Doing and thinking

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It has been two weeks since I blogged!  I can't remember when that last happened.  My time and my head have been full of a whirl of travel and commitments.  Time to pause for breath and make a list, a list of things to do in the coming week and a list of things not to do as well perhaps.
To do:
  1. Go to yoga.  Have you noticed that the time when you need things most is often when you let them go?  Yoga makes me feel better, calmer and fractionally bendier.  I haven't been since Christmas and I know that when I don't go for a while I will find it hard to settle down to it, hard to slow down, hard to let myself go.  This probably means that I should go.
  2. Plan my cutting garden.  Because of all sorts of family and work pressures I am way behind with all sorts of things.  I have today sowed some salvia, some verbena bonariensis, some violas and some poppies.  A couple of weeks ago I did manage to sow my sweetpeas, choosing Sarah Raven's light and dark mixes as all her sweetpeas have very good scent.  What I need to do now is to decide how the cutting garden as a whole should work. 
  3. Walk.  Every day this week I shall walk for an hour. I love walking and the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other always makes me feel good.  Add to that the slow wakening of the landscape to spring around me and what better way can there be to spend an hour?
  4. Bake.  I love baking.  I simply have to decide between making something I can do with my eyes closed (cheese scones, coffee cake, apple cake) and something new which needs a recipe.  Something new I think.
And not to do?
  1. Think.  This is an odd one for me.  I am a believer in thinking, in analysing, in being rational, in challenging overwhelming feelings with thought, but sometimes the mind is stilled by not thinking.  I wonder if I can do it?  Let us see if I can do instead.

Comments

  1. rachel8 March 2012 at 23:56

    What's missing from the first list is 'Be'. The hardest thing of all, I suspect, for a busy multi-tasker like you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elizabeth Musgrave9 March 2012 at 07:45

    That is spot on Rachel! I don't really know how to just "be". I suppose watching chickens might just count"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rowan9 March 2012 at 09:34

    It's true that you tend to let things like exercising go just when you most need it. My daily walks make all the difference to the way I feel and cope - I wander along in the countryside lost in my own thoughts or absorbing all the sights and sounds around me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave9 March 2012 at 18:19

      I am a big fan of daily walking but here we are and today has been so busy and full I haven't done it!

      Delete
  4. MsCaroline9 March 2012 at 12:09

    Oh, there you are! I was starting to wonder where you were. I couldn't agree more with you about yoga and walking - both do me so much good...strange that I tend to let them go faster than things that are not good for me at all. Planning the cutting garden sounds wonderful - I noticed the beginnings of some hens-and-chicks in one of the beds outside our apartment building today, so I know spring must be coming soon! Good luck with not thinking. My biggest challenge is dealing with what the Buddhists refer to as 'monkey mind' - a brain full of thoughts that bounce every which way, no matter how I try to keep them quiet...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Friko9 March 2012 at 17:42

    I find the idea of not thinking rather strange. I love doing automatic things which allow me to think. Even gardening encourages thought. Were you meaning the fretting kind of thought? Then I agree, but leave that one alone.

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    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave9 March 2012 at 18:23

      Ah see Caroline's comment above. I also love doing the automatic things that allow me to think but what I am trying to stop is the "monkey mind" - the bouncing around and going nowhere of the kind of thinking which worries like a dog at things you can do nothing about!

      Delete
  6. Helen/patientgardener9 March 2012 at 18:31

    my brain is always overworking chunnering away hour after hour. I think that is why I garden as my brain actually slows down then and rests

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave9 March 2012 at 20:22

      Chunnering - what a perfect word. I agree, gardening is a great way to still the mind and oddly enough, considering how different it is, sailing works too!

      Delete
  7. Fennie9 March 2012 at 20:27

    I can relate to all this - well apart from the baking with eyes shut, perhaps. I certainly need to start sweet peas. But oh, yes, just to let go. I've tried yoga but it always makes me depressed. Just to be. To live in the moment. Can I encourage you to write a text book?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave10 March 2012 at 21:28

      If I crack it I will share it. Seems unlikely in view of my performance so far.

      Delete
  8. millefeuilles9 March 2012 at 20:29

    Dear Do-er and Thinker,

    It's curious how I have often been 'accused' of thinking too much. It would seem that detailed analysis is frowned upon. I smiled at your 'fractionally bendier'. I am so relieved the weather has turned milder: daily walks are on the agenda again here. I have been so unphysical this winter. Busy but not active. Being diagnosed as asthmatic filled me with fear too but I am over that. Walking is wonderful.

    I am so very happy to let you know you won my giveaway Elizabeth. I will need your postal address when you have a spare moment. I understand you are terribly busy. I hope you are well and happy.

    Warmest wishes,

    Stephanie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave11 March 2012 at 12:26

      I am delighted to have won your giveaway Stephanie. What a fabulous treat. I do know the being busy not active! I quite fancy being active and less busy if that is achievable!

      Delete
  9. Milla9 March 2012 at 21:56

    I got in! Via the reviled iPhone (but no Lucy comment ... Perhaps I misunderstood). Monkey mind is what plagues me. What a waste of time it is! All that inefficient energy crashing around. But am salivating over thought of those SR sweet peas. Don't do yoga - shamed by those supple old ladies - but contemplating Pilates.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave11 March 2012 at 22:57

      Glad you got it but I have for the time being gone back to the old format. SR sweet peas - v good idea.

      Delete
  10. Pondside10 March 2012 at 23:36

    I do Jazzercise - it makes my heart beat faster and that's a good thing!
    As for the rest - I struggle to keep the balls in the air. If I made such a list right now it could well put me over the edge with guilt. It's one foot in front of the other these days, with eye on the horizon. Not the best way to live, but that's where I'm at.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave11 March 2012 at 22:58

      Sounds as if you have too much on your plate there Pondside. I hope things calm down a bit for you.

      Delete
  11. SmitoniusAndSonata11 March 2012 at 11:42

    Monkey mind is difficult to shut down . One has to be very firm with oneself ... not in itself relaxing .... a bit like wearing a corset ! I can sit mindlessly sewing tiny quilts , though . Probably because it's a totally useless thing to do .
    And Pilates appeals , once I retire in the summer . In fact , everything about retirement appeals .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elizabeth Musgrave11 March 2012 at 22:59

      Tiny quilts, now there's a thought. The idea of treating my huge not full enough border as a series of tiny quilts appeals. I might give it a go.

      Delete

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