In My Lane

The Stillness Project

2010-06-12T07:14:00.004-06:00

Greetings, fair readers! I just got done watching a really moving video at www.moma.org by an artist named Marina Abramovic. She did an exhibit where she invited strangers to sit across from her for almost a minute, and do nothing but maintain eye contact and complete silence. Sounds boring, right?

WRONG! Check out the video here and just see some of the responses! It seems like a very emotional process, looking at the expresses on some of the faces. And this got me to wondering why.

When I viewed the video, I almost felt envious of the experimenters in it. I felt, how great would that be to just have someone paying absolute attention to you, actually seeing you, without hurrying past or wanting something from you. No idle small talk to be polite, no expectations.

This exhibit struck a serious cord with me particularly because of the busy life I lead. Not just me, but everyone really. Ask yourself, when is the last time you just sat, in silence, without thoughts and to-do lists racing through your brain? Exactly. This quiet, peace, or just plain stillness is what is missing from many of our lives today.

What's your take on the video? Intuitive experiment or bull crockery? Let me know in the comments section.

Battling Burn-out

2010-03-08T16:39:00.004-07:00

So much for the regular posting routine, lol. Things have picked up in D. Human's life quite a bit. Between work, kids, and everything else, I am pooped.

Nevertheless, I will survive (cue the music). Now, I know I only have two legit subscribers (thanks Zeke and Nikki!) but maybe some of you drop by to read every now and then. If so, this question is for you.

What do you do to keep regular life situations from burning you out? Meditate, exercise, drink, party, what? This could really help me with life in the Human household (maybe not the drinking), so leave a comment below.

Slow Your Roll, Child

2010-02-11T17:57:00.000-07:00

Second post. I'm still around, folks.

My thought for today is how much being patient will reveal you. When I was younger, I was always frustrated by how slow old people were. Slow talking, describing things with extra painstaking detail. Slow counting their money when I was a cashier at Kmart. Slow driving. Just ssslllllooooowww.

Now that I'm a little older (stress little), I thought I understood why they were so slow. I thought it was mainly physical, you know, things don't work as well as they used to. I also believed that it was because they were in no rush to get anywhere else, nowhere important to be (ever seen the "Retired" bumper stick? "No clock, No job, No money, I'M RETIRED!").

Now, I'm realizing more each day the real reason. They, these gray haired geniuses, are still learning, observing the events around them, gathering new knowledge each day, and applying the knowledge they've already learned.

I learned yesterday if you are patient, and let things (and people) around you run their course without your input, the outcome can be pleasantly suprising. I assumed that someone I was dealing with was ill-prepared to handle a situation we were facing. But circumstances were such that I really didn't have the freedom to intervene, if I did it would have ruined everything.

So I sat. Waited. Stood. Waited. Watched. Waited.

And then, I saw it. It's like the pieces came together for this person, and they began to understand the situation as I saw it, and then even better. I was tickled pink on the inside (aren't we all pink on the inside?) as they sprang into action, and handled the problems we were facing.

My actions yesterday reminded me of something a grandparent would do. Letting the situation play itself out, while initially frustrating, lead to some awesome results.

Patience. My new best friend.

Hey Yall!

2010-02-08T19:19:00.000-07:00

Ok,

Was that country enough for you? Well, I am from the South. So "yall" to me is proper grammatical English.

Welcome to the official blog of Michelle D. Human, called In My Lane. This blog is so named because of my discovery that life, generally, is much easier when you make decisions based on what is right for you, and not everyone else. It's purpose is to chronicle the events, epiphanies, fiascoes and everything else that happens in the normal course of life.

Short and sweet. Look forward to posts at least once or twice a week to begin (more if the day is particularly interesting). Everything from the serious to the silly will be covered in this blog, 'cause that's what runs through my head.

Don't forget to introduce yourself to me in the comments section. It helps to know that you are out there. We'll cheer each other on.