“Good intentions but bad results; bad results but lessons learned. There is a dark corner on every task beautiful and a beautiful corner on every task dark.”

-Criss Jami

I had such good intentions this year of writing here each day, or at least sitting down several times a week to write. Life is made up of the best of intentions. Right? The problem with “intention” is the failure to make room for “interruption”. Intention goes right out the window when interruption steps in. I sometimes think, interruption is the stuff of which life is truly made up of.

Embracing the interruptions and not letting it dissuade our intentions is where the magic lies. That is the sweet spot.

Sometimes I find the sweet spot but most of the time I miss it completely. I get caught up and swept away by the interruption and become so irritated by it that my best intentions disappear. The attitude of “if I can’t do it like I want to do it, then I’m not going to do it at all” comes into play.

My writing has gotten pushed aside by interruptions. All of them valid and worthy of my time and energy. And most of them absolutely unavoidable and necessary to attend to. But they were interruptions, nonetheless, and I let them dissuade me from my intention. Instead of taking a deep breath and pushing the imaginary “reset” button. I became disillusioned and disappointed and grumpy. And yes, stubborn. My best and worst quality.

My day is a jumble now of taking care of my mom and trying to find time to clear my head to paint. Throw in all of the other normal stuff in life like dogs and errands and chores and you get the picture. Often times what seems to be a clear stretch of time to paint after I get my mom dressed and fed in the morning, gets interrupted by ten phone calls an hour from her. Everything is an emergency to her now and because she can’t remember more than a couple of minutes at a time, she calls every couple of minutes to tell me about her emergency. So a stretch of 6 hours to paint, can disappear into 10 minute stretches of paint time. Interruption at it’s finest but also at it’s most necessary. I can’t avoid it so I am having to learn to embrace it.

Each day, I start out with my intentions. I try to reset my brain and my heart and my mindset from the day before. Push away the negatives of yesterday and embrace the positives of today.

Early morning is my time of peace. Of focus. Of meditation. It is the time of the day where there are no interruptions. Two weeks ago I decided to get up and watch the sun rise over the ocean every morning. Standing on the beach, watching the waves, breathing in the salt air, quiets everything in my mind and heart. It is my peace. It is a time for me to replenish my soul. I’m not out there to paint. I’m just out there to breathe. I’m out there to push the “reset” button.

Life is perfect for those few minutes spent watching the day begin. Each day, I try to carry that peace with me. Most days, I don’t make it further than my jeep before I lose it. But sometimes I make it until lunch time before it disappears. And a couple of times I have made it all the way through the day holding on to that peace. I’m hoping that those times will become more plentiful. I’m hoping that embracing my interruptions will help me make time for my intentions.

Talk to you tomorrow……

• sunrises each morning since the middle of January