Category: General

I seem to be a woman who is interested in a wide variety of topics.  Some areas I know very well, but there are many where I know just a high level overview of the topic.  Sometimes I wonder if I should narrow down my focus and pick a few areas to pursue, but that doesn’t appeal to me.  As long as I don’t feel overwhelmed, why not explore what I can?

My latest interest has been looking at creativity.  I just finished a book on it, and I am currently listening to a college level course on the topic as well.  What I am learning about creativity is fascinating.  A lot of us out there, especially from the scientific and mathematical worlds, would say that we are not creative people.  I know I have touched on this in previous posts, but everyone is creative, and it isn’t totally something you are born with.  Creativity is a skill that can be developed, and that is exciting news for all of us.

The material has also discussed characteristics of creative people and ways to enhance your creativity.  You might be surprised at what it takes to be creative.  And, of course, there is no one right way to do it.  There are many combinations of characteristics and skills that can help you become a more creative individual.

Since there are many ways to be creative, I am not going to make any lists here.  However, some questions remain – in what ways are you creative?  If you don’t feel like you are a creative person, how might you develop this skill?  I hope that no matter what you do in life, you can embrace that idea that you are a creative being.  I also encourage you to examine what you currently do and see where you are already creating something.

For any of you that know me well, you know that patience is not one of my defining characteristics.  It has always been something I have struggled with, and I definitely acknowledge it as a weakness.  Over the last weekend I started to observe how that plays into my parenting, and boy, do I have some work to do.

My son is now at an age where he is getting into everything – which is totally normal.  He is exploring the world around him.  However, there are quite a few of those things that can be dangerous for him to explore, and one of my top jobs as a parent is to keep him safe.  Lately, I find myself saying “no” a lot, and sometimes I notice myself getting annoyed when I have to say “no” about every five seconds.  Surely there is something better than saying “no” all the time, and I really don’t like how I get frustrated.  I know, I am human, but I wish I had more patience with this.  It wasn’t the first time, and I know it won’t be the last.  And, I can’t hinder his exploration and learning with my lack of patience.

So, how to be more patient with my parenting (and in life, for that matter)?  That sometimes feels like my holy grail.  I think meditation and mindfulness can help.  And, while I think it is good for my son to wander and explore everything (with supervision) at this age, I am also thinking about creating more “safe spaces” (such as his crib), where I currently feel good that he will be safe if he stays in that area.  We have some gates up around the house, but maybe we need a few more.  This does not take away my responsibility to supervise him, but it might be a way to keep me from saying “no” over and over again.

Regardless of what happens, this is just one way that parenting is challenging me to be a better person.  It’s not always easy, but I am grateful for the opportunities to improve myself as a mother and as an individual.

A lot of companies require that employees complete yearly goals.  As a part of that, they also usually require a “mid-year check-in” to look at progress and make sure the employee is on track to meet the goals that have been established.  While I hadn’t formally completed goals for this year (I kind of like the idea of SMART goals, but I hate creating them), I did create a list of things I would like to do as well as have a theme for the year.  Since we are now halfway through the year I thought I would reflect on my progress so far.

Looking first at the tough side – 2017 has been a brutal year so far.  The loss of my mother-in-law tops the list obviously, but I have also had some really tough situations related to work.  On top of that, we have had a lot of issues related to our house, and with that has come some financial pressure.  We are very fortunate that we will be able to rise above most of this and be fine, but there is at least one loss here that you don’t just “get over” in my opinion.

Despite these challenges and losses, when looking at my list, I am happy to say that I have been able to check a few things off of it already.  There are also many that are in progress that should be completed by the end of the year.  Of course, some of these are subjective, but I am feeling a good sense of accomplishment here.  Also, if you may recall, my theme for the year is “creation”.  So far, I am trying to remember that as I go through my days, and I feel like my understanding and appreciation for all that we create has increased.  However, as I reflect on my theme, I realize how I want to create so much more – more time with friends and family, more ways to help people, more writing, more teaching – the creation is never ending.  So, I have a lot of work to do in the 2^nd half of 2017, and I hope to continue to share my journey with you.

Since I seem to be on a roll of random topics lately, I thought I would discuss one of my current distractions.  My family is a member of Amazon Prime, and with that comes some different benefits, one of which is the ability to watch some TV shows and movies without an additional cost.  I don’t know how big this library is, but since it is Amazon my guess is that it is pretty large.  I also don’t spend a lot of time watching TV and movies these days, but right now I am stuck on one TV show on Amazon Prime.  That show is Unsolved Mysteries.

