The Joy of Manure
One minute you’re shoveling shit, the next you’re neck-deep in hot springs.
That’s not figurative in my case.
Yesterday morning started with mucking out the horse and donkey barn. At first I worked like a fiend. I wanted to get this nasty job done. And I wanted to show what an awesome worker I am. But I know that I have nothing to prove to anyone and rushing would have likely meant hurting myself. So, I slowed down and paid attention to each pitchfork of hay, manure and muck.
Surprisingly I really enjoyed the work.
At the end of the day, I went into Rennes-Les-Bains, a nearby village built on hot springs. They have a public pool directly fed by the springs, so the water is body temperature. Again I was tempted to rush: to jump in the pool, swim about, tick the experience off my mental list of "things I want to do," and leave. But I didn’t. I relaxed, stretched, floated, and let the movement of the water wash away thought.
Today is my last day at Perruche du Buis. Yesterday is a good example of my stay here. I’ve taken the time to savour the work and the pleasure of the place and the area. All in all, the perfect start to my nomadic life.
Someday Lessons:
- Any activity can bring pleasure if you are fully present for it.
- Live each day as you want to live your whole life.
Live Now? Live When? It’s Too Confusing
This is the fourth of five pre-written blog postings while I travel.
It’s a curious exercise to pre-write blog posts. This post has been up for ten days but it’s only just now visible online. I am week into my farming experiencing and my whole body is sore but I hope I’m happy with my decision to do it anyway.
To write this post I have to live in the future. I have to pretend to be pruning shears Alex. But of course, living in the future is impossible. As is living in the past. We have to live in the now. We have no other choice.
Yet many of us try to live in the past or in the future. Of course we fail miserably and just end up making a muck of the now.
Things get even more confusing when you can write down or record things. For example, I wrote this piece ten days ago, your past, my now. The future of the writing is the now of the reading.
I was watching an episode of Numb3rs and David Krumholtz, as usual, got me all hot and bothered. I flashed to an image of him in Addams Family Values where he played a pre-teen. That movie came out when I was well into my twenties. Suddenly I felt creepy. But then he came back on screen in Numb3rs and I got all gushy again.
With our ability to record things in writing, sound, or film, we become more tempted to live in moments other than the now.
But living in the future or in the past just makes life super confusing. So why bother?
Someday Lessons:
- We can’t know the future. Things have changed from the past. So stick with the now.
- Trying to project yourself forwards or backwards in time just gets confusing. Why do it?
Travel Update
So, Cate and I are now in Toulouse and are going to Barcelona tonight. We arrive at 10pm, which seems late until we remember that in Spain people often don’t even think about going out for dinner until 11pm.
We almost didn’t leave Paris yesterday. Our Railpass said to just get our pass validated then to hop on a train, but when we went to get out pass validated, we learned that there are limited seats available for passes, and that with an almost full train, we wouldn’t be allowed on.
So we kept thinking of different scenarios that would get us to Toulouse in time to sleep. Finally by asking several ticket agents different questions, one agreed to sneak us on to the 2pm train to Toulouse. Yay for persistence!!!
We had a great dinner (southwest France is so much cheaper than Paris) and then went for a beer at a Toulouse version of a frat bar. Did we ever feel old!
On a side note, I have to say just how wonderful non-smoking bars and restaurants are. Here in France, everywhere is still smoking and the bar especially was literally blue with smoke. Not so good for the cough.
Almost over the cold - have most of my energy back and I feel the mucus beginning to dry up. Plus we have sun for the first day! Paris was cloudy and damp which made for a very RAW cold - right into the bones.
We are both very excited about Barcelona. Our apartment is right in the middle of everything. It will be great for exploring this supposedly gorgeous city.
And speaking of exploring cities, it’s time to go explore Toulouse a bit more…
Someday Lessons:
No lessons today - just an update on where I am and what I’m doing.
I Love/Hate Golf
Whenever this topic of "live in the now" comes up, I think: well d’uh! Of course we’re supposed to live in the now and most of us don’t.
It’s like when I used to rock climb. There are four simple lessons:
- Reach for the closest hold
- Climb with your legs
- Stay close to the wall
- Climb with your arms straight
There are a whole bunch of other tips and tricks, but if you remember those four things, climbing is pretty simple. But do you think I could? Nope. Not at all. I’d climb by reaching as high as I could and haul myself up by my finger tips, then cling with bent arms cramping and my ass sticking two feet away from the wall, my centre of gravity pulling the rest of me with it.
Why is it that the simplest lessons are the hardest to learn? I remember seeing a golf shirt once that said:
I hate golf
I hate golf
I hate golf
Ooh nice shot
I love golf
Golf is just a matter of remembering a few simple postures and gestures, then connecting the club with the ball. I’ve played my whole life, but do you think I’m any good at it? Not on your life!
And why not? Because I let myself get distracted.
When climbing I’m so focused on getting to the top or on talking to my climbing partner or listening to the music blasting through the speakers or thinking about my day, my sales projections or whatever. I forget even the basics.
