14 Comments

I agree and think a rigid routine isn’t necessary or useful. Thank you for these tips Jo :)

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interesting reflections . . i'm a creature of habit and i love them . . they make my life easier, but i agree with you . . it's needed to think about them from time to time, evaluate them

i love returning from work by a different route every so often . . it's a simple thing, but it makes me happier than repeating the same route 100% of the time :)

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Apr 30Author

Great idea!I used to switch routes often when I drove to one of my clients. There were so many scenic routes over the mountains and through little towns that I really enjoyed soaking up all the views.

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Such great tips here, thank you Jo. How good is it to experience awe?!

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Apr 30Author

to experience awe in the fleeting moments is a great blessing. I grow an album of snapshots in my brain.

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Ah yes, what a lovely way to keep those fleeting moments of awe in your mind, a snapshot album! Clever!

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I too get stuck in my routines - thank you so much for these great tips, Jo!

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Beautiful painting. And I like this idea of building “flexible routine” for art, exercise…that we don’t need to always do the exact thing everyday, but that we do need some kind of framework to thrive.

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Apr 29Author

I have been ruminating on this after posting. It seems to me that there are two foundational questions I must ask:

What do my body, mind and spirit need most today?

What are the stresses that are unavoidable that I must deal with first to clear the distractions in my head? Sometimes I can deal with them by deferring them or outsourcing them to someone else.

Sometimes my creative time is a "preward" before the mundane needs, sometimes it is a reward for tackling a boring daily tasklist.

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“Preward” - YES!!!!!! 👏

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These thoughts came exactly when I needed encouragement to make some shifts to my routine. Retirement seems to breed, for me, a slogging sameness. Thank you for your insights!

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Apr 29Author

It is easy to get into a rut when there is no work schedule driving us.

Maybe we need to add periodic reassessments into our routines, to check in with ourselves to make sure our routines are truly nourishing us.

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I'm moving rooms right now. And I think I'll go in reverse on my walk, all good points. Your sunrise, inspiring and beautiful!

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Apr 28Author

Way to go! Let me know what your changes do for your creative practice. I hope you see inspiring new views and receive new flashes of insight.

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