Rest as Preparation

Today I have rested ~ before, during and after I rode the ferry for an hour and a half and drove another 3/4 hour into Vancouver. Getting from the ferry to Richmond, at least for me, has been no easy feat!

What does rest have to do with preparation?  Isn’t that what one does after all the busyness and the work has been done?  Resting ~ almost like a reward. Putting your feet up, a cup of tea or coffee, for some a glass of wine, a good book, music ~ closing one’s eyes and getting quiet within.

What if rest came first? Not the rest that comes after a work day is done, but a rest that is grounding and centering while the day still belongs to you,  different for each of us. Reading the morning paper, going for a walk, taking time to get ready for the day, …. those are only a few I am familiar with.

My mornings have needed a couple of hours before getting in my car to go to work or to get to the ferry on time. It started as a necessity of one sort, and has morphed into a necessity of another. A preparation for the day ahead, whatever that day brings. My routine wakes me slowly, gets me in touch with my home, and allows me to feel the outside world In my home it is a cup of coffee, a book and some journaling. Outside it is feeling the sun or the rain, seeing ducks, peacocks and yesterday morning a raccoon scampering down an alley.

Fortune has smiled on me and I have accepted that smile gratefully for being able to take this time. To mould it to fit my life. Preparation opens my day gently and with grace.

“Radiate peace. Who knows? The peace you spread

may create the only restful place in your environment.”

~Stella Payton

Recovering a Life

At arms length from the heart
A step toward a goal
Hands and fingers pluck a rhythm for a waltz, a two step or samba. Preparation grows and unwinds. Creativity is the dance.

Sounds quite enchanting, doesn’t it?

Active addiction steps forward, then back, up and down, all around, in and out.
Hands and fingers pull forth and back between
bottles, needles and pills
or 
sobriety beckons.
Running and chasing or jumping through hoops
Shameful behaviours and wild swinging moods
emotions and relationships scattered and strewn
Preparation for ‘a life’ grows slower than slow,
but with colour, music, breathing, and faith,
dust and clutter settles and washes away.

“It turns out that an eerie type of chaos can lurk just behind a facade

 of order - and yet, deep inside the chaos lurks an even eerier type of order.”

~ Douglas R. Hofstadter, Metamagical Themas:

Questing for The Essence of Mind and Patterns

Nature and Nurture

From our past, lessons come

to do and to build

to structure, design and create.

In our future, 

visions of goals presented to us are shaped and moulded from lessons we learn.

It is now, in the present, when
preparation stirs all our dreams,
that we blend lessons, experience and goals.

The soil of our souls

when nurtured and warmed

will flower despite any turmoils of life.

“While human nature largely determines how we hear 

the notes, it is nurture that lets us hear the music.”

~  Jonah Lehrer

A New Meaning

Preparation is a word that has seemed to me mundane ~ blah, lacking in interest. When I am confronted with such a word, I play a game with it to change it’s personality. Give it a boost. A lift. So that I can work with it and find a new meaning and joy in it. 

Here is my boosted ‘definition’ of Preparation ~

Proceed with passion
Responsible actions
Enthusiastic responses
Procedural potential
‘Apparatus of discipline’ *
Rational rhythm
Anticipate activity
Thoroughness of Trickster
Imaginative initiative
Opportunities abound
Nirvana awaits!

*Leonard Cohen

“Poets are soldiers that liberate words from

the steadfast possession of definition.”

~ Eli Khamarov

Re-posting - The Value of Preparation

Preparation for anything is valuable.
Why?  
To be ready to act on a decision
To avoid (minimize?) drama and second guessing
To recognize what is absolutely needed

Now the way everyone prepares is quite different.
I like to think I’m organized as in schedules, boxes and timelines
And I suppose I am - when I’m at work
Where the schedule for the day is always....well.....prepared.

At home, I drift ....... so I write myself a list....sometimes
I’ve travelled enough I know 
what I need to take
what I want to take
and what I’m able to carry.

But the steps are the same
Gather what is needed
Arrange it so it’s readily available
Clean up when you’re done....
so the path may be a bit kinder.

So when I prepare, I relax and just drift 
from one thing to the next 
gathering, arranging, and cleaning up
until I am ready to go.
There are always things that I want to have done
things that I think I might need
before I walk out the door.....usually they are unnecessary....not a matter of life or death.
Is that part of a multitasking habit?

Preparation needs to be free of panic, frustration and drama.

“Some people are making such thorough preparation 

for rainy days that they aren’t enjoying today’s sunshine.”

~ William Feather

Impossible Preparation

I like to be prepared.
Prepared for what is to come
for sure
today, tomorrow or next week

I don’t like unnecessary preparation.
Unprepared for what won’t happen in my lifetime.
Like earthquakes or tornadoes, fires or floods
Disaster will never happen to me?

I like to be prepared.
Prepared for what is to come
a party, a conference, a reunion
next week, next month, or next year.

Doesn’t preparedness mean knowing?
Knowing what is to come
for sure
with a date on the calendar?

In all of nature’s beauty
possible disaster seems impossible,
easy to ignore.
There never is a date on the calendar.

“There is no exquisite beauty.....without some strangeness in the proportion.”

~ Edgar Allan Poe

Run and Ride

On my morning walk, as I prepare for the day ahead of me, it is not unusual to see joggers, walkers and cyclists on streets, sidewalks and cedarlined paths. A quickly passing, and sometimes breathless ‘Good morning’ or nod is a lovely beginning to any day adding to greening trees, blossoming flowers and birdsong.

The jogger crossing the street just ahead of me called one word over his shoulder, unclear to me at the time as I could see no one behind him. Then his partner pedalled earnestly up, his helmet on and dressed warmly. If you look way down the cedar path into the park you’ll see an orange spot at the end ~ this dad and his young son. The word I heard was “clear”.  Out for their morning run and ride, this dad and son had their own plan for their time together and their exercise.  Walking the same direction, I followed them for a bit, and heard ‘clear’ again. Then ‘stop’ when a car came down the street. The young son listened wisely to instruction, stopped and waited for his dad to say ‘clear’.  Dad and son got on the cedar path and continued their morning run and ride.

Preparation for health, fun and family ~ it brought a smile to my face and warmed my heart.

“Raising children is a creative endeavor,

an art rather than a science.”

~ Bruno Bettelheim