Our daily bread…
There can be something comforting about having a daily routine. Even better when something relatively simple can also deliver a smug sense of contentment and purpose…
Having just spent a great month helping out on a yoga course in India, I’ve had a little time to reflect on the experience over the last few days. The new things I learned, the new friends I made, the challenges and the daily highlights… One of the things I really miss about my ‘job’ is something that was really rather small, and yet played such a big part in my daily routine, was something I approached with dedication, love and pride.
I love to write, I’m a stickler for a bit of structure, and I like to feel a sense of purpose; so this self-imposed daily task ticked off all three of my geeky checklist criteria. No-one asked for it, but having spotted a blackboard in the dining area, I felt it was just crying out to be daubed by my fair hands…
A home for daily inspiration!
… or in my mind at least. I like to know what lies ahead for the day, and knowing the group would be already up to their eyeballs without also needing to consult schedules, I thought a daily message would be a nice focal point for their mornings. My original thought was perhaps a little overview of what’s on, any announcements, and perhaps some sort of yogic wisdom. I quickly got over myself, realising that earnest philosophical quotes just aren’t me, and decided to simply crack on and write whatever I felt inspired to write at the time.
I make it sound as though the result was a spontaneous outpouring of creative inspiration, but that wasn’t really the case. Every evening I’d retire to my cosy hut, clipboard in hand — yes really, this is serious shit man! — and give thought to what I’d write the following morning. I looked forward to my ten minutes of nightly scrawling, amusing myself as I delved deep for mirthful musings, ponderous prose and — sometimes — inappropriate innuendo.
I loved being the first to rise every morning, as is usually the case with my pensioner-like sleep rhythm and inbuilt pre-dawn alarm clock kicking me in to busy-brained action… though sometimes the local dogs/monkeys/geckos got in there first… I loved the process of chalking my words on the board, usually joined mid-way by Suresh, the always-smiling worker who would look on with bemusement at the thoughtful-looking Westerner deliberating over a ‘green or blue chalk’ dilemma as he got on with his early morning duties.
I’d leave the words there: hopeful they’d entertain the lovely boys and girls. Sometimes informative, sometimes reflective, often random. Whether anyone cared or not, I truly did. That said, there were mornings when I’d catch sight of a friend reading the words as they sipped their morning chai… sometimes with a chuckle, sometimes with a perplexed expression. Isn’t it strange how something so simple can provide such a sense of contentment and purpose?
So, this week, as I reflect on how I miss the ‘daily bread’, I thought why not continue to do it anyway? I’m not proposing to cart a pool table-sized board around with me — I only just scraped by with 0.7kg over on my Air Asia baggage allowance last week — so don’t want to push it. Nor do I want to commit to a daily thing: without an ‘audience’, writing for (possibly) my own titillation doesn’t seem worthy… Besides, the tropical settings of southern India might be quite different to attempting to seek creative inspiration during a wet weekend in Worthing…. and the ‘Swami gags’ might be difficult to muster there too…
But maybe a ‘bi-weekly bread’, or even just the odd message as and when the inspiration arises. I can still write it by hand, I could even use fancy pens and switch my deliberation to a ‘glitter pen or crayola’ dilemma. But definitely a paper-based thing. But with a digital ‘audience’. The words I said when I began my previous (since abandoned) writing challenge still apply: ‘even if no-one ever reads my hilarious witterings/profound words of wisdom/razor-sharp observations, then so what, at least I’m writing’. It really doesn’t matter, let’s just do it because I enjoy it. So here’s the first:
Take a walk outside today…
… even if just for 5 minutes
… or if it means a tiny backyard
Tiny steps or mammoth strides,
BREATHE, LOOK, SMILE,
Wave your arms or shuffle…
… most of all, do it for you
THIS IS YOUR TIME
I expect they’ll become slightly less elaborate (because this one is at the top end of creative brilliance, obviously), but the sentiment will remain the same. I hope that someone will enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them. Do let me know, won’t you?
