Ben Franklin said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” and one of Dorian’s students said, the best questions (and discussions) come out of practice.

Looking back on some of my bloggy posts I feel I had some good things to say over the years of this writing practice and there is also a lot of drivel. Of course most of the “good ones” came when I was teaching or working on stuff. The art of any practice feeds us in such a way that expands and allows thought and express learning.

It’s no wonder then that I’m not writing much these days. I don’t practice! It seems ever since I came back from the land of enchantment, I’ve been in a bit of a sludgy daze. The dark of the season and the rain of the area doesn’t help my mood much compared to the vast, early morning, clear, and colourful sunrises I started my day with in New Mexico.

Sitting and looking outside on the porch on Bowen Island is different. Still I like to sit and think and at times ideas and topics pop into my head, sometimes… nothing. But if I can just get the first line of a sentence formed, the rest seems to follow. Like any good practice— the hard part is in the showing up for it and I realize I haven’t been stepping in.

I’m not apologizing— cycles happen. We get enthused and dig in and then hit a plateau and the view from there is such that it boggles us for a bit, so we hang out for a while. Then at times we back slide, stop and feel that in order to continue we have to climb up to the neutral place, that feels like we are starting all over again. Again.

Persistence has always been more important to me that consistence. And a step back isn’t that big of a deal.

Quitting is a bigger deal than not accepting change. It just seems sometime when I’m out of routine or habit or even mindful practice, it feels a lot like quitting. Then it takes all I have to get going again, but really I’m not starting fresh, I’m just picking up where I left off with different information or understandings.

I know Ben Franklin would be bored as hell by this writing, but his words sparked me. If I can’t write something worth reading at least I can do something worth writing about, and that is to persevere.