For those who might not know or who weren’t around for it, Unsolved Mysteries is a TV show where they reenact crimes, unexplained events, ghosts, lost loves – pretty much any mystery that is – yes – unsolved.  I have been playing the show in the background a lot lately while doing other things, and it has brought back a lot of memories for me.  I would watch this show a lot in the late 80s and early 90s as a kid, and for some reason it stuck with me.  I don’t like any bit of scary movies or shows, yet I can sit and watch this.  What’s funny to me is that there are people who think watching Unsolved Mysteries is scarier than any scary movie or TV show.  Maybe it is because the stories are supposed to be real?  I don’t know the answer, but regardless of what others feel about it I enjoy it.  I certainly don’t want to become a part of an unsolved mystery, and I think one of best parts of the show is when mysteries do get solved or are explained.  Unfortunately, they are not always happy endings, but finding a resolution can be helpful.

Perhaps, for me, it will always be an “unsolved mystery” as to why I like the show so much.

When I sometimes stop to think about it, the world is so full of contradictions and hypocrisy.  And, just because I notice it, it does not mean I am above it.  I wanted to share a recent contradiction I have thought about in my life.  It probably isn’t all that serious, and, you might share the same thoughts, but I thought it might be amusing to discuss.

My contradiction today is about bats.  In real life, I am not really a big fan.  I understand they have important roles in the biology of our ecosystem, and that is great, but I don’t need to hang around any.  I had a close encounter with one a few years ago at our house, and that was downright terrifying to me.  We fixed the opening in our attic that caused that close encounter, so all has been well.  However, there is another part of the attic that was recently discovered to have an opening and also evidence of a bat being there.  Again, we are actually planning to have that fixed today, and I haven’t dealt with any bats recently, but still it freaks me out a little that I might see one again.  Yuck.  Bats, you go do your thing away from me and I’ll do mine.

However, I started thinking about it, and then it hit me.  I love the super hero Batman.  All of the Christian Bale Batman movies are so good, and Batman 1989 is my absolute favorite.  I don’t mind seeing the bats in a movie, so why are they so scary in real life?  Honestly, I think the big reason is that real bats can carry rabies and disease, and no one wants that.  For some reason, though, I think it is interesting that I love made up bats but not real ones.  But, I know I am like that for many things – a bag of contradictions.

Today I am going to criticize a little bit – and with that, please keep in mind that this is my opinion and not a bunch of facts I found.

As I have gotten older, I have grown increasingly appalled at some of the slang terms that have developed in our culture.  For example, saying “cray”.  Why would you say that?  Was saying “crazy” and adding that one extra syllable that hard?  Another example is “jelly” instead of jealous – why oh why would you replace a feeling with a condiment?  There are plenty of other examples, but the one that irritates me the most right now is sayings such as “adulting” or “I adulted today”.  This to me has to be about the silliest thing I have heard recently.

When did the word “adult” get transformed into being a verb?  You are either an adult or you are not.  You don’t get to pick and choose throughout the day when you are an adult – it’s a full time role.  Now, your maturity level may differ during the day, and there are certainly moments where you may not be immediately responsible for something, but as an adult there are typically responsibilities around you all of the time.  I also understand that we live in a culture where the lines between adolescence and adulthood are blurred.  Sometimes I don’t always feel like an adult either, although being responsible for another human life has wiped away those feelings for the most part.

Overall, I am not here to say I am better than anyone because I detest this language.  I just don’t get it.  To me, it’s a waste of language and not really that amusing.  If you are an adult, words like “adulting” should not be in your vocabulary, and I hope these terms disappear soon.

I feel like I have a lot of interests.  Some might even describe me as a “renaissance” individual – one who is curious about many things and dabbles in a variety of activities.  I don’t see anything wrong with that label, but there would be some who challenge the notion that because of it I can’t focus or become very well versed about a few particular subjects.  I get that, but I think everyone gets to choose how they spend their free time, as long as it doesn’t hurt themselves or others.

However, there are some interests that I would say I am at “expert” level.  One of those is going to concerts.

Attending concerts is something I have been doing since sometime in high school.  I go to enough of them that I have kept a list of concerts I have seen, and the list is pretty long.  I probably haven’t even done that great of a job keeping track, but if you look at my list, I have seen almost 80 different groups or performers.  Of those, some of them I have seen multiple times.  This spring alone I have already been to four events, and a few more are planned in the near future.  I don’t know if obsessed is the right word, but it is definitely a place where a lot of my money goes.

