pranayama, and a short meditation. Mindfulness not only provides a platform for me to be more aware, it opens up space in my mind and heart. It allows new ideas and perspectives to come in. It gives me the opportunity to start from where I am. To begin in. this. moment.
And this is where I understand how important mindfulness actually is to my creativity and productivity. And, by productivity, I don't necessarily mean the material - though there is room for that too.
Sharing with others in conversation, aimless wandering, sitting quietly enjoying sights and sounds - these are all productive activities that inspire and fire up curiosity and creativity.
Sitting with my coffee this morning, so many thoughts and ideas found there way into my mind. Conversations from yesterday, thoughts and experiences I've had before came to me again and anew. And that's how I started this blog. I kept a blog throughout my thesis work at Naropa and it helped me so much in writing my thesis.
John (co-owner/operator of La Muse) explained yesterday how important marketing is for authors. And, today, over crepes and book sharing, he pointed out for my business, I should start with a book.
If I want to get my work "out there" then I need to be taking the advice of people who know what they are talking about. I need to follow that advice and take the steps - even the baby steps - to make it happen, even if I get stuck, unsure, or come up against obstacles that make me want to want to run, do dishes, or white wash the walls of my apartment (I have never white-washed a wall in my life and am not even really sure what that entails, but I am sure I would figure it out if that would give me an excuse to not face my magnificence, i.e. putting myself fully OUT THERE).
So...I am acknowledging that I have blocks. Real and imagined. I also know that I am a creative, industrious, resourceful person. I am a passionate, playful, joyful, intuitive, and capable 53 year-old woman who has a great deal to share with the world and all who want to join me in partaking on the journey to discovering our best selves at any given point of time.
As the king says in Alice in Wonderland: "Begin at the beginning." Or as Pema Chodron recommends, "Start where you are." I have been pondering, playing with, and creating Before Breakfast for a few years now. More than that. Five, I think. But here I am, and I shall start from here with what I've got.
I brought with me a copy of the chapter, Curiosita, from the book, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, by Michael J. Gelb. One of the exercises was to list one hundred questions that are important to you. Which I did. The next was to choose the ten that seem the most significant, and then to rank them in importance from one to ten. I did that too.
My first question: "What can I do today that can best serve me in relation to the above questions?" Ah - is that being chicken-shit? Or is that actually a really good question that will help me to work with the other nine?
The next question: "How can I stay most open throughout this week and allow my most real self to emerge and get the most out of my time at La Muse?"
I think I am practicing that: planning and practicing. I set my alarm for 7:30 AM. I gave myself a few minutes to move from bed to an upright position. Brushed teeth, put in contacts, made my bed, and dressed. Yoga stretches and short meditation (would like to do both longer tomorrow, but today was a good start). Went downstairs made hot water with lemon and enjoyed while I brewed my coffee, and wrote down in order the 10 questions from the Gelb book. Mindfully drank my coffee and made my way back upstairs with a second cup and created this blog and connected it to my BB Facebook page and published my FB page (per John's advice). Then made my way downstairs for the book sharing and crepes. While that went longer than I planned, listening to everyone share their books, what they are doing and what they are working on while they are here, sharing different perspectives and commonalities - that is all part of the PROCESS. And, isn't hat what this is all about? The process? The journey? It is not wasted time and it certainly isn't for naught. While I work alone quite a bit and need my solitude, it is connection with others - community - where I am supported, challenged, pushed, and inspired to move forward.
Starting from where I am, beginning at the beginning, I am going to start with the book idea.
Sometimes it's just sitting with a morning cup of coffee and letting the day unfold that brings me to just where I need to go.
It has - honestly - been quite some time since I have practiced truly mindful eating or drinking. This is my second morning at La Muse, the writing retreat in the South of France, and I am just starting to get into a morning routine that began with some yoga stretches, pranayama, and a short meditation. Mindfulness not only provides a platform for me to be more aware, it opens up space in my mind and heart. It allows new ideas and perspectives to come in. It gives me the opportunity to start from where I am. To begin in. this. moment.
And this is where I understand how important mindfulness actually is to my creativity and productivity. And, by productivity, I don't necessarily mean the material - though there is room for that too.
Sharing with others in conversation, aimless wandering, sitting quietly enjoying sights and sounds - these are all productive activities that inspire and fire up curiosity and creativity.
Sitting with my coffee this morning, so many thoughts and ideas found there way into my mind. Conversations from yesterday, thoughts and experiences I've had before came to me again and anew. And that's how I started this blog. I kept a blog throughout my thesis work at Naropa and it helped me so much in writing my thesis.
John (co-owner/operator of La Muse) explained yesterday how important marketing is for authors. And, today, over crepes and book sharing, he pointed out for my business, I should start with a book.
If I want to get my work "out there" then I need to be taking the advice of people who know what they are talking about. I need to follow that advice and take the steps - even the baby steps - to make it happen, even if I get stuck, unsure, or come up against obstacles that make me want to want to run, do dishes, or white wash the walls of my apartment (I have never white-washed a wall in my life and am not even really sure what that entails, but I am sure I would figure it out if that would give me an excuse to not face my magnificence, i.e. putting myself fully OUT THERE).
So...I am acknowledging that I have blocks. Real and imagined. I also know that I am a creative, industrious, resourceful person. I am a passionate, playful, joyful, intuitive, and capable 53 year-old woman who has a great deal to share with the world and all who want to join me in partaking on the journey to discovering our best selves at any given point of time.
As the king says in Alice in Wonderland: "Begin at the beginning." Or as Pema Chodron recommends, "Start where you are." I have been pondering, playing with, and creating Before Breakfast for a few years now. More than that. Five, I think. But here I am, and I shall start from here with what I've got.
I brought with me a copy of the chapter, Curiosita, from the book, How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, by Michael J. Gelb. One of the exercises was to list one hundred questions that are important to you. Which I did. The next was to choose the ten that seem the most significant, and then to rank them in importance from one to ten. I did that too.
My first question: "What can I do today that can best serve me in relation to the above questions?" Ah - is that being chicken-shit? Or is that actually a really good question that will help me to work with the other nine?
The next question: "How can I stay most open throughout this week and allow my most real self to emerge and get the most out of my time at La Muse?"
I think I am practicing that: planning and practicing. I set my alarm for 7:30 AM. I gave myself a few minutes to move from bed to an upright position. Brushed teeth, put in contacts, made my bed, and dressed. Yoga stretches and short meditation (would like to do both longer tomorrow, but today was a good start). Went downstairs made hot water with lemon and enjoyed while I brewed my coffee, and wrote down in order the 10 questions from the Gelb book. Mindfully drank my coffee and made my way back upstairs with a second cup and created this blog and connected it to my BB Facebook page and published my FB page (per John's advice). Then made my way downstairs for the book sharing and crepes. While that went longer than I planned, listening to everyone share their books, what they are doing and what they are working on while they are here, sharing different perspectives and commonalities - that is all part of the PROCESS. And, isn't hat what this is all about? The process? The journey? It is not wasted time and it certainly isn't for naught. While I work alone quite a bit and need my solitude, it is connection with others - community - where I am supported, challenged, pushed, and inspired to move forward.
Starting from where I am, beginning at the beginning, I am going to start with the book idea.
Sometimes it's just sitting with a morning cup of coffee and letting the day unfold that brings me to just where I need to go.
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