I’m a firm believer in what Brenda Ueland calls moodling, “long inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.”
In a weird time-twisting way, I’ve discovered that one secret to getting a lot done is being willing to spend a lot of time alone doing nothing at all!
Gazing out a window with a cup of tea. Soaking in a bath. Sitting still and paying attention to the breath.
And listening. Lots of listening.
But not to the radio or the TV or a favorite selection in iTunes. Listening to the sounds of silence around me.
The hum of a heater. A distant ambulance siren. The rumble of the FedEx truck. The pitter-patter of a squirrel scampering across the roof.
It reminds me of years ago when it was necessary to let my car idle for a few minutes before shifting it out of park. My mechanic insisted that it needed this time to warm-up every morning in order to keep the engine functioning properly.
And so it is with our lives.
We all need to do a little idling to keep our imaginations warmed-up and working smoothly.
And like so many skills in life, if you don’t use it, you lose it.
As kids, we were all fabulous moodlers. Yes, even you.
Maybe you can remember gazing up at the sky and being mesmerized by the shifting shape of the clouds or a twinkling blanket of stars. My nephew once watched a parade of ants at a picnic for half an hour. I could spend an entire morning searching for four-leaf clovers in an empty lot near my house. And I remember once when a bunch of us neighborhood kids dug a hole for two straight days just to see how deep we could make it!
No adult would ever engage in such foolishness, right?
Well, thank goodness some grown-ups still do or we wouldn’t have things like wonderful literature, breathtaking art, ingenious gadgets, toe-tapping music, scientific breakthroughs and inspiring films.
Moodling, without a doubt, is an integral part of the creative process, which means it’s not just for the artists and inventors of the world.
It’s a worthwhile activity for moms and dads, employees, students and business owners, too.
Doodling. Coloring. Humming. Skipping. Daydreaming. Zoning out.
Perhaps more grown-up moodling is just the prescription needed to remedy the boredom, malaise, and routine that has replaced the childlike wonder, excitement and imagination that used to fuel our days.
But, like children, we tend to not want to take our medicine, so we immediately counter with “I don’t have time for that!”
Ah, but remember the time-twisting nature of moodling?
When you make time for moodling, moodling somehow makes time for you.
It gifts you with creative solutions to old problems. It contributes to flashes of insight that help you remember exactly where you left that thing you’re looking for before you have to spend an hour searching. It cuts the time to write your monthly report in half because while you were moodling, there was a subroutine running in the background that was organizing your thoughts without you realizing it.
And there’s no better time to give moodling a try than right now in the middle of winter.
Cozy up to a fire in a comfy, lambswool sweater like today’s VPOD.
Allow yourself to get recharged by plugging in to nothing at all.
Remember what it’s like to take two hours to do a crossword puzzle, or to slowly cross-stitch a few rows of your sampler, or to sketch horrendously but gloriously, or to get lost in reminiscing.
It’s just one more way to unleash creativity, in fashion and in life, for any Vintage Crusader!
Available at Twin Hearts Vintage.
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