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joyfinderheroThis entry began as a comment in a friend's journal ... and then it just kept growing (grin). Thanks to bellamagic
For me there can definitely be "too much" structure ... I have found myself running so fast to keep up with my 'schedule' that there seems no time for reflection, relaxation, love, meditation, sleep, or friends. (This happened a lot during the years of two-job household with two teenagers in residence ... but it also has happened during the retirement time, just because there's so much delightful stuff one might commit to doing.)
And there can definitely be "too little" structure ... when I’ve had just one project due any time this month, and arrived at the 5th of _next_ month without having started. Having done just pretty much nothing -- or only 'reading junk' and 'playing computer solitaire', which is pretty much nothing -- for the whole time.
Nowadays I find that the purpose of a plan is to keep me in focus in the present. It might _also_ be to accomplish the original goal in the plan, and it _may_ even be that all the steps in the original plan get completed ... but the chief purpose is that having a plan keeps my minute-to-minute experience in focus. And I enjoy that more than other modes of 'just randomly being'.
So it helps to sit down before bed and write the six things I'm definitely going to do tomorrow -- appointments, phone calls, do-list items, fun, whatever.
So it helps to have a longish-term project in progress -- graduating from Cherry Hill Seminary, say. Or the novel-in-progress of which about 50 good pages exist, together with an outline of parts One and Two (out of Three or at most Four) that's pretty solid.
And it helps to have a medium-term project in progress -- say, the placemats I just finished for Bob and the ones I've just started for Harry, which keeps me weaving (which I deeply enjoy) and which follow from last year's commitment in a charity auction ...
And from these it follows naturally that today I will tie on at least another 24 threads of the 136-thread warp for Harry's mats. And today I will continue cleaning up my office from the end of the marathon Novel-writing workshop that helped me make 50 good pages out of 150 rather wandering pages last quarter.
And also today I will call the tax person, set up an appointment for an oil change, take back the yarn that shrank appallingly last week, eat both yogurt (for breakfast) and lots of citrus (for the cold that continues to demand it), do laundry. Do my daily practice, do a few yoga stretches, do my homework.
... and experience my day and myself as 'in focus.'
bellamagicFor me there can definitely be "too much" structure ... I have found myself running so fast to keep up with my 'schedule' that there seems no time for reflection, relaxation, love, meditation, sleep, or friends. (This happened a lot during the years of two-job household with two teenagers in residence ... but it also has happened during the retirement time, just because there's so much delightful stuff one might commit to doing.)
And there can definitely be "too little" structure ... when I’ve had just one project due any time this month, and arrived at the 5th of _next_ month without having started. Having done just pretty much nothing -- or only 'reading junk' and 'playing computer solitaire', which is pretty much nothing -- for the whole time.
Nowadays I find that the purpose of a plan is to keep me in focus in the present. It might _also_ be to accomplish the original goal in the plan, and it _may_ even be that all the steps in the original plan get completed ... but the chief purpose is that having a plan keeps my minute-to-minute experience in focus. And I enjoy that more than other modes of 'just randomly being'.
So it helps to sit down before bed and write the six things I'm definitely going to do tomorrow -- appointments, phone calls, do-list items, fun, whatever.
So it helps to have a longish-term project in progress -- graduating from Cherry Hill Seminary, say. Or the novel-in-progress of which about 50 good pages exist, together with an outline of parts One and Two (out of Three or at most Four) that's pretty solid.
And it helps to have a medium-term project in progress -- say, the placemats I just finished for Bob and the ones I've just started for Harry, which keeps me weaving (which I deeply enjoy) and which follow from last year's commitment in a charity auction ...
And from these it follows naturally that today I will tie on at least another 24 threads of the 136-thread warp for Harry's mats. And today I will continue cleaning up my office from the end of the marathon Novel-writing workshop that helped me make 50 good pages out of 150 rather wandering pages last quarter.
And also today I will call the tax person, set up an appointment for an oil change, take back the yarn that shrank appallingly last week, eat both yogurt (for breakfast) and lots of citrus (for the cold that continues to demand it), do laundry. Do my daily practice, do a few yoga stretches, do my homework.
... and experience my day and myself as 'in focus.'
