January 19, 2008
I think that often, we give gifts out of obligation or expectation. For a birthday, for Christmas, a housewarming, a wedding. So often, it seems that these are token gifts. The things that you give because you’re expected to give something.
I want to give more heart gifts. Gifts that really mean something. More than tokens. More than obligations. Gifts that express my appreciation, my love, my compassion, my warmth. I think that often heart gifts are gifts of ourselves. Our time, our energy, our attention, our talent. Things we have created with our hands, with our thoughts.
Or, as Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently put it in his essay, “Gifts”:
Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me. Therefore the poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a gem; the sailor, coral and shells; the painter, his picture; the girl, a handkerchief of her own sewing.
At bartleby.com you can read the entire essay.
January 14, 2008
I think that a lot of people think that creativity is all about having fun. They process documents and total up spreadsheets and dream of just being able to paint or write or create all day long instead. As though it wasn’t “real” work.
Being creative is a lot of work! Of course it’s fun sometimes, but it’s hard work. And it’s odd work. I can’t tell you for sure if I’ll be able to design a web site in 10 hours. Sometimes inspiration strikes and it only takes 1 hour. Sometimes I sit and stare at my computer and struggle for days.
I always know a design will be good when I “see it in my head” and just copy it down. I don’t know where it comes from or how it happens. Sometimes the instant someone starts talking to me about their web site, I see it in my head, and feel inspired to rush home and create it before I lose it. Sometimes, it takes a long time to see it in my head. I’ll fidget with colors, move the elements around the page, play Tetris for awhile, come back to it, play with the colors again, move things around again…
I’ve always struggled with that fidgeting and playing stage. I never felt like I was doing “real” work. Then I found this article about Procrastination and Incubation. I’m so happy to learn that all that struggling and fidgeting is really part of the work, part of the process of being creative.
But I can also see how from the outside, it doesn’t look like work. So let me assure you, it is real work.
January 6, 2008
I think that most of my life I’ve thought about weight loss as a fight – I had to be strong, had to work hard, had to overcome. I had to behave like it was a war, not just a battle.
But here’s the problem with that scenario: who’s the enemy I’m fighting against? Food that must be resisted at all costs? Exercises that must be conquered with gritted teeth and sweating brow? My own body that has to be beaten into shape against its will?
It’s not a pretty picture. And I don’t think a very healthy one.
So now I’m thinking in a different way. It’s not a war, it’s not a battle, it’s not a fight. It’s a journey. And food and exercise and my own body are my traveling companions, helping me to get where I want to be.
It’s not about facing down a pizza and winning or conquering a giant chocolate brownie. It’s about choosing to eat the apple instead because it’s a better ally and a better choice. It’s not about avoiding the things that are bad, but about making positive, healthful decisions.
And you know what? If I do eat a pizza or a chocolate brownie, I haven’t lost a battle. I’ve just stepped a few steps backward on my journey. I’ve traveled 1000 miles forward and took two steps backward. That’s hardly worth calling off the whole journey. So I’ll keep going.
