Morning Routine

It begins in the morning 

with the same words

the same order

A quiet list down a page

Ordinary thread for 

each ordinary task

Beaded with secrets in

each moment of the day

A sketch to colour 

with bend and stretch, 

warm butter soaked toast, 

laughing and living in 

this world of my own design

This quiet list a map that shows 

the direction of my choice 

that may take me far from home 

or a return to my world within 

the comfort of home.

“Within this monotonous rhythm, there’s a gentle beat,

a melody that makes my soul smile.”

~ Vinitha Dileep, Routine

Inspired by the poem: 

‘Routine’ by Vinitha Dileep

Shape Shifting

Routine ~ rigid, flat and boxy

The only word I knew to use

Word search, play and puzzles

found a better word

Design - flexible and beautiful

fanning out in petals

rooted in belief of self

a work of creativity.

“When the image is new, the world is new.”

~ Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space

Rules of the Soul

 

routine too rigid 

no longer serves me

fixed corners deny living and 

life outside these walls. 

breaking the frame; pieces

create new spaces and places

for wider vistas with

open doors and windows

juggling, puzzling ~ rigid rules

softened and sung to gently serve

with a new grace after the shock of 

any change tossed in our lap.

“It is discouraging to try to penetrate a mind like yours. 

You ought to get it out and dance on it. 

That would take some of the rigidity out of it.”

~ Mark Twain

It's an Inside Job

Inside jobs with routines and boxes, 

everyone in lock step

schedules and tasks 

get to work

take your breaks

finish your work

home and breathe.

          ~~~~~

Retirement softens the edges

waltz or quick step,

breathe low and slow,

routine and boxes to check

if I feel like it.

wake up, sit up

time is curious

clock is lonely

take my breaks whenever…….

“Today was good.

Today was fun.

Tomorrow is another one.

~ Dr. Seuss

Re-Minding

We all need some form of reminder. The favourite, I think, are the multicoloured sticky notes that reside on refrigerator doors, wave to us from the pages of novels and text books and chide us from our bathroom mirrors. Get bread and milk. Read that selection at book club. Remember the wisdom of that author. Do your exercises this morning. 

At Bubby’s Nosherie on Cook Street, at almost five p.m., I was just finishing up my afternoon writing project. I paused. Not really in shock, but a bit surprised. I’ve not needed a reminder to write this blog for the over eight years I’ve been writing and posting it. It has brought me joy, has asked questions and developed solutions. I’ve plumbed the depths of my ideas and many of my activities. Written badly, in silliness and rare times of ‘not bad!’.

Yesterday, I had moved my ‘reminder’. This slim copper coloured laptop I write on has had pride of place on my dining room table for the last four years. Moved yesterday, onto my desk in my spare room, I created an unconscious interruption to my morning flow! Spanish class, this morning, was just a further interruption. 

How many of us set ourselves specific time frames to get things done, these habits of years of working within or believing in the necessity of schedules. Scheduled reminders full of pressure and ‘must do’ attitudes. Rigid routines, imprinted slowly and quietly on our home lives, do have their value by keeping us able to develop some form of work/life balance. For me this afternoon, it was quite a pleasure to find that, although surprised, I did not set about beating up on myself. The personal pressure was gone. There is much cheer in that kind of calm self-esteem. 

As far as my morning routine goes, it has become time to develop a new one. One that is fluid and flexible. I still want to write and post on this blog before noon each day. Any time from eight a.m. to noon, but only because I want to. The ‘have-to’ attitude is no longer of value. Creative writing does have value for my daily life. 

“The human spirit lives on creativity and dies in conformity and routine.”

~ Vilayat Inayat Khan, 

June 1916 - June 2004

Routine Variations

Never varying except when

  ~ a new routine would work better

 ~  an emergency calls

 ~  more tools (or playthings) 

     are absolutely necessary

 ~  a vision goes from 

     foggy haze to bright mirage

OR - and this is important

 ~ a side-trip with friends,

    just for fun, is on the calendar!

“I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, 

if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.”

~ Charles Darwin

Do-Over with Pizzazz

Routines established over years of 

comings in and goings out onto roads and walkways of career and employment while growing into adulthood,

raising children, and following dreams 

belong not only to a work schedule 

but to all that is needed to support any work schedule.

Space and time have been set free to create rhythm and rhyme for this new phase to grow, to learn and to love within my own home, family, friends and community

Always grateful for the routines established 

over years teaming with colleagues and co-workers,

while we have cared for the sick, the infirm and the addicted,

I am curious and wanting to know more as I am re-tiring myself.

“Look for the magic in the daily routine.”

~ Lou Barlow, musician

Untraveling ~ JOURNEYS ~ Theme for June, 2019

Journeys often begin with some trepidation…….

Outside of the comfort zone of…….

Upsetting the balance of…….

Routines established over……

Never varying except when……..

Evermore to challenge a status quo

Yearning for something more, anything……..

Standing tall and taking a deep breath………

“In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself 

with a dark wood where the straight way was lost.

~ Dante Alighieri, Italian poet (1265-1321)

Jewelled Distractions

A change to routine

may only mean a 

change in positioning

from a blank wall

to a window on a world of

hummingbirds, juncos and squirrels

attempting to distract my thoughts

with charming success

until I put pen to paper once more.

“There is never a time when new distractions will not show up; 

we sow them, so several will grow from the same seed.”

~ Seneca

Basically

Tossing and turning in the midst of

a new day challenges 

a reach for the basics of life

routines familiar and real

habits heathy & kind to sight and sound.

Grounding past experience, 

future expectations ~ 

each moment a new experience ~ while enjoying a ‘sister visit’ surrounded by story, memory and good food.

“Instincts and fundamentals take over sometimes.”

 ~ Alex Smith

Voices of Change

Ideas that are given voice

whether in whispers or with passion

provide resilience to our lives.

Ideas that are given the energy

of belief and hope

surge forward in waves.

Ideas that are given freedom

outside of boxed in routines

shift what has always been done.

“If you want something new, 

you have to stop doing something old.”

~ Peter Drucker, American-Austrian educator

Resting

No ideas crept in ~

snipped off by swirling, busy chatter

dampened by routines and practice.

Curiosity sleeps.

“writing about a writer’s block is better than not writing at all.”

~ Charles Bukowski, The Last Night of the Earth Poems

Cornering ~ 1

Peeling away 

old habits stuck firmly to our lives,

old routines grinding in unending loops

once useful and maybe even fun

takes courage and thought.

Some have become 

boxes with little flexibility

stifling and robotic ~

airless rooms where creativity slowly fades.

Softening and opening the corners

to create simplicity in each moment

breathes energy and life into

new habits and new routines for each day.

“Free yourself from the rigid conduct of tradition and 

open yourself to the new forms of probability.”

~ Hans Bender