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Daily writing practice

2021/9/27 #poetry Oh, that weight, the pressure of unknown stress. Some lurking anxiety that can't be identified. Easily pushed away by food, sleep, or any distraction. I suspect it is just the feeling of too much to do. With too many things that need movement you can feel stuck even when moving as fast as you can. That experience of paddling upstream while seeing that the boat is moving in the other direction. Quite unnerving. Heavily frustrating. Almost universal in its relatability. Background overwhelm.

2021/9/26 I almost can't believe I'm doing this. Every day, I write, and every day, I feel no more accomplished than the day before. I could write useful or interesting things. Some days I do, and on those days I do feel accomplished. Many days I just do the minimum and say I've completed my goal but don't have time or don't have energy to outdo it. But today, today I will construct a poem.

That little notification, only on the screen for three seconds, and only taking half a second for me to notice and process it. Yet that minute moment has turned into a half hour, then an hour, then more as I follow up with where that little notification took me. I realize I was in the middle of something when I got the notification and I get back to it, with an “Oh yeah, oops, forgot I was doing that.” This is rare for me since I usually have few notifications set to alert me and fewer still that would be of interest or require my attention to divert. As I understand that is not the case for many people who use multiple internet connected devices each day. There is an epidemic of notification induced distraction. It even kills people, mostly in relation to motor vehicles but there are industrial accidents and other rare types of notification precipitated demise as well. Should one have the discipline to remember to follow up with each of ones items of correspondence, work, or personal business at an appropriate time then notifications would be entirely unnecessary. The notifications make things easier by automating the memory process but they often do this at inappropriate times and well more often for inappropriate purposes. We have more control now than a few years ago but things are still not ideal. Perhaps the ideal would be a legally enforced urgency level system. Savvy users would turn off all notifications with anything less than top level urgency with the assurance that no abuse of that label would be made.

Well, so much for a poem :)

2021/9/25 #poetry A well learned skill can serve you. Can bring pleasure, money, or other utility. An attitude of inquiry though, can bring connection and insight. Such attitude shows reverence and respect for people and situations that show you things you didn't know.

2021/9/24 #poetry The peacefulness of a place generally has to do with what's happening in it. “This place is peaceful” refers to a trend of occurrences in that place. Some places seem to be a contradiction. The waterfall or the ocean cliff is violent crushing water but the white noise can be calming all the same. Many places which seem peaceful in the day can be quite frightening at night. The peace is in you.

2021/9/23 Alas, just living in a place no longer automatically involves one in the community. At least not in any place with more than a few hundred people. There would be no marketing in a small community. People would know who offered what. People would know who needed what as well.

2021/9/22 #poetry Often, again, I think of places I have been. I dwell on places where I found it very comfortable. I notice the quality of the energy of these places. I compare these qualities with each other. I compare them with new places I find myself. There are certain memories I'm always looking to replicate. To find this place of comfort, of ease.

Every place is different of course. I'll always be able to pick those differences out. Sometimes I'll think they matter. Sometimes I'll think they won't. Places can change too. Just from being in a place it changes for you.

2021/9/21 #poetry Forest. Desert. Plain. Ocean shore. Uninterrupted natural landscape. I'm aware that being out of the human built environment is just nicer. Why do I stay in a city? I can go, I am free. What keeps me? Just a lack of a plan? Perhaps that my plans grew out of what I was experiencing and disentangling myself from so many plans involving where I already am is not so simple. If I make a plan I may find out, see what obstacles arise.

2021/9/20 #poetry Spinning around, “What was that!” Nothing apparent was spied. No need to be so jumpy. Just listen, you'll discover what you need. It's ok to wonder, to be patient while it reveals itself. It could take a while but it won't take longer than it needs.

2021/9/19 There are unreasonable people, meaning that they are un-able to reason. Now, no one is completely reasonable. There are always some topics that aren't up for questioning, areas where they strongly believe. Some are much more highly reasonable than others though, and some just won't respond to anything that isn't an emotional trigger, positive or negative, and ignore reason completely. There's another type of communication that works for people who are more responsive to emotional appeals. This is what major political players and marketers/advertisers are trained to use. Learning about and to use it in life one can start to see everyday interactions in a different way. This new perspective can be quite eye opening.

2021/9/18 I'm really not sure how to deal with someone who refuses to acknowledge basic facts. Or those who can't let go of incorrect ideas. This is the truth. Sky changes color. You can't just tell me that it's blue and that's how it is and you won't even consider anything else. What about at night? It's so frustrating. How can anyone stick to that sort of thinking? What's the point of insisting that the clouds are what's colored, and that the sky is still blue behind them when you are shown a sunset? What could you possibly gain from all that literal nonsense? You don't have to question your other beliefs is what. I do know why, I do. I just can't help but be frustrated by it anyway. It's a deeply sophistical behavior. The time and energy required to rethink ones basic conceptualization of the world is not usually available in the heat of argument about something seeming to be superfluous to it. That time and energy are a prerequisite before your mind will allow itself to even consider starting, and for most minds that time and energy requirement is considerably large. So they act like trolls, avoiding the work. Great for them, terrible for me.