Spring Hose-Down
Filled out my tax forms yesterday which meant rummaging through the bookshelves for various ’statements’ until the contents of the shelves were piled on my desk. See photo, enhanced in Photoshop because it looks so much better this way. I gnashed my teeth and filled in the forms for the IRS. They’re not difficult, just boring and the results are sobering. No refund for me.
And then I had to face the stack of stuff on the desk—old receipts and notebooks filled with details of various projects either finished or never begun. I tossed the notes for projects never begun. I know now there is a constant stream of ideas and the only ones I need to pay attention to are of this moment. So out these notebooks went.
Then I tossed the ones for projects that are done. It’s the finished work that matters. That’s all.
I’m keeping a few journals with the reflections of the day. They’re fun to glance at once every couple of years but I usually toss them too after a while. I like to keep moving forward and I think the legs can be slowed by the undertoe of history and time. But for now, they sit there, filled with their various enthusiasms, some of which might bubble up into something worth exploring.
I’ve kept the ones with drawings because drawings give instant pleasure and are great energy. It makes me happy to see these sketches, like seeing an old friend.
So, even though it snowed here yesterday, spring is here, I know, because I have less stuff hanging around and, minimalist that I am, I’m feeling free and light and ready to dive into my new writing project untaxed.
April 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Oh, I’m so jealous of your confidence in tossing out the old. I’m doing better with it, but still, a long way to go. And then there’s everybody else in the house’s stuff to contend with. Talk about being bogged down in the past.
What’s the new writing project? You amaze me.