To begin I must confess ... I am on my 8th cup of green tea, my 10th or 12th repeat of Imogen Heap's album Sparks (Deluxe Version) and have peppered close to 30 pages with words in my journal over the course of 8 hours or so. I am unshaven, barefoot and fed by mostly grazing. It has been a perfect Saturday!
The sun's at about 3 o'clock - I'm out on the front porch swing feeling her heat through stripes of shade cast from the iron fencing. The sky is especially powder blue with a few clouds; bleached white perimeters, grayish purple centers -they've hardly moved in hours. We've hardly moved in hours.
Wrote a lot about a lot of things, felt good to write as long as I wanted & as much as I wanted.
Played the song Telemiscommunications on the piano by ear, not that it's the most complicated of chords, it's become my favorite song right now. Have played it 35 times today alone. I tend to do that when I find music I like. Here is the song:
Reminded me just how much of a Mad Tea Party the digital world can be and quite frankly, in the digital world - we're all a bit mad.
Telemiscommunications have been at the root of much of my suffering over the last few years. It's really unfortunate but has sparked a lot of learning.
Sun's at 4 o'clock now - and hidden behind a rather large cloud. The lighting has changed and off to my left I see a flurry of bugs flying about an open field that were not quite visible before. Were they even there? Hmm ... They're so, busy ... and clumsy. How do they not crash into one another?
This digital world has been a catalyst for love for me though. I am lucky. Have been in love 5 times in this life thus far. Strangely enough I met all 5 of these amazing men in person first, but 3 of them became relationships later and because of our digital connections.
This digital Tea Party took my small business international in the first 6 months, so I am quite grateful for it really.
Yet still, there is something so very special about time spent together and time reserved to spend together with people you care for. This idea of being around people I love all of the time was part of my decision to move to Utah.
Actually, it was after realizing that I was not going to be able to turn off or slow down the digital world, and still fulfill my purpose in life, that I sat down and re-evaluated my priorities.
But, that will have wait a moment. I must make another cup of tea ... there - that's better.
The sun is now at 6 o'clock - everything is a little more orange outside. The white of these little flowers in the field has become yellow and brighter and the busy bugs are gone.
About those priorities ... Ive boiled them down to 10 and in no particular order:
1. Be around people you love and who love you - all of the time and even if it means traveling or living different places.
2. Have an epic love affair with food & your body and all things that come in contact with it!
3. Have lots of safe sex - ideally with a special someone, but if there is no special someone have lots of sex with men whom you respect and who respect you.
4. Laugh from time to time and cry from time to time too.
5. Fulfill your purpose in your work. Follow the work where your strengths are played and continuously practiced and challenged. Seek out interesting projects and people to collaborate without limits. Never do it for the money.
6. Sleep, including lots of naps & be outside as much as possible. Even better, take naps outside below trees and in parks and by bodies of water.
7. Read and write every day - learn from everything & everyone - everywhere. Teach what you learn, share your adventures - but stay open. Never stop learning!
8. See all people as equal - no matter what. Really listen & help people feel heard.
9. Be visionary - be brave - be YOU! Don't let the word authentic become hijacked by a status quo.
10. Let decisions move from the gut to the heart to the head and be sure all three play their part - even if it takes a little time.
1. Be around people you love and who love you - all of the time and even if it means traveling or living different places.
2. Have an epic love affair with food & your body and all things that come in contact with it!
3. Have lots of safe sex - ideally with a special someone, but if there is no special someone have lots of sex with men whom you respect and who respect you.
4. Laugh from time to time and cry from time to time too.
5. Fulfill your purpose in your work. Follow the work where your strengths are played and continuously practiced and challenged. Seek out interesting projects and people to collaborate without limits. Never do it for the money.
6. Sleep, including lots of naps & be outside as much as possible. Even better, take naps outside below trees and in parks and by bodies of water.
7. Read and write every day - learn from everything & everyone - everywhere. Teach what you learn, share your adventures - but stay open. Never stop learning!
8. See all people as equal - no matter what. Really listen & help people feel heard.
9. Be visionary - be brave - be YOU! Don't let the word authentic become hijacked by a status quo.
10. Let decisions move from the gut to the heart to the head and be sure all three play their part - even if it takes a little time.
Bonus - 11. Revisit and update these priorities often.
There went the sun. Ahhh, here come's a cool breeze. These little moments. <3
There are plenty of opportunities for this Tea Party of ours to be connected to any number of my priorities but it's also worth acknowledging that each of them can be achieved devoid of a digital medium as well.
When people look back at this moment in history I think they will see us all struggling to balance hyper connectivity with meaningful living and hopefully we will find a way to have the first serve the latter in ways we could have never imagined prior to the digital age.
I mean rarely is the Tea Party generating the most meaningful moments in life. If that were to be the case, it would be simply mad.
So yes - there is always time for tea. Tea is part of life now. But ...
"Did I tell you I loved you today?"
No comments:
Post a Comment