![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Getting Away from It All...in the Back Yard
I'm one of those people who has a hard time relaxing when there's anything I feel like I should be doing. And if I have the house to myself, that's prime time for getting junk done. So Saturday, when my husband and kids went to see Pirate of the Caribbean 3, I made the grocery list, balanced the checkbook, etc. But then I read a bit from my new library book, foolsgold: making something from nothing and freeing your creative process, by Susan Woldridge (love her poemcrazy).
I read this: For a time, I needed emptiness to make room for a new start. How can the mysterious, redemptive creative force enter (and where does it come from, anyhow?) when our houses or selves are crammed, busy, overfull? We need to let go of everything that gets in the way of what needs to enter. The creative, it seems, is spawned from emptiness. Giving over to silence, waiting, allowing, listening.
Crammed. That's my life, for sure. I decided, that even though it was 90+ degrees outside and I hate hot weather, I would go out to the back yard and read for a bit. I had foolsgold and also Something new begins, by Lilian Moore (thanks, Elaine at Wild Rose Reader, for the recommendation!). I had already read my new issue of Horn Book earlier in the day and was ready to wallow in some more good reading.
I headed out to the backyard, averting my eyes from the barren patches, the weeds, the crap on the patio...
I dragged my husband's hammock under the tree, set up a pillow, my fruit smoothie, and both wonderful books...
And then I spent a lovely hour reading and relaxing and watching and listening. I would read a short chapter from foolsgold, read a few Moore poems out loud, then listen to the wind blowing through the leaves, the sparrow scolding me from directly above, the sprinkler shussing out the highway noise...
And looking...up into the tree, at the sky, at the horsefly buzzing around. I felt miles away from my life, even though I was only 20 feet out the back door. I think I even napped for 5 or 10 minutes.
I need to do this more often. Just get out of the house, away from responsibilities that I have trouble ignoring, and be somewhere else, without a to-do list in my hand.
What's your favorite escape? Do you have a trick for forcing yourself to relax (if you're not naturally a relaxer)? How do you quiet your brain so that there's some room there for creativity to emerge?
I read this: For a time, I needed emptiness to make room for a new start. How can the mysterious, redemptive creative force enter (and where does it come from, anyhow?) when our houses or selves are crammed, busy, overfull? We need to let go of everything that gets in the way of what needs to enter. The creative, it seems, is spawned from emptiness. Giving over to silence, waiting, allowing, listening.
Crammed. That's my life, for sure. I decided, that even though it was 90+ degrees outside and I hate hot weather, I would go out to the back yard and read for a bit. I had foolsgold and also Something new begins, by Lilian Moore (thanks, Elaine at Wild Rose Reader, for the recommendation!). I had already read my new issue of Horn Book earlier in the day and was ready to wallow in some more good reading.
I headed out to the backyard, averting my eyes from the barren patches, the weeds, the crap on the patio...
I dragged my husband's hammock under the tree, set up a pillow, my fruit smoothie, and both wonderful books...
And then I spent a lovely hour reading and relaxing and watching and listening. I would read a short chapter from foolsgold, read a few Moore poems out loud, then listen to the wind blowing through the leaves, the sparrow scolding me from directly above, the sprinkler shussing out the highway noise...
And looking...up into the tree, at the sky, at the horsefly buzzing around. I felt miles away from my life, even though I was only 20 feet out the back door. I think I even napped for 5 or 10 minutes.
I need to do this more often. Just get out of the house, away from responsibilities that I have trouble ignoring, and be somewhere else, without a to-do list in my hand.
What's your favorite escape? Do you have a trick for forcing yourself to relax (if you're not naturally a relaxer)? How do you quiet your brain so that there's some room there for creativity to emerge?