I am constantly looking for new ways to structure my time and build supportive infrastructure as I change, heal and grow. In many ways, I can be thought of as a productivity nut case, with one caveat, my so-called “obsession” is directly liked to my spiritual life.
I have used many, many systems over the years to augment my natural organizing and planning skills. I have used Franklin planners, Covey, and now “Getting Things Done.” Each methodology was tailored to my individual needs and wherever I happened to be on my own evolutionary path. And anything that truly worked for me was never discarded in honor of some new trendy idea. I have retained from each what ever I considered as a key principle or process.
My most recent addition has been the ideas and tools created by David Seah. He is a designer extraordinaire, and as a free-lancer struggles with some of the same issues I face every day. His Printable CEO series helped me to figure out how to structure my work and decide in the moment what has priority.
This year, David has been investigating what it takes to build a habit. I have been using his blog to help motivate me to create new habits of my own.
The first habit I created was my morning routine. The current version is the result of months of experimentation and reflection. Last year, I developed what I called my canonical hours. It is roughly based on the Islamic, Catholic, and Anglican systems of prayers. (The Christian systems are based loosely on the Roman systems of hours.) I even found a pagan system online, but I later decided it was unworkable for me in my urban setting.
|
An Elemental Map of the Day for a Retired, Urban Mystic/Shaman
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Period | Name | Description | Element | Office | Prayer at start |
| x - 9 | Awakening | Quiet, unfocused period | Spirit | Matins | Prayer of opening |
| 9 - 12 | Meditation | Spiritual practice, yoga, mantras, etc | Air | Terce | Breathing |
| 12 - 15 | Work - Solar | The work of the day | Solar / Fire | Sext | Prayer of focus |
| 15 - 18 | Recess | Create, study, play or rest | Patrons | None | Prayer of passion |
| 18 - 21 | Work - Lunar | The work of the evening | Lunar / Water | Vespers | Prayer of compassion |
| 21 - x | Reflection | Quiet time before retiring | Earth | Compline | Prayer of completion |
I tried working from it directly but it just did not register with me at a deep enough level. So I just let it sit and went on with my regular methods.
But what I have discovered is that this map of the day acted as a subtle framework and now a year later as I contemplate my morning routine, it literally lines up with the first several tiers of my elemental plan. So now I am ready to reexamine this framework with a new perspective – what really works for me.
So without further delay, here is my current morning routine.
- Cat Care
- Yoga / Exercise
- Breakfast / Meds
- Journal w/Tea
- Psychology & Magick (my book)
- Planning (after Lunch)
I have a corresponding evening (6 pm) routine, but it has not caught on as readily, so I am still observing and reflecting.
- Review Day
- Planning
- Journal/w/Tea
And finally there is my weekly routine, which squarely puts my book first except on days where I have standing morning appointments. And it also illustrates my other major habit creation, radical self-care.
|
Weekly Routines
|
||
|---|---|---|
| M | Book | Sort Laundry |
| T | Book | Bills / Reconcile |
| W | Medical / Book | Trash |
| T | Yoga | PO Box / Groceries |
| F | Book | Backup Laptop |
I am sharing this information in honor of my hero David Seah. He has inspired me to create systems that support my lifestyle. As an independent writer, web designer and crazed mystic, I need systems that are open, flexible, and contribute toward my larger life goals.
In future posts, I hope to share more about how I organize my life.
Until then my check-in is complete. Check!
Posted in
- katrina's blog
- Add new comment
- 854 reads
Wish I could be there. Very well spoken.
Katrina,
I wish you all the blessings and power you need on your journey. Thank you for these words. It is good to remember that returning to work (and thus returning to grace) bring a chance for us all to rest and have joy.
Wishing you joy in the Work.
David
Dear Katrina- Thorn reposted your blog and happy am I. Your passion, always so immense, comes blowing out in these words. So akin to my own heart and soul that it makes me have a bittersweet smile.
The Storm is only now coming to the edges of our universe and yet it will sweep and consume all that is. In the end, our beautiful universe will be so much...more? Different? Complete? Who knows?
All I do know is my soul came here to witness and be part in this period. I cannot shrink from the work. I am here with you, fae sister!
Thought-provoking piece, Katrina. Thanks.
I don't know what to call myself either. In Pagandom, I've taken to referring to myself as a Witch at Large. In the interfaith world where I'm active, I call myself a Pagan. Sometimes I call myself an uppity woman or a Second Wave Feminist. I've never really thought to publicly identify myself by my sexuality, het woman, which is very "white bread" and old-fashioned. Not only het, but serially monogamous for the most part. It seems almost a liability these days to say you're het, but I am proudly and happily so. I tend towards intellectualism but only have a BA, which doesn't carry much weight, at least in public and professional worlds, no matter how much you've studied, trained, and can articulate, even teach.
My biological heritage is Irish, Dutch, French Huguenot, Euro-mongrel. My social heritage is Roman Catholic on one side and conservative Methodist, temperance-crusading, women's rights and education on the other, with distinct East Coast sensibilities, now mellowed by more than half a century living on the Left Coast. My maternal political heritage is conservative Republican (altho what my relatives might think of current trends in the GOP I cannot imagine, since they did have brains and they did think and they did have a social conscience), yet I am much farther left in my outlook than any elected official I know. My paternal political heritage is blue collar Democratic, except that my dad broke with his family on politics and allied with my mother's family's conservatism.
I'm a former hippie, a home-birth advocate, a home death and green burial advocate, an opponent of capital punishment and resorting to warfare to resolve humankind's differences. I support the right to conscious self-deliverance. I rejoice in any and all consensual expressions of love and eros. I'm a lover and a mom.
I have never missed voting in an election and I disrespect those who don't avail themselves of this hard-won right. (I have ancestors who fought the Brits in the American Revolution.) I support workers' rights. I recognize our interdependence on this planet, so could be called a greenie. I'm a committed environmentalist in my day-to-day life (in terms of eating locally grown food, expanding public transit, recycling, preserving open space and wildlife, opposing exploitation of natural resources [strip mining, oil-drilling, nuclear facilities, agribusiness, monocultures, clear-cutting timber, overuse of pesticides, genetic modification, etc.]) I want to make the city streets "safe for dancing," as my old friend Tony Serra said when he ran for mayor of SF on the Platypus Party ticket.
Well, you got me going there, my friend. Thought-provoking read, as I said. ;-)
xo,
Macha
Lovely azaleas!
[cough][gag][snort][sneeze]
Just lovely...
I know what you mean.
I feel you. There is too much bs- particularly when people decide that their temperament is tantamount to truthful and ignore everyone else.
I get irked by immature extroverts or closet introverts who ignore you REPEATEDLY and then pretend you're out of line for being upset by the time they can't pretend you didn't say anything anymore. I find that the same people will ignore you if you blow up right away, too, and that it's because they just don't think that honoring what you value is important to maintaining a relationship, or even worse: that you don't know what you value at all and that it's all a mind game for their pleasure or annoyance. Then they call you passive-aggressive, aggressive, moody, touchy and temperamental. I call them "not listening".