A lot of us regularly list various sorts of "mindfulness" goals. Mindfulness should be its own reward, of course, but there are also tangible pay-offs for observing our own reactions to things. Such awareness kept me focused, or at least prevented a downhill slide, on a couple of occasions in recent weeks. At a department meeting, when our chair announced prestigious book contracts or publications for a couple of colleagues, I noticed my reflexive jealous reaction, and tried to shift my focus to "What can I do to be like them?" rather than letting the jealousy spiral down to "I'm no good." And when grading this afternoon, I was happily working through the stack of very short assignments, making helpful comments, until I got to the one (only one) that demonstrated serious problems in syntax and understanding. Then I really wanted to quit, but noticing my surge of despair about student abilities once more let me re-focus on the students who were doing the assignment more or less correctly, and the need to be as kind and helpful to the really awful one as to the ones who had a shorter distance to go to "good."
What useful mindfulness moments have you had lately?
Goals from last week:
Contingent Cassandra
--Get as much on top of class prep and planning as possible, in hopes of minimizing teaching-related TRQ eruptions this semester (prepare as many class materials as possible in advance, list future to-dos, preferably for entire semester):
--work some movement into each day (with possible rests on Thurs. and Sun. in deference to fact I’ll be walking/standing a lot on Sat.)
--cook ingredients currently on hand (a pot of chili, some more parsley pesto, maybe some carrot soup)
--do some financial stock-taking
--check in w/brother
--coordinate marching w/ friends, spend time w/ them during march
Daisy
1 - Prepare everything possible for oncoming (and definitely disastrous) "labour interruption" and hope it doesn't happen
2 - Finish drafting of figure
3 - Run three times for sanity
4 - Write one conference talk
DEH
1. De-clutter and organize my study.
2. Plan revisions to the recently accepted article; contact editors with self-imposed deadline.
3. Finish writing syllabus. Get more stuff up on Blackboard for both classes.
4. Eat safely; walking or cardio every day, stretching every day, two yoga classes, sit 3x.
5. Two social activities already on the schedule this week.
Earnest English
-Grounding: in bed on school nights by 11pm! Eat well. Active self-repair on stressful days: baths, music. Meditate or yoga twice this week.
-Spirited: keep up therapy and HS
-Gardening: check to make sure I have the right artichoke seeds or get them ordered; other garden dreaming?
-Plan and plod: plan and announce a couple 2-hour blocks of working to catch up and prep; get stuff done and prep; respond to responses; get two needed meetings on the calendar; plod a bit on annual report
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); get documentary watched; fill in annotated bib
-Big Report: get in touch with Colleague D and make a regular time for touching base about this. Figure out where we are on this and what needs to be done next.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell
Pack and prepare for traveling and for the meetings.
Eat sensibly while traveling.
Write five sentences a day.
Overcome the reluctance and write up dream planning.
Dr Good Enough Woman:
1. Finish two syllabi on the plane.
2. Finish all syllabi on Monday and upload them to LMS.
3. Take kids to farmer's market on Monday (this will be a sparkly thing!)
4. Get all things to Repro for this week and following.
5. Attend two doc appts on Wednesday morning before class.
6. Go to son's robot competition on Wednesday evening.
7. Move like water through the week, especially since I'll be jet-lagged and feeling very unprepared for teaching my classes and won't really have a chance to get caught up during the week.
Heu Mihi
1) Actually finish both syllabi.
2) Finish last book for grad class (two evenings should do it!!)
3) Finish working through chapter.
4) Exercise two times (Mon and Tues).
5) Eat ice cream post oral surgery.
Humming42
1 Revise book reviews and resubmit
2 Finish film review and submit
3 Read 5x
4 Write 5x
5 Make origami bookmarks
JaneB
1) continue to make progress with Very Basic Decluttering Project (sometimes keeping things verrrrry simple works for me...)
2) spend an hour on Ferret
3) act deliberately, and take time to deliberate before reacting (I do love words like that where a shift in emphasis in pronunciation shifts the meaning a little, even if they make English such a sod to learn for others...)
