I wrote something about donuts last week. My husband woke up last Saturday morning and went to our local gas station/eatery and surprised me with donuts when I awoke. Yesterday, I went to record a podcast episode with an author who just released a new work of fiction and there, in all their glazed glory, were a plate of Dunkin’ Donuts (they actually have a donut place over there) and Moi had not eaten breakfast and it turns out manifesting stuff on blogs and post it notes on your bathroom mirror might just be this half-hearted dreamer’s ticket to the sunny side. You focus on good things, you see good things.
Raise your hand if you’re a lifelong learner. Raise your hand if you’re curious and open to Beginniner’s Brain. Raise your hand if you crave the silence of a woods and pond, tall grass and sand dunes and some island off the coast of Rhode Island where your internet friends become your real life friends. Who hopes the mangos will ripen in time for the meal you planned with their slices and who loves a message you weren’t expecting from someone you’re lucky enough to call friend?
The desire for perfection is cool and everything, but have you tried just doing it instead of waiting for everything to be just right? Perhaps the most powerfu lesson to be learned is what happens when you honor a calling or passion in some way that tells Resistance you’re not falling for its nonsense anymore. Momentum begets motivation. People who change the world and their own lives start small and follow the thread. They do one small move at a time toward where they want to go and, if the donuts don’t magically appear, they go out and get them.
We watched an old house burn down last Sunday afternoon. Neighbors brought their blankets and lawn chairs, kids sat curbside while the Volunteer FIre Department ran training drills suiting up and entering the burning structure. Sherry, her mom. and I made guesses on what we thought would collapse first. I did not guess correctly. We all cheered when it grew from smoky mess into a real blaze runner and Ryan and Shelley invited me to sit a while and drink a Bud Light. It was a great day.
Donuts, mangos, silence, Rhode Island, imperfection, and burning down old things. What’s in your wallet?
*Addendum- I called the bathroom “The Whiz Palace” a la Leslie Knope and Jon replied with “The Lemonade stand?” and then Jesse said, “You guys are the worst. The Bratwurst.” So, ya know, focus on good things and see good things.