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Simply..adapting....

12/5/2020

6 Comments

 
Loving What Is by Byron Katie has been a really influential book for me. Her Four Questions and Turaround apply to almost any situation, including the current one, and I find they clarify my thinking.

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts here. It's comforting when other people echo your own thoughts and illuminating and inspiring to find new ways of looking at things. It becomes an interesting conversation which I think is this blog at it's best!

Strategy as well as meaning goal setting and  long term planning can also mean adapting to new circumstances, which is what we are all having to do.  A dear friend going through difficult times said she felt all at sea and to simply heave to until the tide changes, the wind picks up or the fog lifts and the way ahead can be seen more clearly could be a very wise strategy. We're all in uncharted waters, to extend the metaphor!

My strategy is to give my undivided attention to the garden.

(I have stopped moving furniture and playing Mozart very loud, which I have come to realise is what I tend to do in a crisis.)

The garden is maturing and changing and is in need of proper tlc. It is one of the few things I do where I am not thinking of other things at the same time which will be a very good thing, and since Barry died it has been a bit neglected, though superficially pretty and colourful and has given me huge pleasure.


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6 Comments
Mary
12/5/2020 04:00:29 pm

The very nature of this pandemic means that whatever passed for long term planning and goal setting--at least for me--no longer holds much sway except for doing the necessary things to stay healthy. Don't want to fix a plan in my mind about what I might do or where I might go in the future. And you know how hard that is as we both love to travel. Clearly, almost all the usual planning variables have been tossed out the window. For me, it would only lead to disappointment. But, not despairing either. Just living circumspectly. Continually adapting mentally and physically--with hope of a decent future--even in the face of the unknowable. x

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Freda
13/5/2020 02:19:35 pm

We will travel again Mary - we just don't know when but will keep an ear to the ground for the opportunities whenever they come, and do our best to stay healthy in the meantime. x

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cath
13/5/2020 08:38:52 am

Giving something your undivided attention often leads to the unfolding of a kind of relationship and dialogue with what is receiving your attention, and that usually makes me feel very happy.
In the example of your garden it would mean the unfolding of a new, maybe deeper or reciprocal relationship with your garden. Not so much the gardener executing her plans for the garden but the gardener answering to the questions the garden poses. Is this too philosophical? What do you think?

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Freda
13/5/2020 02:24:42 pm

No, not too philosophical Cath! I already feel a deeper connection just by giving it daily attention and being in it most of the day during this wonderful spell of good weather. The garden is nearly twenty years old - I have never had a garden that long before!

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Lisa
16/5/2020 04:44:41 pm

Freda, I laughed out loud when you said that you play Mozart loudly and move furniture when you feel you are in a crisis. We all have our things we do. For me it is deep cleaning the kitchen. Wish I could come up with something more fun! Though the clean kitchen is nice...

Reply
Freda
18/5/2020 06:59:00 am

Hi Lisa
Maybe your favourite music while you deep clean the kitchen? You do get something positive with your method!

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