I'm Going To Moodle

I know what I’m going to do this August. I’m going to moodle. [Don’t you just love these off-the-wall words!] Fiona and Kaspa from Writing Our Way Home are running a Summer Moodle Course and as my inspiration has been flagging recently I decided that this would be just the thing to give it a boost.

The word moodle comes from a quote by Brenda Ueland;

“...imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering.” ~ Brenda Ueland

An inspiring view of our garden
[tirelessly tended by Mr A]

I love the idea that being inefficient can be productive. It goes against everything we’ve had drummed into us as we grew up. And the same can be said for happy idling, for dawdling and as for puttering... when haven’t you wanted to putter and not feel guilty about it? Oh yes, this is exactly what my over-burdened, befuddled brain needs.

Fiona and Kaspa were the creators of the January Small Stones Project. You can see my small stones here. I did say that I would continue writing small stones even though the project was over but, surprise, surprise, not a single one has hit the computer screen since 31^st January. Now that I’ve enrolled for the Summer Moodle I might write a few small stones before the course begins to get myself thinking in the present. For those who don’t know how to write a small stone, it’s all about noticing a small thing/event/scene and recording it in words as a moment in time. Like I say, it’s all about living in the present.

One of the quotes included in the Summer Moodle Course information is by Natalie Goldberg. I often dip into her book, Writing Down The Bones. It feels like she’s speaking directly to me. The Goldberg quote that Fiona and Kaspa have chosen hits me right in the face;

“Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.” ~ Natalie Goldberg

Some of the work for the Summer Moodle will be taken from Fiona Robyn's book, A Year of Questions: How to Slow Down and Fall in Love with Life. That sounds suspiciously like yet another book that's talking right at me!


So it’s going to be a summer of living in the present, of de-stressing, of slowing down, of happy idling... in fact I’m just going to moodle. Who’s going to join me?

[I'm adding an addendum: I'm not actually going to be doing nothing in August even though some of you who commented seem to think I am! Fiona and Kaspa are running a therapeutic online writing course that will rejuvenate my creativity. Sorry if you thought I was inviting you to do nothing with me. It's going to be a packed month of writing! Are you still up for joining me? Then visit Writing Our Way Home.]

[My Inspiring Writing Den update: After your kind comments on my previous post we've chosen Liqueur emulsion (a pale pinky-beige) for the walls, I'm planning curtains with an inspiring green splash of colour to them and yes I will post up a picture when it's finished but it may be some time yet. The sun has just come out and Mr A would far rather be in the garden!]

Spring: A new beginning or more of the same?

Yesterday was the Vernal Equinox. We’re halfway between the shortest, darkest day and the longest, lightest one. We can say with confidence that it’s Spring, but is Spring a new beginning? It might be the time when flowers start to open but those buds have been growing for months. So where does our yearly cycle really begin? I’ve never understood why January 1st should be a new beginning. The Winter Solstice would be more logical, or even our birthday. If it comes to it, do we have a natural yearly cycle or are our bodies governed by a monthly cycle, or a daily one... or should we be ‘living in the moment’?

These were questions that I threw at yesterday’s local Lapidus group. We had gathered in Leicester and, although I was leading the session, I still had the day put aside as well-earned ‘me-time’. I had spent most of last week with Rod at the specialist unit of London’s Royal Free Hospital. They told us that his chemotherapy treatment is to be extended for another two months. I was ready for my ‘me-time’.

The group agreed that they were influenced by a yearly cycle but none of the ones I had listed out. It was the academic year, with the end of the long summer holiday marking a new beginning in many people’s lives. We talked about seasons having smells and tastes. Smells are so evocative. They can take us back to long-ago events from similar times of the year but these memories are often negative. Would it not be better to live in the moment? By all means plan and prepare for future events but why do many of us mourn for the past, worry for the future and ruin the present? (ok, ok, so I'm talking about myself here!)

At this point I introduced out first writing exercise. We chose one moment from that morning before we met and we followed a simple format of listing the senses. I love these group writing sessions. They always produce as many ideas as there are people in the group. Our chosen moments ranged from a precious early morning cup of tea to an uninhibited dance in a rain-drenched garden.

The poem The Art of Blessing the Day by Marge Piercy inspired us to write our own words of appreciation for the small things in life. We blessed just about everything from the smooth satin lining of a much-loved jacket to a nice cup of tea... I could take a hint. We stopped for tea, biscuits, news, gossip and general chatter. My me-time had once again turned into me/we/tea time. I created this phenomenon in an earlier post and firmly believe that we all need it every now and then.

Before we rushed back to the real world I read a piece from the Strictly Writing Blog. Guest blogger, Tara L. Masih, talked of her father’s advice to always put positive, beautiful images into our minds because images never leave us. Once our vision processes a scene or picture, it is stored in our subconscious forever. Tara likened our minds to one big filing drawer that stretches to infinity. This is why she tries to avoid graphic violence on TV and film, likes to garden, go to art museums, and explore different places and cultures.

As I was reading, the group were nodding in agreement. We don’t want to waste space in our mental filing cabinets on negative thoughts and so we gathered up some positive thoughts to take away with us, like the feeling you get when you’re lost in a good book, or when you see an amazing sunset. For me it was my day with the local Lapidus group which has now been filed safely away in my mental filing cabinet under the letter p for positive.