...In the world

Last week I ended up taking a day off from work to try and catch up on everything I've let slide around the house. I'm not the most habitual house-cleaner but it gets to me when I've got messes all over the place that have been building up for weeks or months. While I was straightening up, I decided I wanted to start doing better with time management. (Like most of us, I feel like I have a ton of other goals too, but this one seems to be at the root of most of the others.)

So, I decided to try a trick that I've used at work for years now. I started using a journal to keep track of how I'm spending all my time. (Literally: "7:00-8:00 - Woke up. Got ready for work.") It sounds kind of ... obsessive ... right? But the thing is, it works.

At work, I use it to stay focused and prioritize my daily tasks - I'll usually start out with a to-do list and then as I accomplish tasks I'll also note what times I was working on them. I'm not militant about it and when I get side tracked or pulled into random conversations I'll usually just go with it, but it helps me keep a sense of what needs to be accomplished. And, it helps me have conversations with my peers and co-workers about where I'm spending my efforts and whether I'm prioritizing tasks correctly.

At home, it's been pretty effective in doing the same. It's helping me evaluate how much time I *want* to spend on certain tasks, and helping me evaluate whether I'm putting the kind of time into my priorities that I want to (or need to.) I made a conscious decision not to try and schedule my tasks, because not only do I abhor feeling like I'm on a schedule, but also because it's hard for me to estimate how long some tasks will end up taking. It's been enough so far to decide that I don't want to look back at a day and feel like I wasted time. And, I wouldn't say that it's motivated me to be "productive" 100% of the time - to the contrary, in some cases it's helped me see how much I've earned some down time, which has been extremely reassuring and has let me enjoy my down time all the more. If any of you try something similar, let me know how it goes.

Retro Tarot

I spent a little time today playing around with tarot cards. A few months ago I had quite a bit of success doing purely predictive readings for some clients, and it got me curious about how/whether tarot can actually be used for prediction. (The working assumption is, "I sincerely doubt it but that would be pretty cool if it could...") In any case, I broke today into a bunch of little chunks. At the beginning of each chunk I pulled a card and set it aside without looking at it; at the end of each chunk I tried to characterize the time in my mind and pick out the card I thought would best represent it. Then, I looked at the card I had set aside to see if the card matched my expectation.

I feel like, if nothing else, the exercise gave me some new ideas for how to apply different card meanings.

For example, during one chunk I was working on some homework and not getting anywhere with it. I was trying lots of different ideas, Googling around for help, and re-reading lecture materials. However...no progress. At the end of my chunk, I was just plain annoyed. I felt like the two of coins reversed, or five of wands, would have been a good representation of my feelings. However, I got Temperance.

Shortly into my next chunk, I made some good progress - and I realized it was mostly due to pulling together all the resources and ideas during the previous chunk. One interpretation of Temperance relies on the "mixing" of thoughts allegorically illustrated in the card. However, I was uncomfortable that the tarot and I were still coming from pretty different directions about the situation.

During another chunk I was hungry and cranky. I expected more cards about conflict or discomfort, but got Judgment. Judgment is all about seeing a situation for what it really is - I knew I was hungry and cranky, so I avoided getting into any confrontations or negative interactions - so again, it made sense in context but it went a couple levels deeper than my original thinking.

During another chunk I got the six of cups, which lined up well with that chunk's events.

So...I feel like it's hard to make any definitive statements after just one day, especially because it's so easy to rationalize cards and perspectives in hindsight. I certainly learned a little more about Temperance and Judgment, and have more examples I can pull on in readings when the cards come up - but I'd be happier if I had actually been able to guess the card that got pulled! (Of course, that would actually also be pretty creepy...)

Back

This is probably the longest break I've taken from blogging ever since I started blogging back in High School. That's kind of sad, because I've always enjoyed writing - not only that, but writing used to help me think through issues and ideas; I felt like I perceived more of the world; in turn, I felt like I had more fodder for creative ideas and thoughts that poured out seemingly a dime a dozen.

In short: I felt like I was brilliantly insightful and could lay down insight and witticism with careless ease. A few months ago I was talking with a friend of mine about how both us of used to write a lot "back in the day" and no longer did. We shared the sentiment of "ahhh, crap, I no longer have anything interesting to say...I'm getting old and boring!"

I went back and read some of my old blog and diary entries. Yes, I used to be quite expressive, and yes, I used to be pretty insightful. However, it turns out I wasn't nearly the master wordsmith nor cutting-edge intellectual I thought I was. Writing seems harder now because I understand more about what it takes to construct and convey ideas.

Regardless, I think I'm ready to start blogging again. Starting with later on today: I'm playing a tarot game with myself on Twitter, and I'm going to post the results and some thoughts here. Yay.