Productivity... in the I of the bee holder

One of my favorite local shops: Willow + Oak Laser Design and Home Decor.

Have I been productive today ?

It depends on how you define productive. According to an employer or big organization, I suspect I would probably not be considered very productive.

But I believe I am productive based on different metrics than ''revenue''. I feel like I can be adequately productive in the divine realm. Here is a walkthrough of a sample of activities that could constitute a typical day in my life with a home base called House of Enchantments:

-Open the night curtain of my eyelids to reveal a new, fresh day and all its promises. Hesitate to leave the warmth of my bed. As I cling onto the dream of my loves, notice the softness of the blanket on my cheeks, and feel the room temperature (cool this month, until yesterday morning); listen to the sound of my chime and birds who want to pitch in;

-Let the dreams of last night try to send me their ultimate messages for me to decode (a process that continues throughout the day, and sometimes for a few days);

Very cold morning after a very cold night earlier this month.

-Turn off my alarm before it beeps;

-Go to the kitchen, open the curtains and blinds, heat up almond milk in the microwave for my instant coffee. Cut fruit, usually two (apple and clementine, sometimes a banana), add to my chia seeds pudding, with some almonds;

-Look at the ambient temperature on the thermostat, and in case of some doubt, feel the outdoor temperature, then decide what is most appropriate to wear;

-Journal a little, then turn on my sticker-covered laptop to start working. Go to my in-baskets (email and medical records). Try to prioritize, which is sometimes impossible because many tasks are thrown at me, certain marked by the dreadful, stressful red exclamation point;

-check social media to stay connected with friends and family abroad, share a humorous or sarcastic meme, etc;

-Boil water for tea;

-See patients, mostly one by one, twice a week in group. Listen to their stories. Take these tales of survivorship in. Postpone the note completion because I need to move my legs and leave my head for a little while;

-Realize that I forgot the mug in the microwave ! Re-heat the water for tea;

-Whenever I have 30 min between patients, go on my daily walk around the neighborhood. Over the past weeks, I multiplied the walk by 2. And I cut down sweets. Well, for the chocolate addict in me, that's productive.

-Warm up by drinking tea; 

-There might be a meeting, or two. And lunch, which is usually either heating up leftovers (vegan chili, pasta, salmon...) or assemble a sandwich with mustard, kale, tomatoes, olives, cheese and mustard. Take my probiotic and vitamins if I didn't do so during breakfast. Cut veggies if I start a dish in the slow cooker for dinner;

-Catch myself daydreaming during a meeting. Try to instruct myself to remember to write down the figment of my imagination;

-Re-use the morning bag of tea to make another hot beverage;

-Write a love poem if I feel inspired;

-Think about my dear sons, sending them love;

-Add water to one of the Valentine's Day bunches of flowers I dispersed throughout the house;

-Meditate for a few minutes, wrapped in a warm blanket;

-Unable to resist the urge to do another walk around the block, either because the weather is splendid, or I need to calm my nerves, or both. Notice, as I enter my home, the pleasant smell from the meal that is simmering in the kitchen;

-Take note of the lunar phase of the day, try to catch the full moon from a window or go outside, and stargaze if it is the New Moon;

-Sweep and vacuum once a week, take the trash out, the yard waste, the recycling. Empty the net of the pool cleaner. Water outdoor plants with indoors shower water that would otherwise go wasted while it warms up, which typically takes 1-2 min;

-Do something with a friend or loved one, like go to a restaurant, or to the movies, or have the dinner from the slow cooker (and feel ecstatic to see the matching tablecloth, bowl and curtains !);

-Refill the liquid hand soap dispensers (that counts, right ?)

-Shop, get mail, pay bills...

-Treat myself by going to my local thrift store and some favorite vintage shops;

My local thrift store (and no, I did not buy those spectacular Barbie shoes !)

-Envision how I can beautify my environment while remaining sustainable;

-Practicing gratitude for having found my library card (which I seem to have the tendency to hide too effectively each time);

-Manage to start a fire using some of the big twigs that fell from trees during the last storm;

-Recharge my car, a chronic source of range anxiety;

-After 9 pm, start a load of laundry and or dishwasher;

-Watch a series in Spanish to expand my linguistic skills;

-Put the load of laundry on the drying rack;

-Say good night to people I love;

-Tuck myself in, with a total number of layers of blanket equaling 8 (in the winter), read 2-3 pages of a book, pull the string of the bedside table lamp that creates darkness with a nice, almost musical ''click'';

-Beautiful dream, land of all the possibles, here I come !

This fuzzy blanket is sublime and it follows me, day and night !

What a reward... because as my senses can pinpoint the moment I slip into a well-deserved night rest, I might as well say I have juggled with tasks and learned to catch flakes of solitude dancing in the sunlight, self-absorbed in it enough that hard-working bees showed up on the lid of the recycling bin or other unexpected places, making the self-conscious industrious ego dissolve as my whole being decided to hold what really matters in the form of the winged fragility of life hopping from astonishing uniqueness to delicate rarity.