untroubled
Everyone says they want a simple life. Many romanticize it. But, maybe, it's only the most imbalanced and maladaptive among us that will give up just about anything to get it. That will say "no" to just about everything to live it, because they know that for them it's not a want. It's a need.
We have many titles. We go by many names; artists, writers, musicians, poets, makers, creatives. I may have qualms about what to call myself, but I'd have to count myself amongst them to a greater or less degree.
You could set a clock by the ways I carry out my days. I navigate the world by predictable pattern and rote. Regardless of how I feel. Regardless of my mental state. I do ‘this thing’ at ‘this time’ at ‘this place’ everyday. It's just how it goes. It’s just what I do
I may not love what my life consists of; the early morning alarm, the gym, the day job, the commute. But I've systemized it to the point of acceptance. I don't have to think about it, and I don't want to. As long as my day ends at my studio, it does what I need it to.
"The working artist will not tolerate trouble in her life", Steven Pressfield says, "because she knows trouble prevents her from doing her work." She banishes it in every instance. Cleanses herself of anything that causes it's manifesting. Exorcises it's potential from all activities. Instead, "she harnesses the urge for trouble, and transforms it in her work."
Everyone says they want a simple life. But for the artists and makers it's not a romantic ideal. It's a necessity. We live in a way that is overwhelmingly uncomplicated so we can fill out work with richness and complexity.
In the obstinate perpetualness of muscle memory, in the commitment to monotony, in the elegant choreography of repetition, you find grace. You find strength. You find the highest kind of belief.
You find all you need.
**special thanks to for an exchange we had recently, that inspired part of this piece.
P.S. ICAD - Day 202-205 - All the index card collages below are available for purchase here.
Well-said Duane. I like to think the routines and rote memory actions I've created over the decades keep part of the ego monkey mind occupied so the more creative mind can create. From the outside, the routines appear to make life boring, but for me, that is by design.
The commute, the cubicle farm, eat and sleep schedule keeps that ego mind occupied most of the time. The creative mind then has space to explore and think. Thanks for sharing.
"In the obstinate perpetualness of muscle memory, in the commitment to monotony, in the elegant choreography of repetition, you find grace. You find strength. You find the highest kind of belief."
Duane, this is spot-on. In the monastic world it is a Rule of Life--a simple, powerful way of navigating every day. I find it true not only for spiritual or creative practice, but in my professional life. Every day, patients bring their own unique complexities that must be met with utter simplicity in order to take the *best care* of them. This is so clear to me, and I feel like the lone voice crying in the wilderness sometimes. It's the lesson we are doomed to repeat until we get it right.
Whenever something can be improved, it's usually a matter of allowing space for complexity to arrive unbidden. Because it always will. Such is Life.