Karen
1. Get reading lists off to library for three classes.
2. Move more - try to do at least one sun salute every day, 1 x gym, 1 x yoga class.
3. Read 3 x articles (1 per work day)
4. Take packed lunch and snacks to work each work day.
KJHaxton
- progress on marking
- tackle teaching prep for first week of semester (ugh, module handbooks, updating quizzes, cleaning up notes)
- graduate and spend time with family
Susan
1. Finish syllabi
2. Write abstract
3. Pay bills
4. Clear desk
WallyWaffles
1. Work on relat paper (my goal is to get this completely revised by the time mentor returns to the US - which is in 2 weeks
2. Draft specific aims for K grant
3. Draft conference award application and send to mentor
4. write outline of diss manuscript before thursday meeting
Yes, can completely relate to the roller-coaster that is marking!
ReplyDeleteI read this post shortly before reading another blog post about how the author (an academic) much prefers to deal with people by email rather than face-to-face or phone conversations where she doesn't know the topic. The key bit, for me, was that email allows her to respond rather than react to things, and to take time to give a considered response. As most queries are coming to me by email these days, and as I'm getting better at controlling when I'm looking at email (I just shut it off for most of the day), I'm getting a lot better at writing responses in a timeframe that suit me, rather than the hectic back and forth that causes issues. Not sure if it qualifies as mindfulness but it's helpful.
Last Week
- progress on marking
- tackle teaching prep for first week of semester (ugh, module handbooks, updating quizzes, cleaning up notes)
- graduate and spend time with family
I made progress on the marking, but more to come this week. I made some progress on the teaching prep, largely the things related to the courses that didn't annoy me last week.
Graduation went well, it was a lovely couple of days with family. The flip side is I'm paying for it today and have reached new levels on the tired and grumpy scale.
This week
- progress on marking and teaching prep
- compile annual report for local activity, write agenda, chair meeting and hopefully put together an activity programme for the year
- edit down acronym paper
- complete two manuscript reviews
I'm sorry "tired and grumpy scale" drooped to the bad side, I'm I'm glad you had a good graduation and good time with your family. Best of luck getting through the marking.
DeleteTypos! Ugh.
DeleteI'd say anything you can do to allow/encourage response rather than reaction is a win.
ReplyDeleteI had my wisdom teeth out on Wednesday, as I think I keep mentioning to everyone, so my mindfulness challenge this week was not getting too impatient/antsy/grumpy with my general incapacity for the rest of the first day. Lying around watching TV and napping all day is appealing to me for about two or three hours, tops, depending on the length of the nap. I've also had some moment of gloominess over the last few days--dreary weather, the inauguration!--and reminding myself that some of this comes from the simple fact that my body is recovering is (sort of, slightly) helpful.
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to do more of is catching myself before I click on mindless Internet things (esp. Facebook), and ask: Is this helping me in some way right now? Sometimes, yes. Often, no: it's distracting and a reflex.
Last week's goals:
1) Actually finish both syllabi.
Done
2) Finish last book for grad class
Done
3) Finish working through chapter
Done
4) Exercise two times (Mon and Tues)
Done
5) Eat ice cream post oral surgery
Ongoing
This week:
1) Synthesize writing group's comments on intro and create to-do list
2) Read first 30 pages of next research book
3) Read student's dissertation chapter (one of them)
4) Draft rec letter for student
I'm fighting the impulse to make this list too long. Classes start this week, and I've got to be realistic.
Do be realistic. I'm looking at the amount of grading I have coming in (in the second week of classes) and wondering what the hell I was thinking. Well, I do know that: it's a weed-out technique, trying to make sure people hit the ground running, and don't let things slide till it's too late. But it does affect me, too, and even without oral surgery the first week plus inauguration hit me hard.
DeleteSo keep up with your 'ongoing' ice cream goal: it should help a lot! :-)
We will all be eating ice cream or other frozen items in solidarity with you this week :)
DeleteFirst week back is tough, we're in the middle of it as well.
I totally relate to your Facebook mindfulness. I noticed that post-sabbatical last year, I moved from effectively using transition time to going straight to FB when I had those extra minutes, and those extra minutes add up. Last fall, I realized that I'd been saying I didn't have time for doctor's appointments. But then I realized if I had time for FB, I had time for preventative health care. And this Sunday, I lost a lot of good time obsessing about criticism of women's march. Must stop that.
DeleteBest of luck with the surgery recovery and the first week of class. I hope you have been enjoying some great ice cream flavors.
I find crochet very grounding!
