There are times where you have to take a few days and just breathe. That’s what the last week has been like. After spending a whirlwind amount of time behind the wheel of a car or in an airline seat – I certainly needed to get grounded back to what I know and feel. When I feel so separated from the world, everything else will take a back seat in importance. And writing was among those casualties.

Another casualty of my down-time is reading political garbage. And all the news reporting is garbage. Every news outlet can make claims to how “balanced” they are in their coverage, but they really aren’t. Add to that, the extremely childish back-and-forth that has started to permeate the debates of both of the major parties, and the lack of discussion on issues, how to pay for the promises, and how the promises are going to be implemented – and I’m essentially finished with both the Republican and Democrat parties. None of their candidates answer questions about specifics, and either answer in childish taunts of their opponents, or circular dances around their empty promises. I will still vote in the November elections, but I am not going to waste too much more of time in canvasing the candidates to determine who I will vote for. I’ll handle all that much closer to the election. In the meantime, there are plenty of other things to get done, and far better things to focus my attention, time and energy on.

Of those things, one is in my writing. I haven’t been putting out too much public writing as of late. However, I am writing a ton more privately. I spend somewhere close to an hour and a half just typing thoughts into my electronic journal. Most of it is reflections on the day. Some of it is my reflections on Gwers materials for my Bardic Grade. Some of it is new poetry. My focus is to be more mindful and purposeful in what I write in the journal. Or what I like to describe as intentional writing with purpose. Its a part of a change in what I do on a daily basis, so there’s a bit of churn in making this a new part of my day. But it is getting done.

Another has been leaving work at work. All of my life has been wrapped up in how my job defines who I am. And to some degree, it does. However, I was allowing it to become far more than that. I am an Institutional Researcher. I am a Data Scientist, to a large extent. But, that’s not who I am. Its what I do. I am a Pagan. I am a Druid. I am claimed by one God, and one Goddess. That’s what defines who I am, and how I connect to my world. And every once in a while, Fliodhas, and Crow, will nudge me back into that paradigm – reminding me that my job is what I do, not who I am.

A lot of this revolves around changing perspective from just living a life, to living a life with intent and purpose. In my past fifty years in this incarnation, I have merely striven to live from day-to-day. No pure intention behind where I was going, or what I was doing. All of that changed at the end of the summer last year. I was reminded that each moment I have requires some form of intention, so its best to focus the intention of what I am to be doing, and where I am wanting to get myself to. Add to that, the intentions behind what the Gods ask of me.

Now, all of this does not mean that I am required to handle every second of my life in this manner. If I did that, I would burn out very quickly on what I needed to do. I need to make measurable steps forward – intentional progress, if you will – towards my eventual goal. For instance, working in my Bardic Grade lessons, I have a set level of progress I would LIKE to attain over a period of time. If I fall short of that goal, its all right, provided I make some measurable progress. At each milestone marker, I stop, reflect, and rebuild my milestones accordingly. I am constantly reminded that Life is really a balance of having two feet in different environments — my everyday Life, and my Spiritual Life. The two cross in a large region, but sometimes one will take precedence over the other, until the scales balance again. There’s work I do in my everyday Life, work I do in my Spiritual Life, and the occasional period of resting, grounding myself back to where I can focus on the wider picture.

Compartmentalizing? Possibly. But I am not worried about that concept. I am more focused on making things work, and balancing out competing perspectives within my life. Both aspects have relevance in my daily routines and Life. For me, it works. And that’s truly all that matters in the end, for me. Your mileage, of course, may vary….