Enjoy it now

Currently my life is overwhelmed with a lot of things I don't traditionally like. I have frequent back therapy appointments, a long list of neglected chores to take care of, due to deep winter it's a daily half hour project just to get dressed, and, of course, there's always work. Work, work, work. Around every corner. Somewhere between a persistent irritation and an awfully dubious pleasure.

Faced with all this challenge, I have been flinging about looking for a good way through this period of time. Have you ever seen time lapse footage of a growing vine seeking to support itself? A thin tendril grows out, then it swings in the air above the plant like a circling whip. When it touches on something it wraps around, a coil, home.

The main support I have found to wrap around has to do with being in the present. I am no ferocious Buddhist, but one defining feature of this particular time is that there is nothing so notably bad about anything individually, rather it's a feeling that collectively things suck. So lately I have been stopping a lot, or just taking note: This isn't so bad. I am walking. I am shelving fiction. I am doing back exercises. "It's okay." I say. "What I am doing is okay." I am not averse, too, to comparing in favor of the present situation. "It is Tuesday afternoon." I might say at work to myself. "Tuesday is a much nicer day to work here than Wednesday. I'm glad it's Tuesday."

It's pretty simple stuff, but I'm kind of liking it. It's soothing.

Here, do you want to try it with me?

What are you doing?

Oh, right, you are reading this blog. Well, then, that's okay, isn't it? There are worse things. You could, after all, be reading someone else's blog.