ReplyDeleteThis point about being mindful is central to my third goal for the week just gone, about being deliberate and acting deliberately. I find it very easy to get swept away from that in all the jostling and other people's needs, and in semester time especially people can take being deliberate as an intentional attack on them. I haven't been very good at this this week - it's been a week of external upsets for many reasons, large (my twitter feed, facebook, email etc. are all full of the inauguration and Brexit speeches), small (the deer which came and watched us write on our writing-group last week, who was well known around the nature centre we used, was badly injured by a dog which shouldn't have been off the lead and had to be put down) and intermediate (Away Day. You MUST put research first. And student satisfaction first. And recruitment first. And you all complain you're overworked, but it's your own fault, stop working so much). It was a pretty rubbish week.
goals for last week:
1) continue to make progress with Very Basic Decluttering Project. nope
2) spend an hour on Ferret yes
3) act deliberately, and take time to deliberate before reacting not really, but there wasn't much space where I had any choice about what I did to do it in
the coming week:
is too full for the work that needs doing :-(
Should have spent the weekend working, didn't feel up to it, did a bit of marking and a lot of nothing. Gloomy, inside and out.
goals:
1) deliberation, mindfulness, call it what you will. Finding and/or being the calm point in the chaos.
2) an hour on Ferrett
3) an hour on the grant I wish I'd never started
4) get a new passport photo, and send off the paperwork for the visa to ExoticCountry
5) declutter something somehow
I am so sorry about the deer. That is the sort of thing that would hit me very hard.
DeleteSomething going around about dogs: while running Friday night, my husband was bitten by a dog on too long a leash. Not badly, and presumably the dog is up to date on its shots (and yes, we will follow up), and Sir John is up to date on tetanus, but these things should not happen, not in nature centres, not in towns. Why do people think leash laws don't apply to them?
Yes, the deer would knock me off balance for a while as well. We've got dog issues as well, or rather a persistent few dog owners who do not believe they need to clean up after their pet. It is disgusting!
DeleteIsn't it horrid when everything is the top priority...do all the things, be outstandingly excellent in everything but don't forget to excel in everything else as well. Just grim.
This was a terrible week. It started off well with a holiday and some good homeschooling lessons on MLK, but then Absurdist Husband’s back went out midweek, and it’s been awful since, with him grumpy and down both from pain and from other things, and me, picking up the slack but totally ungracious about it – and very snappish any time he tells me about something else that needs to be done when I’m not in a position to write it down or do anything about it (but get overwhelmed). Right now, everything seems pretty bleak, especially money-wise.
ReplyDeleteMindfulness wins this week? I realized I wasn’t meeting my writing goal for a simple reason and fixed it. And this morning I decided that instead of being down about my job and everything else, I need to look at the bright side and counted my blessings regarding the job, which was really helpful. Being negative in my thoughts (which is so easy now!) is not going to help me be well and do well. That’s pretty mindful, right?
Last Week
-Grounding: in bed on schoolnights by 11pm! Eat well. Active self-repair on stressful days: baths, music. Meditate or yoga twice this week. MUSIC gets done most nights, but that’s it. Bed by 11 seems impossible. I try to eat well. No meditation or yoga going on. It’s all I can do to remember to stretch. More work needed here. (But doing well in resisting the urge to get on FB, which is very mindful and smart of me just now, contributing to grounding.)
-Spirited: keep up therapy and HS: NO therapy and HS tanked this week though I’m proud that this month we got through the grammar book and he’s doing well on analysis; started reading him a book, but we lost sight of it this weekend.
-Gardening: check to make sure I have the right artichoke seeds or get them ordered; other gardendreaming?: NONE OF THIS, though this week I thought a lot about how I need plants in my office – and where to get them?
-Plan and plod: plan and announce a couple 2-hour blocks of working to catch up and prep; get stuff done and prep; respond to responses; get two needed meetings on the calendar; plod a bit on annual report; OKAY, but I’m not good at saying I’m working and leave me alone, especially when Husband and Spirited are not getting along. I prepped and responded to responses, got one needed meeting on the calendar and did zero on annual report. More work needed here.