What is it about me and live music/performance?  I don’t know.  Perhaps it is one of the few ways that I actually do a good job of living in the moment.  Perhaps it is a way to get out and see others and the world and get out of my own head.  There are probably many reasons for my interest in attending concerts.  So, assuming no big changes, I look for my list to keep on expanding.

As I write this entry, it has been over a week since we have had air conditioning.  At this time of the year, that may not always be a big deal, but we have had several days over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and they were pretty darn uncomfortable.  There was a night spent in a different location.  There was a night spent in the basement.  I wasn’t so much worried about my husband and me, but I could hardly stand seeing my little one so restless and unable to sleep.  Luckily, we did get a new air conditioner installed yesterday, so now we can go back to enjoying the luxury I pretty much took for granted.

And that is the key thing for me – taking it for granted.  When you think about it, air conditioning has not been around that long, and it is something that not a lot of people even have.  Not only have I enjoyed air conditioning all of my life, but I am pretty sure I am more intolerant of extremes in temperature because of it.  Air conditioning has made me wimpy, but I still look at it as a necessity.

Experiencing life without air conditioning when it is nice to have it has definitely been a case of not knowing what you have until it’s gone.  And boy, did I miss it.  Right now, I am all about gratitude for it and understanding that it is a luxury that most people don’t have.  I’m pretty lucky.  My guess is that life will go on and I will forget about it, but I hope not.  I hope that this helps me to expand my gratitude and focus more on all of the things that I take for granted.  Air conditioning is only one of many, many things I am fortunate enough to have in my life.

To start off, I wanted to note that I think the clarity I am looking for is beginning to head my way, but I am not going to focus on that today.  Today I want to switch gears and talk about something new that I am very excited about.  It is called The Great Courses Plus, and I am thrilled about having this in my life.  Let me explain.

The Great Courses is a company that I found out about through my subscription to National Geographic magazine.  In general, they produce college courses from reputable professors that you can buy and consume on your own schedule.  When I first heard of them, you would have to buy an entire course, and the DVDs and/or transcripts would be mailed to you.  I have ordered several courses from them, but it was when I felt I had the time to get through all of the lectures of the course.  I was also picky about the courses I chose – I would only pick courses in which I thought I would enjoy all of the lectures, not just a few of the topics.  The courses also tended to be pricy, but there were usually a lot of sales that made them more affordable.

Even though The Great Courses had some limitations, I really enjoyed their mission and supported what they were doing.  But now with The Great Courses Plus, I am inspired all over again.  The Great Courses Plus is a service where you pay a monthly or yearly fee, and you can access any course or lecture you want during that time.  Nothing gets sent to you, you just watch the lectures whenever you feel like it.  What a great idea!  I signed up for this immediately, and I am beginning to enjoy the benefits of not having to commit to only a few courses.  The topics cover so many things – travel, history, food, music, art, literature, science, cooking, math, and on and on.  I am so looking forward to using this subscription, and I encourage you to check it out as well.

I have been up for about an hour already this morning.  One of the first things I did was exercise, and today included a “high intensity interval training” workout.  A lot of people have heard of this, which is also known simply as “HIIT”.  Regardless of what you call it, it certainly lived up to its name – my heart was pumping, and it felt like it was high intensity to me.

As I finished the workout, I started thinking about the term “high intensity”, and I started to realize that it seems to describe my life right now.  The last few weeks have been very busy, and if you have read my last few posts, you know this is understandably so.  However, I began to think that this “high intensity” can only last so long.  “High intensity” can be great for short intervals, just like in the exercise workout, but it does not seem all that healthy for sustained periods of time.

Of course, the question becomes, how do I ease into a less intense schedule?  That is what I have challenged myself to think about today.  Of course, I think some of the activity will naturally slow down because the last few weeks have not been typical.  But, this seems like a good time to reflect on my life.  Are there activities I need to say no to?  Are there activities I need to do less of?  What are my priorities and what can be left out if there isn’t enough time?  When and where does down time fit in?  What makes sense for my family?  I am sure I could ask even more questions, but I think this is a good start.

One thing I do know, however, is that I believe everyone needs time for rest.  There has to be time to just “be” and not have to worry about getting something done.  I know my days are better when I find this time, and I hope you can find some too.