I have a few minutes to enjoy the perfect temperature and the wisteria on my porch before the sun crests the tree line. I try to close all the windows in the house before the day begins to heat up. I open them in the evening and close them at about 8:30 in the morning. It is the summer routine and it helps keep the house from getting too hot.
Routines can be pretty important.
Some days I jump out of bed with an attitude to attack the day ahead, other times I just don't feel like getting up. It is the little routine things that pull me to my feet, like closing the windows. Things that are mundane but are somehow important enough to warrant my attention and manifest my intention. They often have a simple reward or maybe just prevent complications.
I don’t have a dog. If I did, I know it would help me start my day. Dogs need to go out, they need to be fed, and a dog needs to be reassured that you love them and that you are ok. I have had the privilege to have shared time with several great ones and I am not sure I will ever have another. So, it’s up to me to get going.
Ultimately isn’t this what we are all challenged with, finding our motivation?
There are lots to do, both around the house and yard, tending the bees, and cleaning up the barn, and I have a few other obligations that I have taken on that need work too. All of my projects are in various states of completion. This just seems to be the way I work. These things hang in my mind like a collection of wind chimes gently tinkling in the breeze, always present but demanding no action until I see something beginning to break or fail or see a situation that motivates me to respond.
The work of creating, the routine of performing, the business of music, and the process of simply maintaining sometimes feel to be an overwhelming universe of chaos, but yet in that universe lies the mystery of order. And we are all intrigued by a good mystery! We are challenged to find our path through this process we call life.
The road to discovery starts with getting going, taking the motivation for that first step.
Competition is a big motivator for many people. Wealth and material acquisition are widely accepted measures of success and being successful is a tremendous motivation for most folks. However, I understand that even success can get old. While talking with a friend recently, he told me he had gotten tired of “winning”. I couldn’t help but think that it was time for him to change his definition of success and begin looking for new motivators and challenges.
There is a fair amount of research that indicates in addition to competition and self acquisition, humans are motivated by and receive a great sense of reward from engaging in caring and nurturing actions. Of course of if it was that simple, caregivers would consistently be the happiest, most fulfilled people on the planet! But I have many friends in the business of healthcare who suffer from burnout and empathy fatigue.
I suppose without moderation anything can become overwhelming. Perhaps it is a balanced equation of giving and taking: The process of giving, as opposed to being taken from, the ability to give freely, and the process of sharing.
It is easy to forget the notion of sharing as a primary motivation for writing and performing songs. Capturing an observation or feeling, reflecting that feeling in words, finding an evocative melody that creates a mood or mindset means so much more to the creator or performer when that presentation is shared. And the reward of sharing can be greatly enhanced by the response of an audience.
And so goes a reciprocating relationship that is as old as humanity. The reward of giving as opposed to taking, sharing as opposed to acquiring, appreciating as opposed to expecting.
So after I stop writing, what will today bring? I will make some breakfast and maybe work on some tunes. I have several in the works that need to be finished inorder for me to share them with folks who seem to like my songs. Maybe their response will motivate me to continue to strive to create new ones.
Time to get going and shut the windows.