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); get documentary watched; fill in annotated bib; GREAT: wrote 1x, figured out why I wasn’t writing more and fixed that, read about 50ish pages of research; watched documentary and filled in annotated bib
-Big Report: get in touch with Colleague D and make a regular time for touching base about this. Figure out where we are on this and what needs to be done next. GOOD: Got in touch, have regular meeting, less to do here than I thought, but still some to do and got ½ done last week
This Week
-Grounding: get adequate sleep! Eat well. Active self-repair on stressful days: baths, music. Meditate or yoga or stretching twice this week.
-Spirited: get back to therapy and HS; read book
-Gardening: check to make sure I have the right artichoke seeds or get them ordered; other gardendreaming? plants in office?
-Plan and plod: need to work more devotedly on Tuesday and Wednesday this week in order to not get behind; responses need to get done; journals need to be looked at and recorded; work on annual report; go get stuff for presents (Store 1 and Store 2)
-Writing Project: keep morning time for writing (not work!); 1x this week and regular research
-Big Report: respond to report draft
Move like water, plod like tortoise, resist despair, my friends!
I hope this week is better. I'm glad you made some progress on things despite everything.
Delete'Move like water, plod like tortoise' I think this makes you a sea turtle...
I have two office plants that really do help keep my workspace feeling grounded. The zygocactus was a present from a colleague and the peace lily a division from when one of our office staff was repotting their plants. Both have so far survived by black thumb for indoor plants...
DeleteResist despair through living things!
KJHaxton: A sea turtle! Can I be Crush, then, from Finding Nemo/Dory? He knows how to enjoy life! And he's a great parent!
DeleteKaren: "Resist despair through living things!" Exactly! We'll see if it works. I picked up a mint from the grocery store today!
Being Crush from Finding Nemo is a great idea! Let's all be him.
DeleteI hope Absurdist Husband's back gets better soon.
And let me just say that I'm impressed a) that you have stayed off of FB and b) that you are doing your morning writing despite all the other things.
DeleteDoes anyone have an idea for a houseplant that would not poison cats but whose smell they would not like?
DeleteOops... posted this under last week's thread, repeating here... I was wondering why there were 64 comments on this week's thread!
ReplyDeleteTurned out to be a busy but decent week. I took one day off to go skiing when kid had no school, totally worth getting out of a very stressful and demoralizing office for a day. I guess that was my attempt at mindfulness - I took advantage of an opportunity to relax and have fun with the kid and not think about work for most of the day. This week I will try it on smaller scale, but every day instead of one big blow-out...
Last week's goals:
1 - Prepare everything possible for oncoming (and definitely disastrous) "labour interruption" and hope it doesn't happen
DONE, and it seems like the worst may not happen... Crossing fingers...
2 - Finish drafting of figure NOT DONE
3 - Run three times for sanity YES!!! AND WENT SKIING TWICE!
4 - Write one conference talk HALFWAY THERE
This week's goals:
1 - Figure 1 for three posters
2 - Don't let conference talks wait and languish - finish 2 of them
3 - Run three times
4 - Data processing for conference posters
Have a good week!
Well done on meeting your exercise goals (and the other ones). Skiing sounds like a whole lot of fun.
DeleteYay exercise and fun!
DeleteIs anyone else having problems posting? I've posted twice and it has disappeared twice now.
ReplyDeleteI've now posted my update three times -- verified each time that it was posted, and it has disappeared three times. This last time, I posted it as a comment to the above, and it disappeared. Does anyone know what is going on?
DeleteMy anxiety and stress has been off the charts for months due to the election, and it has hampered my productivity. I also feel like my anxiety has had a negative effect on my concentration. I decided last week that I wanted to start reading for fun again in the hopes that will help me focus and may also help me start reading more journal articles again (I used to love reading - but lately all I’ve read is the news).
DeleteLast week’s goals:
1. Work on relat paper (my goal is to get this completely revised by the time mentor returns to the US - which is in 2 weeks - DIDN’T DO, BUT #2 WILL HELP WITH THIS
2. Draft specific aims for K grant - DONE
3. Draft conference award application and send to mentor - DONE AND SUBMITTED
4. write outline of diss manuscript before thursday meeting - NOT DONE
I got derailed by admin tasks this week - and derailed by emotions related to the inauguration. Attending one of the marches on Saturday has helped my mood, and I feel more able/eager to tackle work stuff. That said, there is an expectation that these next two weeks may see a lot of tough stuff politically, so I need to figure out how to work anyway.
