1. Read "Brainstorm":
I got this book called "Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsession" (2010), by my favorite writing and art guru, Eric Maisel, several years ago, and started but never got far. I'm halfway through now and still going.
Chapter 18 is The Turmoil and Calm of Process. He says that while engaging in a productive obsession my brain will be ramped up and energized, and also happy to be working hard on a worthy project. I might experience simultaneous turmoil and calmness. I might have more focus for everyday activities, and more energy for good habits like exercise, at the same time that my brain is churning and obsessively thinking about my project.
He goes on to say that there is no linear way to write a book or answer a scientific question. The reality of the process is messy, nonlinear, obsessive, tumultuous, and chaotic - but if I can accept that and go along with it, I will find a special calmness.
It's pretty much so. The book is taking shape, bit by bit, but it's not systematic. I do a little research on one topic, then take a class on another topic, then write about a third topic, and pull together old writing on a fourth. It's all over the place, but for now that feels right. I have not even written a blurb to articulate the idea, because it still feels so amorphous.
For now, I am accepting the necessary chaos, and finding "an existential calmness that arises because [I'm] genuinely making meaning, following [my] passions, honoring [my] interest, and making [myself] proud."
2. Five days of passion:
The next five days (Thursday through Monday) are the best block of time I have to obsess. My Nature-Culture themes are plastics, water, and butterflies:
- Plan fall themes, projects, and skills for teaching Nature-Culture to kids - Outdoor preschool!
- Read Habitat Haven report, and plan my new fall plantings; order seeds
- Write about how to plan a butterfly garden.
- Garden: Mulch new butterfly beds, improve soil fertility, and remove invasive plants.
- Write about Eco-spiritual practices: Water awareness.
- Brainstorm big craftivism visions and projects
- Paint butterflies in the bathroom
- Prep for camp: Collect supplies, make samples
- Write about natural living for summer: Water wisdom; Rethinking cleaning supplies (because of streams)
- Plan for my own cleaning supplies
2. Outdoor preschool brainstorm:
I'm thinking of a fish theme, because Arthur is obsessed with the tuna fish he saw on a fishing boat last week:
- Ocean, fish and fishing books
- Fishing pole game
- Paint ocean with blue watercolors and a straw for blowing
- Paint a fish using a fork for scales (learn about gills, fins, tail)
- Visit an aquarium and buy a goldfish
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