PLANS
The importance of wise planning is not being emphasized enough. I don't do it with any degree of consistency myself, and I find that few of those about me do so, either.
Much that we do each day as we go about our living seems to be decided by forces outside of our control. Time, for instance, the relative ease with which a particular thing can be done, the weather outside or the humidity inside ...that sort of thing.
At night, I have found myself, when I am unable to get back to sleep to be able to get drowsy by "planning" precisely what I intend to do the next morning. It can, you see, strike us as deadly and dull.
It can become routine,too, and not exactly inspiring. The things I plan are usually physical in nature -such as working a specific area of the garden or of the yard. Very seldom do conditions allow me to get the actual work done the next day, but it, in itself, is good "therapy", I suppose. It does tell me, deep down, that I have to admit I could do so much better in so many things if I did, indeed, plan ahead and work toward specific goals. I awaken with a sense of having accomplished some planning in my mind, but it very seldom carries over into practical physical change.
When it does, however, the results are excellent. If, by chance, I do recall my plans during the night, I actually get specific work done because of it. I keep a small clipboard with paper and pencil at my bedside and jot down reminders of "things to do" for the next day. When I can read my notes, it helps. If I cannot decipher my night notes, however, all is lost.
We are all aware, I'm sure, of the wisdom of "taking time to smell the roses." Life should not be "all work and no play." For that very reason, I find that much of my "planning" is really "dreaming". It is good to dream because it is planning with potential; a promise of betterment in Tomorrow's activities and, in a way, we are, in doing so, setting up goals for attainment - however high or grand.
Much of my planning is, I think, based on my interpretation of a word-of-wisdom my Mother used to use with us in a effort to teach us basics of housekeeping. "Always leave every room just a little bit better than you found it.!" If every member of a family follows that simply, easy rule it cancels the need for "Spring Cleaning", for "Getting-Ready for Company"or "Here Comes The Preacher!"and a host of other such household emergencies solve themselves.
The handy maxim applies quite aptly to other aspects of our living, as well. If we use every hourly room so that it makes our lives better than they were when we started, we're making progress without even trying.
A.L.M. June 13, 2003 [c524wds]