This week’s goals:
1. Work on relat paper - this really needs to happen this week
2. Finish aims and start on strategy
3. Read for fun (currently reading A Series of Unfortunate Events - inspired by the Netflix series)
One of my big challenges right now is mentorship. I’m a postdoc, so this is supposed to be a time of training and mentorship for me. Because my postdoc is in a completely new area of research, this feels pretty important. The last time I met with any kind of regularity with my mentor was September. She has been traveling since then - and will be traveling through Feb and March. That’s 6 months without any kind of real face to face contact. The only kind of mentorship I am getting is comments on drafts of things. I adore my mentor - but I feel like she is distracted and like my postdoc isn’t a priority for her currently (which is partly why I help so much with her admin stuff - if I didn’t, my contact with her would be even more minimal). I need to figure out what I need and how to get that. Part of what I need - which I mentioned last week I think - is some in-person contact with people in my area. Or really, I would be happy with remote contact if it meant discussions about our research. I would kill for a journal club in my area of research just to get to talk about things, but no such thing exists (and I’m not motivated enough to start one - and there really aren’t enough people in this research space to start one). At the same time, I need to be productive despite all of this. I’m letting it all get to me and hinder my productivity. I have like 7 publications I am supposed to be working on. I am 5 months away from the one year marker of the start of my post-doc, and I should have far more pubs at this point, and definitely should have a couple more first-authored in the pipeline (at the same time - I kind of feel like I need some mentorship in this area, as I’m really quite new to writing pubs and I find it all intimidating). I guess I am just a mess of contradictory feelings and thoughts - which is likely the ideal time to practice mindfulness!
wallywaffles
I am sorry you've had trouble posting. I don't know why that happens, but it has happened to me sometimes, so I'm sure it's not something you're doing, but a glitch in the system somewhere. We'd probably both better do as Elizabeth suggested and save posts in a word-processing program, to avoid further stress.
DeleteI'll be back with further comments later. Since I'm in English, where we don't do post-docs as in the sciences, I hope someone else may have field-specific suggestions about getting the mentorship you need. We are all here to work on the problem of juggling multiple publications and competing priorities, though, so I hope the group will help you get through the next few months productively.
Your comment turned up in my email at least 3 times!! Nothing should be going to moderation but I wonder... will poke around in case when I next get a chsmce...
DeleteChance.
DeleteTyping from my idiot phone
Can you think about the mentoring you need as different sets/categories. It sounds like you want mentorship in this emerging area of research - which might need to be something with peers at a distance/virtually. Then there is writing - are there any local writing groups you could join or form? And finally (and this is where I have less ideas as I'm not is a post-doc discipline either) it sounds like this whole post-doc space is something that you might also want guidance/support with. Are there other local people who have gone through post docs, even if in a different research area, tht you could meet with - even if that is just a one-off info gathering session over coffee?
DeleteI've been trying to practice mindfullness by being present in the moment - and in all honesty, with a lovely weekend of travel to a beautiful place for a wedding, seeing my kids and partner reconnect with family, and chocolate, wine and icecream, being present in the moment was rather easy. I feel a little guilty for being indulgent on what was a hard weekend for many people, but then starting work this week on a two hour budget meeting probably balances it.
ReplyDeleteLast week:
1. Get reading lists off to library for three classes. NOPE.
2. Move more - try to do at least one sun salute every day, 1 x gym, 1 x yoga class. Sun salutes most days, yoga bumped for packing time.
3. Read 3 x articles (1 per work day) 3 on Friday.
4. Take packed lunch and snacks to work each work day. YES.
This week:
1. Reading lists!!!!
2. Get everything out of boxes in my office; have home library/spare room ready for visitors to be able to locate and sleep on the sofa bed.
3. 3 x articles, 2 x 30 minute writing session
4. Start a artist residency application
5. Packed lunches, move regularly at work (use a timer if needed), yoga x 1, gym x 1.
Take the relaxation/presence where you can get it! I'm glad you had a good weekend. I like the one sun salutation per day goal; I should try that.
DeleteI like the "one sun salutation per day" goal! It's a fabulous starting place and a good way to get moving while being mindful. And I think it's great that you had a lovely weekend.
