Initiation Tool - create "Morning Pages", writing 3 pages longhand every morning (90 days straight)Sun. Sept. 12, 2010 - Morning Pages - Day #33 - Metro North train, New Haven to Grand Central...
You rush in life, and you shower, get out of the shower, dry off and feel that your legs are itchy...You go to the doctor because you think your animal, I don't know if you have a doggy, kitty, ferret, or dinosaur, etc....but you think your animal gave you fleas...The DOC informs you it's just leftover soap - "You're rushing your showers again, Garrett, " he says..."All we've got for you is this weighted ball...it slows you down...if you go more than the prescribed speed, determined by your weight, quickness, first-step-ness...you go over your speed and it falls off your belt...it will be latched next to the block counter we prescribed for another problem of yours that nobody wants to talk about...go over your speed, the weighted ball falls, it could hit your foot and hurts similar to the hurt of an Idea-Award landing on your foot...you know what I'm talking about...you dropped it on stage that time, remember?...And, oh yeah...it's also strapped to your balls......slow down"...
...You rush in life and you'll also find yourself thinking you're all settled in for some nice train writing...You printed a previous Morning Pages out to do some editing...you got your coffee...it was too hot to drink so you waited and now it's at the desired temperature...you think you're all prepared for this train ride back to NYC from CT, you were home visiting your other cat, Cosmo...and, oh yeah, your parents...You are all set...except...you didn't check your bag to make sure you had a proper pen, always essential...the pen that's in the bag, and that you're writing with now, is broken, and you can only use the little skinny plastic part...it barely fits in your hands ("That's what she said"...forever quoting Mr. Michael Scott)...Something tells you you'll overcome this obstacle though...you've overcome much worse in your Hall of Fame career...But...the message should still be sent that you should slow down...hasn't that meditation book that you sprinted to the library to check out taught you this???...Sometimes it just takes walking down the street slower...You, with your broken pen, are essentially a blues singer with a broken guitar...but still no suitcase...ramblin' 'round, ridin' the tracks, writin', and getting things off your chest..."It ain't a good life, but it's [yours]" (Strange Boys)...
...We will dissect all the bad things that rushing in life can bring you -- but, hey, you're a positive man...so let's focus on the positive for now...You rushed packing for this trip back...in the shower...so you had to go to the DOC...that somehow was open on Sunday?...But, this made you late for the train, forcing you to rush more, and now your ass is sweaty, again...You got to the train on time, but there wasn't enough time to purchase a ticket beforehand, you'll get one on the train...You get situated...but since you were late you couldn't find your ritual seat across from the bathroom...you love the aroma...or have a bladder problem, who knows?...that DOC certainly doesn't...You also love helping people open that extremely heavy door that leads to the next train car...You see this person approaching and they don't have any chance of opening it, and say, "Excuse me, ma'am...need help opening the door?"...Except...it's not a ma'am, but a man...and now everybody's embarrassed...You'll more than likely overcome this though too...and you do...You're situated by now, put the coffee down, clenching it between your feet...and now you unpack your backpack to prepare to write...and this is when you realize the pen situation...you're bummed...Can you overcome again?...
...You see the clicker guy approaching...and think for a second, "Maybe I should become a clicker guy???"...But...maybe you shouldn't......You reach for your wallet, look inside...the forgotten train ticket stares back...and now you remember that on your way to CT the clicker guy never punched your ticket...Actually he did punch it a number of times...literally...with his fist...and it never made that hole to symbolize a used ticket...shucks...The quick debate begins - Should you pay for another ticket?...Or grow balls and try to use the unpunched one in your wallet?...You feel your balls growing, giving you a glimpse of what it feels like to have some...You pull out...the ticket from your wallet...Clicker Guy punches it, this time successfully...and This Time, rushing resulted in a free train ride back to NYC...
...God gives you lemons, you make the neighborhood kids sell lemonade and take the money....The DOC gives you a chained ball strapped to your balls, you create a free train ticket???...Your balls have grown, yes...but it still symbolizes you going too fast...because now the ball drops, ranking your "chicken nuggets"...and a new lesson is learned, I think by all of us -- Slow down in life!...
...The positive...maybe another one...is that you just recited this whole Morning Pages aloud in 3rd person and all the passengers have left your section...you've got your own section...and as the other passengers rushed to avoid the lunatic talking aloud, you heard a thud...another Mo Fo's weighted ball dropped...Oh, the stories created without a train ride...but inside the mind of an insomniac...Again, whatever...until tomorrow...
...And since all left your section, they won't see you toss that broken pen on the ground...don't forget that I'm still reciting this aloud...Would a blues singer toss their broken guitar to the train floor?...Well, you can answer that from your own experiences, own ramblin' ways...You keep your broken guitar, better known as, The No-String Walmart Acoustic, in your apartment closet...No, a blues singer wouldn't litter the train...he'd keep the broken guitar, for it could possibly become an artifact for the RocknRoll Hall of Fame someday...I think I'll keep the pen...If you go into The Writer's Hall of Fame you will see many-a broken bottles...and broken pens that writers have used...abused.
(consider adding lyrics from Ray Lamontagne's "Old Before Your Time"...great song)...
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