And then there are weeks without any special highlights, with days in which life just flows along like a sluggish river.
The metaphor of the river fits quite well. Generally to life, as Hermann Hesse described it perfectly in his book Siddharta.
“The river is everywhere at once, at the source and at the mouth, at the waterfall, at the ferry, at the rapids, in the sea, in the mountains, everywhere at once,” the story says. And further: “For the river there is only the present, not the shadow of the past, not the shadow of the future”.
And a river always has sections in which it flows calmly, leisurely, like the days of my life last week. So everything went its usual and very productive course. I always notice this when I see all the tasks ticked off in my notebook at the end of the week. Usually I don’t realize how much I actually get done, even though I constantly feel like I’m not making a lot of progress. That’s one of the advantages of organizing your life the old-fashioned way on paper instead of digitally. You can always see what you’ve achieved afterwards. Nothing is more frustrating than apps where once you’ve done something, it disappears into nirvana. In the end, it looks as if you haven’t accomplished anything at all. Seeing the ticked-off tasks in your notebook, with scribbled notes or doodles in between, provides a good overview of the work you have done and helps to review the days with satisfaction.
On an afternoon walk during a sunny section
Hello darkness my old friend
A change in the otherwise rather dull daily routine was brought by an autumn storm that drove away the last of the warmth and filled the streets with leaves. Since then, the wind has been a daily companion, as has the rain. And I still have to get used to the cool temperatures. The week also brought standard time back to Europe and with it early dark evenings and long nights. So the winter half of the year has definitely arrived.
Contrasts
