Chasing Distractions
Working hard on the wrong things.
Resistance can get the best of you in the most subtle of ways. One distraction can lead to another, and then all of a sudden, you find you have left the project, and quite possibly, the whole thing has caught fire and is burning down while you are out doing the wrong things at the wrong times. It is possible to work hard and not give up at doing the wrong things. You may get to be very good at doing the wrong things and not feel like changing until you realize it’s too late. You may turn your war horse and gallop back to save the burning city under siege by the enemy of resistance, but it might be too late.
Turnus at this point, fighting off on the outskirts of the field, is hunting a few stragglers. Yet he’s less avid now, exulting less and less when his horses win the day. But the winds bring him a hint of hidden terrors, mingled cries drifting out of the town in chaos. A muffled din. He cocks his ears, listening . . . hardly the sound of joy. “What am I hearing, why this enormous grief that rocks the walls, this clamor echoing from the city far away.”
- Virgil. and Robert Fagles. The Aeneid. New York, Penguin Books, 2010, Book 12.
This happened more then once but not today. I was able to make it back just in time and was able to save the city this time. Losing focus and seeing the fall of projects can be quite horrible. You may build up many regrets due to distractions by resistance. The distraction happened because of one small decision I needed to make. I had to decide what type of mortar to in setting the brick in building the kiln. I had the recipe, but the raw materials would be hard to get. I looked at many different sources, but all were too far away or had costly shipping charges, as the raw materials weighed quite a lot.
While I went back and forth in my mind about the raw materials for the kiln, I forgot that I had the goal today to make pots for the Fall shows on the way. Making pots is vital to running a pottery and even more important than raw materials for a kiln. While I was trying to focus on making pots, I almost forgot to complete my writing for the day. Writing is a thing I try to do first. So, in short, I am late now with almost everything, but thankfully, the whole of the city was not burned down by the time I corrected priorities.
I hope that you were able to create work that mattered today. I also hope you can focus on some projects today and even do a few small things to move ahead at least a few steps. I believe I spent more time running around in confusion today and did loads of work on things that maybe were not all that important. I hope I am not using those things to avoid the essential things that must be done. Avoidance is a tactic used by resistance.
