"Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense," said writer Gertrude Stein many decades ago. Isn't that about a thousand times truer in 2011? It takes rigorous concentration not to be inundated with data. But that's exactly your assignment. It's absolutely crucial for you to be a beacon of common sense in the coming days. To meet your dates with destiny, you will have to be earthy, uncluttered, well-grounded, and in close touch with your body's intuition. If that requires you to cut back dramatically on the volume of information you take in, so be it.
I think it's time to take a break from news alerts, RSS feeds, and magazines. How many recipes do I need to receive, when I just now have a working kitchen (with a beautiful 50s look, I might add)? How many poems daily do I need in my inbox? I crave some sense of peace and order. As I divest my house of this hoard of art supplies and encyclopedias and the stuff that once we saw as treasure, and now I see as clutter, I see I don't need so much stuff. I need more breathing room. Psychically, this is true, as well. I don't retain so much photographically as I once did. I need to edit what I take in. This includes what I read and what I watch. I love mysteries but it's time to concentrate on my own mysteries. I love memoir, but I need to stay away from others' problems and solve some of my own. I love sports, but I can TIVO this. (Don't worry; I'm not going to quit reading your blogs or savoring your poems or studying your homework or supporting my beloved Louisville Cardinals).
It's time now for revising, condensing, writing, teaching, and reading. It is not time for watching TV or reading merely to fall asleep. It's time for something else--cleaning house and spring-cleaning my thoughts, as well.
I keep dreaming of the Empress. I keep dreaming of the Knight of Cups; for some reason, though the Knight has 10 cups--one to crook from each finger? I wonder what this means...
1 comment:
The papers on my desk are calling me -- the files of recipes -- the bookmarks on my computer.
I will slowly creep out of it -- like you --
Good advice --
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