Excepting February Alone

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting February alone;
It has twenty-eight days' time
And, in Leap Years, twenty-nine.

I'm not ready for February to be over.  It passed much too quickly for me, and - although it seemed to be very full - I didn't do all the things I wanted to get done this month.  (Of course, my logical mind tells me that February is supposed to done more quickly.  After all, it has only 28 days.)

I can remember as a child thinking that a month was a very long time.  If someone told me that I had to wait a month until summer camp or Christmas or any other anticipated event, it seemed like  f o r e v e r .  Now, I can barely keep up enough to write the correct month and year when I fill out a form or write a check. 

As I approach my sixtieth birthday, I keep feeling like I want time to slow down.  I want to consciously live each day so that - at the end of each month - I can remember certain activities and experiences with some degree of clarity.  I don't like my month to seem like a 28-day blur.  (Or a 30-day or 31-day blur.)

I am reminded of a quotation that currently appears at the bottom of each of  my sister's emails:

I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred.  I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.  (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Goal vs. Process

In preparing for a job interview today, I came across an interesting article about goal-oriented vs. process-oriented work.  Here's an excerpt:

"For goal-oriented people, growth is sometimes incidental; they grow only because their goal requires them to. Process-oriented people, on the other hand, attain goals because their process will take them in that direction anyway. For them, growth is not incidental, it is necessary, and goals are eventual. Because of this difference, the goal-oriented person will not necessarily be able to look past the goal to the next goal until they get there. The process-oriented person will instead already be thinking about future goals, since everything they do is focused to the process of improving; goals just give them a direction in which to move. To the goal-oriented person, goals are end points. To the process-oriented person, they’re simply mile markers."  (http://www.gnorb.net/ - 5 March 2007 post)

This reminded me of one of my very first blog entries back on September 28, 2010.  At that time, I was thinking of cooking as producing an end product - a dish or a meal.  It struck me that by paying more attention to the process - rather than just getting food on the table - I might enjoy the experience more.  I might even become a better cook.

I'm going back to my Twelve Month Plan to see how much I'm focused on goals and how much on process.

Stay tuned.

From the Heart

Last Friday, my sisters and I had a meeting at the Alzheimer's residence where our sweet mother lives.  They are moving her from Level 1 care to Level 3.  Her decline over the past six months has been such that she gets to "skip a grade." 

It was a sad day for us, but we are grateful she is in competent and caring hands.  Thankfully, her smile and sense of humor are still present, too.

Our family keeps a record of doctor visits and meetings with residence staff.  We also share our experiences with Mom in an on-line journal.  All of these are in a format that all family members can access from wherever they happen to be. 

So, I've been writing up the notes from the meeting, the notes from the doctor visit that same afternoon, and comments about our time with Mom.  My sisters will add their comments as well, and we will be able to refer back to our notes to prepare for future meetings and appointments.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.  May we extend love not only to our sweethearts but to every life we touch.

What to Write

This morning, I looked at my blog and realized that I had not written anything since January 30.  I felt like it was past time for another entry, but I couldn't think of anything to write about.

In addition to my published blog, I also have my own personal journal.  I realized this morning, too, that my recent journal entries had become more perfunctory and less reflective in the last month or two.  (It wasn't that I wasn't reflecting at all; I just wasn't writing about it!)

The more I thought about it, the more I could see how the two might be related.  My personal journaling is what triggered the start of this blog for me.  As I began to blog, the one seemed to complement the other.  Some of the things I was journaling about, I also wrote about in my blog.  And vice versa.

I've been pretty good about challenging myself to write in the short-term (12 Days of Christmas is the most obvious example).  As I move forward in 2011, I challenge myself to keep writing as an ongoing practice.

Stay tuned.