DeleteI haven't been very mindful for the past six months during thesis completion, but I want to work on it now. I need to be a lot more mindful about FB use. I also want to be more mindful about weekend time. Sometimes, I'm so happy to just relax in the mornings that the day gets away from me, and I don't get the things done that would have been better for me (especially exercise; for example, it would be a great if I scooted out for a yoga class while my kids were lounging in the morning).
ReplyDeleteSome of the mindfulness you mentioned is also related to having "perspective." I have a friend who not long ago had to check into rehab for alcohol and pain-killer addiction (this was on the heels of a couple of hip surgeries, despite the fact that she's only in her mid-40s). So, basically, surgeries combined with addiction. Then, post-rehab, she had a grand mal seizure during which she crushed a vertebrae and is now in tons of pain, having to take pain-killers after working so hard to get clean, and she also has to wear a thoracic brace and work from home in a hospital bed in her living room. Then she learned that the seizure was caused by a brain tumor. Now, she's waiting to find out what kind of tumor it is, and she is in constant pain. I hate that she is going through all of this. I grieve for her and her family. But I have to say, it does give me perspective and a sense of gratitude.
Last week (I can't believe these goals are just from last week. Seems like longer!):
1. Finish two syllabi on the plane. >>NO. Space was too tight. I was too nervous. Had to watch silly movies.
2. Finish all syllabi on Monday and upload them to LMS. >>2 out of 3.
3. Take kids to farmer's market on Monday (this will be a sparkly thing!). >>NO. They had other things they were doing, which was fine b/c I had to work on syllabi.
4. Get all things to Repro for this week and following. >>NOT REALLY. But it's happening now.
5. Attend two doc appts on Wednesday morning before class.>>YES!
6. Go to son's robot competition on Wednesday evening.>>YES! It was awesome.
7. Move like water through the week, especially since I'll be jet-lagged and feeling very unprepared for teaching my classes and won't really have a chance to get caught up during the week.>>YES!!
This week:
1. Do all corrections to thesis.
2. Submit thesis for final binding.
3. Get lab work done that the doctor ordered at my appointment last week.
4. Make appointment for X-ray (kidney stone follow up).
5. Walk dogs four times (I'm dog sitting my mom's dog for three weeks, which is going to be rather disruptive, but it motivates me to get both dogs [mine and hers] out of the house so they'll be tired. That's good for me, too.)
6. Enjoy my time with the kids while my husband is away this weekend. Maybe plan a outing into "town"?
The last week was about a month long, I think. Or at least it had a month's worth of stress. It sounds like Wednesday was a good day for self-care and family participation! That's a fine thing.
DeleteIt is a fine thing, indeed.
DeleteI really don’t know where I got the mindfulness to write this post. It’s a good thing I did the writing on Thursday, because Friday, despite doing my best to ignore the news all day, I felt so hammered just by knowing that it was inauguration day and that we really are . . . under the administration of . . . that . . . (I just can’t face this). I’m grateful to anyone who marched, but I spent most of the weekend in my pajamas; I got dressed so I could get groceries (usually Sir John’s job but he was also in retreat from the world, due in part to dog bite mentioned above), and then I cooked up a storm so I’d have plenty of safe food to take to campus this week, and I spent hours on a jigsaw puzzle. I did no work at all this weekend, and that meant Monday steam-rollered me.
ReplyDelete1. De-clutter and organize my study. NO. Not a thing done on this front.
2. Plan revisions to the recently accepted article; contact editors with self-imposed deadline. ON-GOING. I’ve been collecting references that I add to the annotated bibliography for this project, and even done some reading, but I don’t seem to have the headspace to think about the revisions more globally.
3. Finish writing syllabus. Get more stuff up on Blackboard for both classes. YES, YES. Teaching gets done because it has to.
4. Eat safely; walking or cardio every day, stretching every day, two yoga classes, sit 3x. YES food, NO exercise, yoga, meditation. The yoga classes I like are on the weekend, and I just couldn’t get myself out of the house.
5. Two social activities already on the schedule this week. NO. One cancelled because the usual hosts were out of town and no one else stepped in; the other, Sir John and I were both too tired and cranky to go. I think the jigsaw was my “fun” thing this week.
So. I feel like this week is all TRQ all the time, including things that are overdue (evil/eval docs). What can I realistically manage that is really TLQ?
