The title of this post is the title of one of my favorite Eagles songs and also my new motto in life.
The easier I take it, the more I get done.
I have no idea why this is so. But I see clearly that the days I pour an extra half cup of coffee and spend a bit of time on the @#$% Sudoku, I get more done. The days I allow myself to read a few minutes after lunch, I'm much more focused on my writing in the afternoons. The days I allow myself to--shudder--take the evening away from the computer I accomplish much, much more.
And the days I'm rushing around telling anybody who will listen how busy I am I rush and I spill and I crash into things and nothing works. And even though I'm so terribly busy and important, I don't get much done. And then I'm cranky and crabby and mean and nobody likes me.
Still, I find it very, very hard to embrace this way of living. To tell myself its okay to read the latest Get Fuzzy instead of rushing right back to the computer. To put my head against the back of my chair and close my eyes for a minute. To take a bit of time to meditate or journal in the middle of the day.
Our society, particularly the US, is very caught up in being busy and important. If we looked at this carefully, it would probably reveal we do this to hide our fears that we're not busy and important enough. Or, simply not enough.
And so perhaps taking it easy convinces the mind otherwise. Allows us to remember that we are enough as we are and that our writing is important just because. That we don't have to justify and look busy and important. And when we are content just being who we are, doing what we do, the space opens up to allow us to get things done.
Have you experienced this attribute of taking it easy? And do you have any similar experiences to share?
No, that's not me and my family in the picture, its an image from Les Chatfield, courtesy of Flickr.
