It's all very well keeping a blog called Juxtapositions, but sometimes there are too many different thoughts and impressions to express at once.
Since this time last week, for example, I've been meaning to write about the return of our spring animals and birds and about the episode of Planet Earth—Deserts—that I watched on TV at the hotel in Kingston. I also watched an interview with the Dalai Lama from the Mansbridge One on One series. I thought about the young people at the Royal Military College and Queen's University whom we saw swarming over Kingston, scantily clad because of the warm weather.
The films I've happened to see lately are worth a mention (Heimat in German, Il Postino in Italian and La Grande Séduction in French) as is the novel I can't stop thinking about, Alistair McLeod's No Great Mischief, whose characters were from Cape Breton. Apart from the Spanish story I mentioned in my last blog I've also been discussing an article from Le Monde with our French-speaking group: Voyage dans la poubelle du Pacifique, about the pollution of the Pacific Ocean by plastic litter. In our German group, by contrast, we read a Märchen by the Brothers Grimm—Hans im Glück—and then had a depressing discussion about retirement residences.
My friend Barbara came round so that I could help her learn the alto line of some Bach chorales, now that she has joined a church choir. Chris and I have been working on the usual Schubert Lieder and Vaughan Williams songs and learning a clarinet and piano sonata by Lefèvre. Maryam is thinking about auditioning to sing in a performance of The Dream of Gerontius. Emma is preparing to give a talk about the effect of fluorescent lighting on our perception of colours. George has been to Central Australia to see the rocks, and what an adventure that was! (I was thinking of him all the time he was there.) Chris is editing exam papers for Canadian commercial pilots and while he's been busy with that, I have been proof reading his book about the Theory of Flight. Yesterday we met an Artificial Intelligence expert from Austin, Texas, proud of having home-schooled his sons, who is trying to give computers some common sense. Chris is very interested in this venture!
When I want to give myself a break from thinking I potter about (or putter about, as North Americans put it) in my garden. I'm planning to grow mint, parsley, basil, lemon verbena, oregano, savory, chives, rosemary, sage, cilantro, nasturtiums, calendulas, red peppers, onions, carrots, spinach, tomatoes and pansies this year.
Tomorrow we meet two young ladies off a flight from Saskatchewan who'll be spending a few nights at our house while participating in the Adventure in Citizenship programme for young Canadians, organised by the Rotary Club, and Chris is in charge of a Fly Day at Rockcliffe airport with twenty-five scouts likely to show up for rides with volunteer pilots.
I don't think the above mish-mash is untypical of present-day, western. middle-aged lives. Modern society is unfocussed; maybe that's why we don't give enough attention to the things that matter. We do need to simplify ourselves, but what should we give up in order to concentrate our minds? That is the question.
5 comments:
What to give up in order to become focussed?
1) Possessions
2) Habits
3) Possessions
4) Security
5) Possessions
On the contrary, possessions are what allows one to focus. Can you imagine a world where there were no dishwashers, for example? Where I would have to defocus my work in order to wash dishes manually? This lunchtime someone needed a telephone number urgently and was looking for something called a "telephone book". That search could have taken some time and then I would have had to have thumbed through the book looking for the required number. Instead I simply typed the name into Google on my iPod touch and the number came up within seconds. Is my iPod touch a possession that stops me focusing or a possession that allows me to handle silly requests quickly and therefore focus so much more?
Habits similarly allow one to focus. When something is done habitually it requires less conscious thought: leaving more time for conscious thought on things that matter.
So I think the previous comment is totally wrong. Indeed, inverted.
As a matter of fact a certain Mr Anonymous and I spent all afternoon, well two hours at least, discussing Faith's comment and its implications. So thanks for the provocation! (I might write some more about this in my blog, later, or there again, I might not. It all depends how many distractions get in the way.)
Wow! This discussion fits into all that I'm thinking at the moment. I totally collapsed emotionally last week because I just didn't know where to start with my ToDo list. I'd had to take a week of work due to Alexander's then my own sickness, came in on Friday for my computer to have crashed and panicked.
I certainly wasn't focussed. I've done a lot of serious thinking/reading/watching Google TechTalks (Getting Things Done, Inbox Zero...) this weekend to get my head round this subject.
I am about to spend more money to allow me to focus on what I need to focus on to contribute to this world in the ways I want to:
1) As a mother
2) As a scientist
I don't want just to survive with minimum impact on this planet - I want to make impact - a positive impact I hope. If I relinquished all my possessions I'd lose my raison d'etre. Of course I might be absurd to think I could have a positive impact. Indeed maybe "do no harm" would be a challenging enough goal in itself.
I wish I had a dishwasher. It would save me about 6 hours a week - 6 hours when I could do something more important, like take Alexander to the swings or do exercise or save the world.
But I have just bought a really expensive washing machine, and am going to get a smart phone so I can stop being distracted by my mind constantly reminding me to "remember milk" and trust that something else will remind me.
I've also paying a Ukrainian lady to clean my house. She has a degree in economics.
Oh and without habits and security, I'd never get the peace of mind - I'd be thinking thinking thinking.
What do I have to give up in order to become focussed?
1) Guilt
2) Worry
3) That nagging feeling that I've forgotten something important
4) Guilt
5) Worry
By the way: HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOGGER!
Yes, as I've said many times, guilt is the only completely negative emotion. Other emotions (e.g., hate) may be largely negative but they have positive sides. Guilt, in contrast, is only destructive.
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