The Trick (Part Two) or Whatever Gets you There

My friend Peter says swimming is a sensory experience that launches him into the present moment. That's why just getting wet still counts. If you love the water it's a great thing.

My husband says there has to be sensory appeal in the activity itself in order to continue coming back to it.

I love handling bread dough, I love the smell of bread baking, I never tire of seeing the dough expand. I love writing with a pen on paper, I love the sound of the reed when playing my saxophone, I love the feel of my fingers on piano keys. You have to love the sensory part of the experience in order to return again and again.

We can ruin the experience by measuring but we can trick ourselves into showing up by measuring. I need the trick every day. Everybody does, my husband says. Really? I ask.

When I am heading out with my dog my husband will say Where are you going? Are you taking the long walk? I'll say, I have no idea. I'm just going out the door.

Sometimes when I come back from my walk it's as if I went all the way to the moon and back. I can't even remember what was occupying me.

My pal Manny used to say that about playing the saxophone. He'd be in a bad mood and start playing and then completely forget what was bothering him.

I woke up thinking about how as a kid I would come home and work on my paintings after school. It felt like big expansive hours but it wasn't hours it was the quality of the experience that felt huge. We have clocks in every room and on every device. It's easy to have a habit of measuring everything against time. Maybe we should stop doing that.

My life is full of little tricks for my chores too, like loading the coffee pot in advance, throwing dirty clothes directly into the washer instead of first using a laundry basket, keeping bread flour on the kitchen counter to make it easy to start a batch of dough, playing the classical station to stay calm and feel comforted, taking a shower before I walk downtown, all of these are tricks. The tricks can become good habits that build a day as long as we resist being controlling. That is the enemy. That is what kills the joy.

I try to leave swimming (or whatever the activity) open in order to enjoy the experience. It's okay to trick yourself every day especially if it works. Whatever gets you there.