Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Downtime, learning the lesson and creative outlet

- Attending a lecture "Downtime: The Sacred Art of Stopping" by the wonderful Barbara Brown Taylor. The lecture addressed how we are all SO busy that we may not have noticed how this "too-muchness" eats away at relationships, creativity, health, focus and soul. She spoke about different spiritual traditions having different names for downtime, but all being in agreement that it is essential.

- At the beginning of her talk, my mind is still clicking in the background, Should I have promised that print job for Friday? I just spent too much money at dinner, I need to remember to buy paint on Wednesday, What did my neighbor mean when she said that? I hope Susan found her ticket at will-call, etc. etc. But as I begin to really listen, I relax and reflect upon what she was saying. And this is one of the reasons I write this blog. It really just started out as journaling, but 3BTing is a creative outlet for me. (Thank you, Whitney and Clare.) I do like to write, but am fiddling around in my head with other things I might do to feed my soul.

- Later, when she was signing my book, Barbara exclaimed with delight that I was wearing one of her Mahjong necklaces. (That is one of her creative outlets - making jewelry that is sold out of a gallery in Clarksville, Georgia.) She said she had been conflicted about whether the piece was upside down or not, but decided that it was OK one way or another, because I would be looking down at it when I wore it. Another fine example of letting things go...

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