deep space. 10

in our world of small attention spans
i promise you life improves by exploration
hold on and follow the field of focus
past a point of routine

find the curiosity
rewarded by
deep space
ten

Journal # 10.18.2016

I had a great idea but got dehydrated and lost it. It wasn't really mine, I just held it for the world for a moment and gave it away without even knowing. You could call that irresponsible or even tragic. Or just super special. The only painful part was my headache, but I cannot blame that on the idea... Now someone, maybe even you, has it and you could hold on to it and commit it to paper or the internet or the ethernet and let people discover it that way (like I had mapped out, myself, when I had it). Or let it come to them the way it came to me, suddenly, superbly, like it was really mine and not something I found online.

cement mixer

If I had a cement mixer on wheels, I would clean it out immaculate and turn it into an old-fashioned ice cream mixer, and drive across the land pouring ice cream for all the world so I could see all the awestruck happy faces, and if the press began to follow me, I would drop ice cream slicks for them to slip upon, and shovel themselves out of rocky road.

To the writers out there... consider your mind a cement mixer, and never forget to drop the concrete into your ideas, your abstracts, so to pave the way to your success as measured by all the happy readers who you left with awestruck, happy faces.

Journal # 05.06.15

I ran yesterday. I found a secret to distance running. My dad would call it a trick. I had been sitting on the grass beneath the black walnut tree in the yard, looking up at its many green wings pointing high into the sky. The tree was majestic. A stark contrast from how it appeared in the winter, without leaves. Dead. My neighbor came out of his apartment and started clipping his fingernails on the walk. Next door a man was sitting facing the alley, drinking a beer. One of the cats caught a large dragonfly in its mouth. An fire engine could be heard in the distance. Some days can be so peaceful. Other days your ass is on fire. Here is my secret. My dad would call it a trick. I found I can run almost twice the distance I usually run. It wasn't the Super B Vitamins or the time of day. It wasn't the shoes I was wearing. It had nothing to do with how much rest I took, what kind of music inspired me, how much training I did beforehand. It did not matter what I ate, who I didn't sleep with, or whether I planned to vote in the upcoming elections. The secret was running. Running while running. Not thinking while running, or breathing while running, or posture while running. It was none and all of those things. I doubled my usual distance by running while running. And guess what? There is a bonus for anyone who has read this far along. The trick is universal! It can be applied to anything you do. Because if you are fully immersed in anything you do, you will be better at it, and it may even come easier and more natural to you.