Seizing the day

I know it's been longer than I promised for a bead give-away, but somehow the time has just escaped me. Don't really have any explanation for what I've been doing....just not making beads. For whatever reason, I haven't been in the mood lately. But I have my gusto back, and have been at the torch all day long, cranking things out.

So here's the give-away of the week: this really cool, big bead, on a silver chain.
The bead itself is over 2" long, and the chain is 18". The bead is a bit heavy for the chain, but it works. If you have something else you can put the bead on, go for it. This beauty has been sitting in my drawer of "I don't know what to do with these" beads for a while, so I decided it's a good time to give it a new home. Post here if you want to be added to the drawing. I'll randomly select the lucky winner next Wednesday, so be sure to check back then.

And for a bit of my personal philosophy, for any of you who care....I've been reading an interesting booked entitled, "Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap" by Edward Hallowell. Am I about to snap??? No...but I have realized lately that I am spread a bit thin. I have so many interests and so many things I want to do with my time, and there aren't enough hours in the day. This book has an interesting perspective on how to tackle the distractions and stressers of the modern world. We (or I am anyway) slaves to our computer screens, cell phones, tasks at work, tasks at home, and all of the distractions and commitments we have. When I really stop to look at the number of tasks I accomplish in an average day, I am stunned. But some days I am left feeling so worthless. Like I have done a lot, been moving at the speed of all light, but not accomplished anything of any real value. And I don't even watch tv, so I can't blame my escaped time on that! So this book has helped me put things into perspective, and helped me realize that I have a choice: I can choose to seize each moment for what it is, and live it to the fullest, or I can waste moment after moment doing things that won't really give me a feeling of fulfillment. Afterall, for me anyway, life isn't just about ticking things off the "to do" list; it's about being fulfilled by what you are doing. So yes, there are plenty of things that we have to do in life that aren't exactly fulfilling....they are necessary. But there are a lot of other tasks that we engage in out of habit, that are neither fulfilling or necessary, but still we do them and just waste time. SO.....why I am writing all of this? Because I have been feeling a bit burned-out lately by beads. But I have realized that what I am feeling isn't really burn-out, but distractions from all that's on my plate. So today I cleared my mind of all of those distractions, and I had a thoroughly wonderful day of making beads. My creative bead energy is back, because I took the time and the effort to refuse all of the other things that were vying for my attention. It reminds me of the ol' adage(it's something like this:): you can please some of the people some of the time, you can please all of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time." I am learning that I can't do everything at once. I can't succumb to every task on my list at once. I can make beads now, do paperwork later, walk Finn after that, and then come back to beads. And be with each experience mentally as it is happening. Or I can be thinking about one thing while doing another, and never achieving fulfillment of the task at hand.....wow, what a simple concept!

It's so nice to have these "aha!" moments. The great thinkers have been trying to tell us for centuries: "Carpe Diem." Hmmm....looks like they have a very valid point!