I’m introducing a new segment to my erstwhile blog. Some days I can write gloriously, and some days I can only quote somebody else. But those quotes are ones that have infused my being and linger on, unnoticed, sometimes unfelt. Their influence lives on even if their little paper copies in the kitchen have faded. So, today’s Great Sayings From My Fridge:
Robert Louis Stevenson
“A faculty for idleness implies…a strong sense of personal identity.”
I have often reflected on what this could possibly mean. The socially guilty part of me automatically wants to reject a quote that appears to endorse laziness, for isn’t that what this is about? NO! IT’S NOT! First, it helps to know that Stevenson was sick a lot of the time. He had to find ways to engage himself in solitude. He had to face both his boredom and his creative drive. Secondly, It is the strong sense of personal (shall we say divine?) identity that helps us throw off the shackles of social expectation and useless shaming. It’s nobody’s social business if I sit on my porch for two hours watching the trees. Or write. Or write on my blog while watching the trees. It’s just me, being me.
When I can toss aside the false notions and crazy-making shame that somehow washing dirty things is more important than writing creative things, I can use those behaviors considered ‘idle’ by society (writing, being in nature, sitting still and just being in the moment, not counting every minute by dollar signs) to be the greatest sum of my parts possible. The big trick here is being of a strong enough personality to disregard social norms and expectations. The bigger trick is weeding them out of ourselves, where so much of the damage to creativity is done by ourselves, to ourselves.
So naturally, when I came across this quote years ago, it resonated with me when I wasn’t sure I understood it very well. I trusted that resonance and posted the saying on my wall. I might even one day research it more fully for greater understanding, particularly where those three dots are, hinting at something more…
Disclaimer: I lied. These many quotes I have, including this one, are no longer on my fridge. But Great Sayings From My Dusty Bulletin Board just didn’t flow for me, ya know? This and all the other sayings used to be on my fridge. My fridge died. I moved all the sayings to the bulletin board so that the old dead fridge could be removed and the new shiny (smaller, more affordable) one could be brought in. And somehow the quotes stayed on the corkboard where I can’t quite see them as well, especially since many are twenty years old, which means, ahem, that I am twenty years old-er. I plan on rewriting them in larger print so I can see them away there on the wall over the flour bins and the crockpot.
My challenge to you: find the sayings that speak to you. Post them on your platform of memory and inspiration. The fridge, the bathroom mirror, social media, write them on your wrist, get them in front of you. Absorb them the way you do your vegetables, so they can heal your center, build new growth, energize your thoughts, actions, and personality, and so that even when you have no idea they are even there, they can do their work in deep and meaningful ways. Choose wisely! Your being is in question, here. What will you be? What will being do for you? What will doing be for you?
lora reynolds 