A lot can go on in a person’s mind…
On that note, one of the things I have realized more and more, is that it is necessary for me to channel this mental abundance. To structure all the energy so that as much of it as possible flows into useful areas, rather than much of it being wasted. And often in the past, it has simply been wasted.
Although I hope it isn’t always the case, often when I make a more informal “blog” post, it is because I’m dealing with something difficult. I’m trying to get through something. I won’t link anything here, but the last handful of (non-narrative) blog posts have been working through personal challenges. But this one is different. In fact, the only challenges I really have at the moment is too many ideas; too much opportunity. Which, of course, could be its own problem…but certainly a more favourable one. Let us begin with an example. What common source of income for younger people A good analogy could be the summer job.
Often, one comes out the other end of a summer job with no money, wondering where it all went, and if you just wasted your time working for nothing. Other times, you come out with some big purchase that’s worth a bit of money. At least now you have something of value out of it, maybe a video game console or new laptop or phone. Or better, you actually put some of that money aside. Or most of it, even. But I think even better than that, is if you had some sort of goal, like paying a debt, or saving for something specific, and then at the end of it all, you’ve done it!
That is the benefit of channeling and structuring your abundance. Tzedek in the domicile of Shabtai.
On that note, let’s move out of the abstract and move into an example.
In the past, I’ve often gotten big rushes of ideas, and most of it just slipped through my fingers. Like ice, turned to water, and then returned to the earth. The only thing I was typically left with were memories, or perhaps some writings and half-baked projects, usually only at the beginning stages. Because these rushes are cyclical, usually aligning more-or-less with the seasons, I’ve begun after many years to work with it. The first major innovation was, when the rush came, I would return to an old project rather than starting new ones. This also functioned as a filter, since I would usually only return to those projects which were most important, or most interesting.
This time, instead of letting things slip through my fingers, or starting a project only for that too to melt away, I’ve started actually outlining things. I don’t know if I will get to them either, but if I do, and if the time that I do is a long time away (next year, for example), I will actually have an idea of what to do next. At the very least, I can work it through and see if it’s worth pursuing…or just get it out of my head.
The example I’ll give is the idea to write an anthology of literary classics. This is, in my opinion, rather clever, since most classics are so old that they’re in the public domain. That means I can work with and even publish them without any legal issues, since no one owns them. (That’s the meaning of “public domain.”) Additionally, I’ve had this idea for nearly two years. It’s interesting, and kind of easy. Why not?
So today during my break at work, I started outlining how I might do so in a notepad on my phone. And then, I remembered that I have my own personal anthology that desperately needs editing too. Really, I think it’s a more urgent issue. And so, here you can see, planning rather than just starting ended up working. I actually remembered an old project that is at the moment more pressing. And on top of that, I also have an outline for the public domain project, when I do have time to get around to it. Pretty cool.
I know this post was short and sweet, but I think that’s alright every now and then. I’ll just add that I also ordered an agenda today. I’ve always been more productive, or at least more confident, when I used one in university and even high school. I figure returning to that will be an excellent step towards the “structuring abundance” goal. I thought about using an online calendar, and I am using one right now, but it doesn’t quite do the same thing for me, so I’ve bitten in and purchased some hard paper to work with instead.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Next week will be another chapter of The Solune Prince, and after that perhaps an essay. Also, expect coming updates and even excerpts of Alice and Finch draft 2. That’s right, after five years, I am finally editing it. Let’s see where that goes.
12 May 2022