Category: Focus

Thoughts on Daylight Savings

11/6/2017

The arrival of the first dark night
after the first short day
always brings a punchline.

What time is it?

Did we lose an hour?
(If so, where did it go?)
Did I lose sleep?
Yes, that's right...
Fall back.

But I had so much work to do...

Is it later than I think
or is it earlier?

I scheduled a household painting job today.
I didn't know that it would take two coats and
three times as long as I'd expected.
Though, I could have counted on that
and that I'd have preferred a different color

and that I'd paint other bits and pieces
around the house that were nagging me.
After all, the paint brush and friends
were out and up for exercise.

Maybe it's paint fumes
or the aggravation of yesterday's super full moon
but what's next on the agenda is vague.

I need brain washing.
I must go down for a good night's sleep
whatever time it is
and hope for clarity in the morning.

Will it be light in the morning
or dark?

I'll just have to close my eyes
and wait to see.

©2017 Suzanne McDermott (All Rights Reserved)

Beauty begets beauty

8/15/2017

"Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love... Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win his friendship and understanding."

—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Because my mind was going a mile a minute when I sat down to meditate this morning, I plopped a vase of mums directly in the line of my meditative gaze. I'm not sure that this helped me step out of the thought stream but they sure were beautiful to look at. Before I stood up to move along with my day, I gathered them between my hands, buried my face in them and inhaled deeply. I love the smell of mums!

It is too, too easy to be sucked into the virtual world of (often) horror and mayhem. Make it a practice to focus on the beautiful objects in your space. After all, you put them there, didn't you? If you haven't filled your space with objects of beauty that the light can find, please, do yourself a favor and do so now.

The objects that the light finds and illuminates will illuminate your mind, whether you love them or not. Practice seeing what the light illuminates. Practice loving that.

Short post. I'm looking away now. Looking for the beautiful in my immediate vicinity.

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains."

—Anne Frank

Why fight it?

7/11/2017

I think it's hysterical that my intention was to write about the value of practice and instead, I am surrendering to a quick post on...surrender!

After almost two weeks of serious over-scheduling, my mind, body and soul are telling me, "break time!"

Anyway, it is very, very, very hot where I live and work and I must move to the drawing table and surrender to my pencils, brushes and colors, if only for my mental health. Well, spiritual health, too. Okay... for fun. Actually, I have already been working at the computer here for hours today and I must switch gears.

Sometimes, even when you feel (or are) obligated, even if only to yourself, it's good to say, "Sorry, Charlie!"

Must go scribble.

"Always say 'yes' to the present moment... Surrender to what is. Say 'yes' to life - and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you." —Eckhart Tolle

One thing at a time

7/4/2017

“A weakness of all human beings is trying to do too many things at once.”
—Henry Ford

There's no such thing as multi-tasking

The ocean waves do not try to reach shore at the same time.

The leaves on a tree do not try to change color at once.

Each wave, each leaf is a unique manifestation of an unfolding process of living experience. Human beings moving through space and time are also unfolding processes of living experiences.

But the human mind? Especially with gazillions of distractions here in the early 21st century? We are so easily distracted that we miss much of the beautiful unfolding process of life.

I make this claim with confidence because I am one of the most easily distracted people I know.

I practice meditation briefly every day but nothing, no meditation I have come across, calms and focuses my attention like drawing or painting. It may not be for everyone but it sure works for me.

In my experience, multitasking is a myth. Trying to multitask, or even expecting yourself to be able to multitask, can leave you dizzy, drained, overwhelmed, ungrounded. You may think that you are working on several projects simultaneously but, in fact, you can only take action on one thing or think one thought at a time (no matter how brief that time may be).

Expect yourself to do one thing at a time and plan for that. It's a sure way to sanity.

"Two things cannot happen at once; it is impossible. It is easy to imagine that two things are happening at once, because our journey back and forth between the two may be very speedy. But even then we are doing only one thing at a time.

"The idea of mindfulness is to slow down the fickleness of jumping back and forth. We have to realize that we are not extraordinary mental acrobats. We are not all that well trained. And even an extraordinarily well-trained mind could not manage that many things at once--not even two. But because things are very simple and direct, we can focus on, be aware and mindful of, one thing at a time. That one-pointedness, that bare attention, seems to be the basic point."

— Chogyam Trungpa, from "The Four Foundations of Mindfulness Meditation"

I have a long list of reasons why I continue to teach drawing and watercolor after 20 years. One reason is that the process allows people the opportunity to quiet their minds and practice focusing on one task at a time.

Practicing drawing and watercolor is mindfulness training on steroids.

How to put your house in order

2/21/2017

Before I tell anyone else what to do,

I have to put my own house in order. I've been working on it and have claimed a head start on Spring this year.

If my space is in chaos, it's difficult for me to be clear headed and open hearted—two requirements for serving others. Also, I like the view of the world around me to adhere to some sense of aesthetic order. It's important to me.