1. House: Clear auxiliary desk area of study (roughly 2' x 4').
2. Research: Touch the revision project every day: add a reference, read through old notes, write one sentence.
3. Teaching: track down a short story I want to teach in a few weeks.
4. Health: make plan for once again rehabbing my wonky ankle. (It can be done. The trick is not straining it again by doing too much too soon when it’s feeling better.) Spend ½ hour a day on stretching, yoga, weights, to preserve some level of fitness while not doing ankle-stressing cardio (swimming also hurts, so not an option). Use transition periods to sit, if only for 3-5 minutes.
5. Fun/social thing: lots of resistance here; I really feel like cocooning. More jigsaw, I guess, and some coloring while listening to music; sci-fi TV with Sir John.
I'm also trying to pick up Earnest English's idea of "active self-repair." Some of my repair activities also break me down more: I stay up too late reading or doing puzzles, and then I'm tired or my sleep patterns get seriously skewed. So I need to find a way to either stop and go to bed, or do something else that is less absorbing.
DeleteOh, I meant to mention in re: research that in collecting references for the expanded MMP-1, I picked up a book that also contained an essay by our very own Susan! That was a fun small-world moment.
I almost didn't march, what with recent intercontinental travel and other things, but I went, in part because when I told my 11-year-old daughter wanted to go and how could I not? And I am happy to count my marching on behalf of the pajama-clad other millions who just. could. not. I totally get it b/c I was almost there.
DeleteI have recently bought some puzzles and even a puzzle mat. I would like to do puzzles with my kids, but then I never do. Maybe this weekend?
Good luck with the bits of TLQ in a very heavy TRQ week.
Ugh. More typos. Make that "when I told my 11-year-old daughter, she wanted to go, so how could I not?"
DeleteI must proofread before I publish (said everyone always).
Showing up very late, since I spent Saturday doing the social media version of Women’s Marches then got a whim to launch a related research project on Sunday. So a lot of things didn’t get done. And I am ok with that.
ReplyDeleteLast week
1 Revise book reviews and resubmit: yes
2 Finish film review and submit: no
3 Read 5x: 4x
4 Write 5x: 3x
5 Make origami bookmarks: no, but I watched a youtube video about it
This week
1 Finish film review and submit
2 Read 4x
3 Write 4x
4 Be mindful about not creating chaos by taking on too many projects
Another late check-in (I marched, and then classes started, and I seem to have picked up a cold).
ReplyDeleteTopic: I find mindfulness very helpful. I'm also fond of record-keeping of various things (mostly time) in hopes of finding patterns, but I sometimes also take that to an extreme; it becomes an end in itself (and a distraction). So, as with many things, there's a balance somewhere.
Goals for last week:
--Get as much on top of class prep and planning as possible, in hopes of minimizing teaching-related TRQ eruptions this semester (prepare as many class materials as possible in advance, list future to-dos, preferably for entire semester):
--work some movement into each day (with possible rests on Thurs. and Sun. in deference to fact I’ll be walking/standing a lot on Sat.)
--cook ingredients currently on hand (a pot of chili, some more parsley pesto, maybe some carrot soup)
--do some financial stock-taking
--check in w/brother
--coordinate marching w/ friends, spend time w/ them during march
Accomplished: was reasonably prepared for school, and am still reasonably on top of things; moved on a fairly regular basis (and walked/stood for 5+ miles/9 hours on Saturday with only minor aches and pains remaining by Sunday morning); didn't manage to meet up with friends for march, but did compare notes afterward (and form action group with other members of my church).
Given the cold (and the fact that it's Weds.)
[and then my keyboard stopped working -- a Win10, not a blogger, problem -- and then I did have a blogger problem with my follow-on post. So here's the abbreviated version:
Delete...I'm going to concentrate on the leftovers from last week:
--keep trying to stay ahead of, or at least on top of, teaching tasks
--keep moving (as much as cold allows)
--make at least chili and pesto
--do some financial stock-taking
--check in with brother
--begin blog and other work for online class [this last is an opportunity that came up this week, and that connects to the grant-funded project. We'll see whether I have time and energy for it; it looks intriguing, but also possibly time- and energy-consuming. There are some true believers in the pedagogical approaches that are the subject of the class, and I tend to find same exhausting, frustrating, and/or guilt inducing, mostly depending on whether their teaching loads are lighter than mine, or similar).
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