One of my mom's favorite observations what that "you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." (Forget for a minute that it's not clear why you would want to catch flies.) Several influences have converged lately to push me toward a more sweetly regimented life.
Getting Outside
Finally, after the longest winter in years, and a wet, cold spring, it's started to be nice enough to spend time outside. Kaylee and I do a lot of walking year 'round, but it has started to be fun again. Most of the time our route takes us down to the Mississippi, across it, and back on a different bridge. Everyone in the house is happier on days when we take this walk. Kaylee gets enough exercise that she leaves me alone to write for longer hours and Hank doesn't feel like he is competing with the dog for attention in the evening. I do not feel chained to a computer screen where the magic of insightful writing is maddenly refusing to appear at regular intervals.
Cleaning the House
I miscalculated last month and ended up hosting two events when my house and dinner were, let's just say, out of sync with when the guests were arriving. Read: things were a mess and diners were fainting from low blood sugar. These miscalculations—and spring—inspired me to get a little more proactive on the housecleaning front. I've had help from the iPhone app called Home Routines. It gives you editable lists of things to do, and gold stars when you accomplish each task. There are lists of morning and evening tasks, weekly tasks, and "zones" that you work in a little at a time so that you more deeply clean your whole house over the course of a month without turning into that person whom housemates and small animals fear.
Reading Devotionally
This commitment to read the Bible in 90 days means that I'm regularly reading the Bible for 20-30 minutes a day. The habit is admittedly less than a week old, and I hesitate to claim too much too soon here. All I will say so far is that it seems easier than I thought it would be. This is another place where I'm getting some help from my friends. Twitter peeps @nathanhoff and @chrisenstad keep posting on their reading, and their commentary encourages me to think of this project as a conversation rather than a chore.
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It occurs to me that all of these developed and developing habits have in common some outside influence that makes me smile. The dog practically wags right out of her skin when she sees me lace up my walking shoes. The iPhone app breaks unpleasant work into small tasks and rewards me with pixels of gold when I accomplish something. Colleagues on Twitter keep a conversation going that is interesting enough that I want to keep up with it, and with them. I'll never accomplish great things by force of will, but that's ok. Like the flies, I do better with honey.
