A Memorandum from your soul
BUREAU OF TACTICAL IMAGINATION
MEMORANDUM
To: YOU
From: Your soul
Date: Now
Subject: HELLO!?!
Hello, you, it's your soul here. We need to talk about us.
I know, I know, you are sorry we haven't hung out in a while. I know that you are working a lot, and even though work should be creative, a lot of it is really tedious. And I know, you are raising the kids. You had hoped that most of that would be mostly about joy, but there’s school to get them to - and homework to help them do - and a house to keep reasonably tidy. And the behavior issues - you never saw it coming how angry those kids can make you! Oh and climate change. We better do something about that. And oppression and poverty. What are you gonna do about that?
And the bills, of course, and laundry. The car that needs a new muffler. And the one kid who wakes you up at 4am on the regular - you should read about that on some parenting blogs. I know you are out of toilet paper, and you are taking care of your father with that illness, and that friend with the problems. I know you are starting a business and it's a lot of work. That one part of your web site is broken and you can’t get through to customer support. And did I mention the IRS, and Facebook?
I know that some days you feel alone with all but you just have to keep going and keep all the balls in the air. Hope it gets better. Hope you figure it out. Hope we humans figure it out.I really appreciate you doing this all for me, I really do. I’ve heard you think “once I get this all handled, there will be time to rest, dream, create, play, visit the ocean, meditate, pray, dance, etc.” It's really so, so nice of you to work so hard at clearing all this away so you can have time for me. Thats awesome.
But here’s the thing: that day of spaciousness is NOT GONNA COME. It's the way the world is right now: it's going to keep being like this. Your kids are still going to need your attention. People will still struggle. Stuff will work until it breaks and then you’ll have to fix it. Running a business will still take time (though we should re-evaluate just how much pretty soon). Crises will happen. The house will never be clean enough. And the IRS. And Facebook...
So what are we gonna do? Because our relationship is important to me. YOU - WE - are important to me.
I am a HUGE part of your existence, you. And I can make a LOT of these things feel less bad. I have amazing ideas for your business that will help leap over lots of unproductive, unnecessary toil. I am REALLY GREAT with kids. I know how to play along with the wildest of those little ones. I can’t fix mufflers, but I can help us laugh about them. And while the car is in the shop, I’m great on walks. I can even make the house more lovely, and we can draw on the walls, and dance while doing laundry. I can help you wonder again, and wander too. I can help you feel closer to people, and love this challenging life. I can help you be hopeful about the biggest, scariest things. I can open your heart to the beautiful world you want. I can help you dare greatly, embrace failure, love intelligently, love recklessly, speak honestly, live wholeheartedly, create big things and give you belly laughs. We can get lost and found together. I can sharpen your perspective, nourish your poetics, deepen your dream life and expand your horizons.
I am your soul. Oh, and I almost forgot. This here is my sidekick, Creativity. I don't go anywhere without Creativity.
I know it's been awhile since me, you and Creativity hung out in a substantive way; but we have found our ways to hang around you. Did you notice that? We never go away. We are always ready.
I don't want to put too much pressure on you, so let's start by dating. Let's spend some time together each day. Can we do that? 10 minutes a day? 30? 45? And let me be in charge of the time together. You can be really controlling.
As ever,
Your Soul.