MAKE A NEW PLAN, STAN

Are you Dharma….or Greg?

My inner spirit feels like Dharma waiting to bust out…but I’m forced to move within the confines of these things that can be seen.  Didn’t I JUST describe Greg to a “T?” So, I guess I’m Greg! …but I really am more like Dharma…maybe I’m more of an evolved Greg.

I feel surrounded by and unnaturally forced to operate within the confines of calendars, clocks, schedules, the time between the sunrise and the sunset, producing something.  It’s not something that is innate for me. And the moment a Saturday comes along–baby, I am on my own time!

So, a J-O-B is good for me because it makes me get up when everyone else is getting up and go to bed when most people go to bed because I have to get up the next day when most other people are getting up.  Without my job (and I am BLESSED to have a really GOOD ONE!) I find I’m doing what I’ve been doing for a few weeks now.  Staying up late at night, getting up late the next day, doing a few productive things, thinking about all the things I have to do and WANT to do and wondering at the end of the day if I DID enough. I am my own worst critic. 

And what do I have to produce?  Well, why all the things that others can see with that organ called the human eye, of course! The dishes need to be put away, laundry, food needs to be cooked, lesson plans written, gardening, planting, vacuuming. What else do you spend your days doing?  

But what about my inner Dharma? What about writing? Journaling? Photography? The blog that I started last year? Learning how to meditate?  Exercising?  I mean I have ALL THIS EXTRA TIME…5-8 extra hours in each and everyday that I do NOT have to be at my J-O-B (or commuting to it.)  I’m home, under strict confinement, yet I’m not the least bit sick! NOW is the time to be creative instead of productive.  OH….stop the presses!  Are productive and creative OPPOSITES?  If so, then unproductive would be creative and uncreative would be productive, correct? 

What is the opposite of PRODUCTIVE?  When one is not physically PRODUCING something that can be seen by that organ called the human eye, what do we call it?   Please comment below.  General society refers to activity as either productive OR creative.  Well, isn’t creativity a productive thing?  Isn’t inner healing and meditating and just plain ol’ becoming a better, more whole person a productive thing to do? We talk and think about productivity and creativity as if they are opposites or contrary to each other.  So, please, comment below what do you think is a better or more accurate term or thought that might elevate the connotation of creativity and spirituality into more of a “productive” realm?

Yesterday, I promised myself that I would not let the sun go down until I wrote a blog post.  I felt inspired to write this one…about planning.  And then I went out and planted in my garden for about 3 hours and was physically too tired to write.  So, today, here I am, being “creative” and writing when there are other “productive” things waiting for me.

I want to look upon this season as an opportunity to GROW.  No regrets. Count my blessings and look back on this season as a fulfilling gift.  Is that it? Is “FULFILLING” the word I’m looking for? The opposite of productive is fulfilling?  Or…let’s draw a Venn Diagram…the place where PRODUCTIVITY and CREATIVITY intersect … could it be called FULFILLING? (The grammarian in me wants to write FULLVILITY.) 

So, I don’t know about you, but my days will now consist more of a LIST OF THINGS TO DO.  I am relying less on calendars and clocks.  Instead I breathe, meditate and then accept the inspiration of what I feel compelled to do in that moment.  Right now for instance, I feel inspired and compelled to get this written.  My phone is dinging because my J-O-B is ‘calling.’  My phone has just dinged 9 times.  I glanced: emails from 2 parents, 3 from my principal, and texts wishing another teacher a happy birthday.  I am not going to chime in–yet. Because I KNOW it can all wait.  

THIS. 

This moment right now, is the time I feel inspired to get written what I promised to write yesterday…ding #10, #11…if I PRODUCE a response for so many other organs called the human eye to see then will I be considered productive?  Or will I FEEL productive….nay…FULFILLED?  Yes, that IS a better word!  

FULFILLED.

 Not only will I feel fulfilled, but I will offer the world something more fulfilling, at least anyone reading this blog post. YOU are my ‘outside’ world. This blog is meant to go outside the confines of my J.O.B. 

Do LISTS of things to do work for you? After writing your list, could you possibly rest a moment and mindfully consider and wait to be inspired by an item on your list? When you complete that one, could you possibly stop again and mindfully await an inspiration as to what should come next?  Are you the kind of person that works to a strict and organized time schedule? Let me know how you are coping and staying FULFILLED during this season.

(That’s right folks! I’m so proud of NOT using the “Q word” during this time of pandemic quarantine…doh!)