Unlocking

Kurt Vonnegut's Six Seasons

I ran across Kurt Vonnegut's take on season designations not long ago as my area was doing its usual struggle to break from winter. I tire of the complaints that arise during these transition months that have been assigned a season that gets generalized by its best attributes and ignores the broader reality of their existence. Vonnegut's description of how he would redistribute months into 6 seasons is totally in line with how I have always experienced these in the northern climes and so I think it quite clever.

So when "spring" officially arrived without warm temps and sunny skies, the impatient grumbling began. The "unlocking" had begun, though, and in the last week I can report we have thoroughly unlocked with the sudden burst of blooming trees. Yesterday I opened my blinds to see the wild syringa (Idaho's state flower) had come into bloom overnight. And the lilac bush along my daily walk has the beginning of blooms that should start opening and spilling their scent within a week or so. Right on schedule.

Creativity can have its seasons too. Are we being receptive to what each is and has to offer? I found this post, Reception, on Austin Kleon's blog offered a thought worth keeping in mind. (There's also a good Thomas Merton quotation over there).

You can have a good antenna pointed in the right direction, but if the tuner isn’t twisted to the right spot, all you’re getting is static. I’m hesitant to use machine metaphors for creative work, but there’s something here.

You can clear space in your day, clear space on your desk, and clear space in your mind, but at some point you have to move your fingers.

So are you ready to move your fingers? Are you about to embark on a wave of productivity, or at least wish you could? You may find Frank Chimero's Modest Guide To Productivity of interest. There was one suggestion on it that I do periodically but with a type of permission added that I really needed to hear.

Dump your brain on to a sheet of paper—every single thing you could hope to do in the next 3 to 4 months. Then, look at your task list. Have the author sign each one. Did you write it, or was it fear, that nasty tyrant in your head? Cross off anything written out of fear. Listen: some drudgery is unavoidable, but you’re living your one and only life. You get to drive; no bullies at the wheel.

Yes, this basically says you need to really look at all the things you think you need to do and make sure there aren't things there added out of fear, guilt, obligation or any number of reasons that do not serve you and in the end will not make you happy, and may even hinder your productivity. The other piece of advice he calls The Reckoning, a point down the road where you reassess and allow yourself to "tidy up". Things change over time and you should not slavishly stick with a master plan that no longer fits and needs editing. That's always been a tough one for me but I am very much more open to this sort of thinking and planning this year. On the other hand, we tend to put off the things we like the least yet they still must be done (binding, you're on that list...). "There's no pleasant way to face them," he says, "but we must." Time to quit putting them off, always be "tidying up" so that they don't all pile up at once.

 

Austin Kleon Blackout Poem

 

It's spring, a time of growth and refreshing. It's time to unlock. Let's get to work.