The same with golf. When I’m in the moment thinking but not stressing about letting the club swing in a nice arc, then CRACK!!! the club hits the ball just so. The ball sails high and curves down into the exact place I wanted it to go.
Those moments happen very rarely but the feelings of accomplishment they produce more than make up for the 20 lousy shots previously.
Someday Lessons:
- Focus on but don’t stress about the now. And just relax.
- Don’t let simple distraction deprive you of moments of perfect connection.
Lunch Today:
Homemade hamburger with sauteed zucchini, red pepper and onion.
I Love Paris
At first when I arrived in Paris, I thought "M’eh, another large city with lots of people." Then I started wandering around and opened myself to the moment.
And so I fell in love.
Notre Dame didn’t impress me much - too overwhelming. I caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and realized "Wow! I’m actually in Paris!" The Luxembourg Gardens really impressed me. Not the layout, or the design, but the use. It was full of people - playing, walking, sitting and talking. And the chairs! Chairs lining the paths everywhere - loose chairs! Not stolen and not vandalized! Chairs for sitting in a loose group chatting. Chairs for turning into goals posts for a quick football game. Chairs for finding just the right view for relaxing.
Then I discovered the neighbourhood near the Hotel de Ville, the Marais. It’s a lot of pedestrian streets, too narrow for cars, with restaurants, cafes, shops, and the Centre Pompidou. Merveilleux! All tubular and stark and so out of place that I just had to love it.
In the Marais, I bought myself a Parisian Gay Guide, then read it over a couple of drafts in two bars. I returned to my hotel in Montparnasse (half-hour walk), showered, changed, and returned to the Marais. I ate dinner outside at a sidewalk cafe then hit a bar again.
I felt a bit awkward at this bar. The space was small and being alone in a bar always feels slightly uncomfortable for me. I finished my soft drink and decided to walk around a bit more. On my way out I noticed two men with an eye-catching energy about them. I smiled and they returned it. I then fell in love with a few more narrow streets and stared in wonder at the Centre Pompidou some more.
I returned to the bar, hoping to chat with the energy-boys. But they weren’t there. I went to explore the lower levels (set up with dancefloor surrounded by a catwalk - like Toronto’s old Boom Boom Room), but I didn’t make it downstairs. On the way down, I ran into the energy-boys on their way up. We exchanged hellos and they immediately invited me to go for a coffee with him.
Sure!
They were Lebanese-Parisians and they ran into friends at the cafe. I fell yet more in love with Paris drinking coffee, listening to snippets of Arabic songs being sung. Merveilleux!
I ended up almost pulling a Before Sunrise. I talked with one of the energy-boys until 2:00am. We could have talked all night long, but I had to get up at 6:00am to be at the airport in time for my flight to Ireland (and I wasn’t going to take any chances with that!).
But it’s good. I’m having dinner with him next Thursday on my way back from Ireland.
Someday Lessons:
- When you feel cynical or jaded, make yourself open up to wonder. Marvelous things will happen.
- Practice falling in love with new things and places regularly.
Lunch Today:
Airport Sandwiches.
Now is Well Planned
I often get told to live in the moment, but what does that mean? I live in the future (making plans, devising schemes) or sometimes the past (deriving lessons, reminiscing with friends). When a family has jobs to go to, bills to pay, kids needing school supplies, dinners to cook and bagged lunches to plan, living in the moment seems kind of irresponsible! A slacker’s lifestyle for sure!
But when I was planning my morning shopping, it hit me. Living in the moment means having the past and future already well ordered, thus being more aware and present in the now.
I’ll use lunch as an example (since everyone can relate to food).
I was deciding what I needed to buy for lunch (the future). I checked see what food I had already (the past). I didn’t need any veggies because I had yesterday’s salsa (lesson from the past brought forward). I needed some sort of meat for lunch (plan for the future), so my only necessary action in the present was a trip to the butcher.
My past lessons and future needs made deciding on the actions in the now very simple. I didn’t have walk all over the village figuring out what I needed as I went along, getting more stressed as lunch got closer. Shopping that way could have left me with too much or not enough (and a headache).
Instead, I had a nice leisurely stroll to the butcher, got exactly what I needed, stopped to talk to a few people along the way and even made a detour to the bakery to buy a <<chausson>>, a square croissant filled with apple sauce. Mmmm…
Munching on my chausson, I realized that all of my life could be arranged just as simply. By recognizing needs for the future and by learning from past experiences, I could enjoy the present so much more – without worries and with the freedom to make on-the-fly changes in a rational manner (instead of out of panic – oh no! do I need bread?!?).
The trick will be to see if I can follow my own advice when my life isn’t centered on leisurely days in southwest France.
Someday Lessons:
- The present is more enjoyable when the past and future are taken care of first.
- Having a plan doesn’t mean you can’t change your actions in the present if it will produce a better result.
Lunch today:
Melt-in-your-mouth sausages with leftover salsa.