As a freelance creative, teacher and coach, I wear a lot of different hats. Translation: I have a lot of different piles of stuff that support each project, class and client. Although I keep each collection of, mostly, papers, books and supplies in individual bins, I have to work at organizing on a daily basis. And then there's all the other stuff of life. If I ever wonder at the stuff I accumulate, I can only look to myself. I bring it into my home and work space. So I am the one who has to change my habits and actions.

Like Parkinson's Law ("work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion"), stuff expands so as to fill available space. No matter how often I organize and clean, it seems I turn around to find that, whoa, there's another pile of clutter. How does this happen so fast? Does this happen in your world?

I cannot stand clutter and yet I make it. What to do, what to do?

Well, there are a few "simple" rules to follow.

Know thyself

Before we get to the rules, first things first.

What are my particular clutter problems? Normal things. Weird things.

What's my stuff problem?

I am a book magnet. As soon as I could write my own name, I was scrawling it into the end papers of my father's fine editions of, oh, Arthur Quiller-Couch's Notes on Shakespeare's Workmanship or Donald Francis Tovey's Essays in Musical Analysis. So, books.

Paper. All of my artwork is on paper and so are my teaching demos. And live class handouts. And OMG, magazines that I keep for students and "reference".

Shells (lots of shells) and rocks and stones and crystals and feathers and pine cones and baby plants rooting and shooting in various stages.

Small treasured objects that I've picked up along the route of my peripatetic life.

Jars. Why do I spend so much time cleaning and storing glass jars?

Bubble wrap. I know I'm going to need it!

Okay, those are my main culprits. What are yours?

What are my habit problems with stuff?

I leave my shoes around. Mostly, I take my shoes off when I come in the house. But sometimes I don't.

I drop things on the table by my back door. Any table. By any back door. This is chronic.

I pile books and magazines and professional papers and my journals by my reading and writing chair.

I leave glasses and cups where I put them when I've finished drinking whatever is inside them.

My studio... I pile sketches and class demos and reference photos in places where they don't belong by which I mean on work space that I need for...drawing and painting! Other than that, it's an ongoing creative space, a place I change out my teaching gear so, I have to allow it a certain amount of disarray.

What are your habit problems with stuff?

One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity. —Bruce Lee

Seven Rules of Order

A place for everything and everything in its place.

Put your toys back where they belong when you are finished playing with them. That goes for clothing and shoes, too.

Complete your actions. Preparation is critical to most action. So is cleaning up. Complete your cycle of activity.

Do you love it? If not, then why is it in your space?

The one year rule. This is tried and true. If you haven't used something in the past year, let it go.

STOP BUYING STUFF YOU DON'T NEED! Think you really need something? Give it 24 hours. Then reconsider.

Use a timer. Think that putting things back in order will take too long? Use a timer. Set it on 15 minutes. You'll be finished before the timer goes off.

Accept yourself. We all have chronic habits that are challenging to change. That's where accountability and coaching come in handy. If you have chronic habits related to order, don't beat yourself up about them. Be compassionate with yourself and do the best you can.

The present order is the disorder of the future. —Louis-Antoine Saint-Just

Why bother?

The point of putting your space in order is to help create order within yourself. If you have order within and have better energetic space and strength to deal with chaos in the world at large.

Chaos is a smokescreen and one of the things it obscures is the truth. Keeping your own house in order subdues anxiety and allows you to be more confident and discerning in general.

There is, of course, much more to keeping your own house in order. People have built illustrious careers on this theme. There's also more to chaotic living than the state of order in your personal space. But that's a topic for a future post. And I haven't even brought up cleaning!

One thing at a time.

A treat for your efforts

Overwhelmed? Too tired to straighten up at the end of the day or the evening or whatever project you were involved with? Keep the essential oil of Lemon on hand. I have a bottle in every room. Lemon is the oil of focus and helps you attend to one thing at a time. It's crisp citrus scent combats mental fatigue and restores your energy allowing you to complete projects. Put a drop or two in the palms of your hands, rub them together and inhale. Who doesn't perk up and smile at the zest of fresh lemon? Get in touch if you'd like to learn more about essential oils.

I hope this post helps you put your house in order. Even just a little bit. Carry on...

Thoughts on Daylight Savings

Beauty begets beauty

Why fight it?

One thing at a time

How to put your house in order

Know thyself

Seven Rules of Order

Why bother?

A treat for your efforts

Inspiring you to heal yourself, shine your light
and make your own magic

categories

archives

Thoughts on Daylight Savings

Beauty begets beauty

Why fight it?

One thing at a time

﻿How to put your house in order

Know thyself

Seven Rules of Order

Why bother?

A treat for your efforts

Inspiring you to ​heal yourself, shine your lightand make your own magic

categories

archives

How to put your house in order

Inspiring you to heal yourself, shine your light
and make your own magic