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Posts from the ‘Time’ Category

Jan 7

Mrs. Stahlman’s Calendar

When we first met the Stahlmans, they were already old and retired, he from public school science teaching and she from teaching dietician courses at the local university. Her calendar hung in the bathroom behind the toilet, an inauspicious location for such a noteworthy calendar. The pictures were the typical calendar flowers, but the year was not the current year—not even close. No dated square was empty. In fact, every square was full of entries in Mrs. Stahlman’s thin, spidery hand: every name followed by a two-digit shorthand indicating a year. Read more

Jan 6

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Seeding the Brainstorming Clouds

If brainstorming ideas don’t flow freely, you can try at least three things to help.

Think about responsibilities, desires, and priorities to generate ideas

First, remind yourself of responsibilities, desires or priorities that are linked to whatever you are brainstorming about. Right now, we’ve been trying to give ourselves time to think about personal areas we’d like to be more successful in. We could try seeding the clouds, then, by jotting down specific personal responsibilities, ambitions and priorities you’d like to have more success with in your personal life. Read more

Jan 5

Designing a Concentration Cycle Project

Rain Barrel Notebook Page

By now, I hope you have a page in your notebook with lots of project ideas written on it. If your sheet is a little messy or unorganized, but you are satisfied with the quality and scope of your ideas, feel free to recopy it nicely, and do some simple categorizing. For example, if some ideas suit the “home” stewardship side of things and some reflect the “personal” stewardship side, now would be the time to redo the list, putting them in separate columns. If you like your page’s design, leave it the way it is! Read more

Jan 4

Concentration Cycles: A Statesman’s Example

Benjamin Franklin  also employed concentration cycles as part of his lifelong self-improvement program. According to his autobiography, he compiled his list of thirteen virtues when he was twenty, and his plan was to attend to each one in true cyclical fashion. He would concentrate on one quality for a week, then go on to the next. In this way, he would concentrate on each quality four times in any given year. Read more

Jan 3

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Cycles of Concentration: Brainstorming

Brainstorming, in any area, grants your mind an unfettered opportunity to frolic about in cloud bursts of ideas and lightning flashes of possibilities. Realize, some minds take to such outpourings better than others. A few—often those least used to being called upon for original, unscripted thinking—sit pensive, uncomfortable, and unproductive for so long, the inner being may almost convince itself that it inhabits a body with no mind of its own.

Rest assured, this is a categorical impossibility. Read more

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