Life at Zero

Ever since reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, I've been really focused on Getting to Zero -- i.e., managing my tasks, projects, life by concentrating on the next concrete Action I can take, taking it, and then, being at rest.

Fundamentally, for me Zero means having an empty head. It feels weird to me to write those words, me who loves thinking and doing and making shit happen, but seriously,

having an empty head is totally my goal.

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Country Mouse Monday: eat your life.

It might be the only old-fashioned thing about me: the enormous satisfaction I derive from a packed larder, from knowing that I'm putting up summer's bounty, making provisions for the coming winter. It feels ancient. It feels good.

October may be my favorite month because it is full of this: it's a million degrees out and I'm inside, in the middle of the day, over a hot stove with the oven blasting.

It just makes me so happy, deeply happy, to lose myself in these simple tasks -- the baking, making and saving.

And eating. Taking the time to really taste, to savor everything.

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Country Mouse Monday: October is my jam

A friend complained recently, "it's so weird to have these forty-degree swings in temperature in one day." She's right: it's cool first thing in the morning and roasting-hot from noon on. But that's not unusual, I said.

That's just October.

October is my jam.

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Country Mouse Monday: meditation for animal-nerds

Yesterday was one of those days that made me feel like I was finally home. I've been physically home from Paris since Friday night, but yesterday made me feel like I had finally landed home in my own skin after an absence longer than my trip to France.

I love, love, love summer when it begins but by August a weariness sets in, a kind of heat-fatigue that makes a crepuscular being of me. 

But yesterday? Yesterday scooped me up and took me straight home.

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The language of love: my Paris yoga experience

On my seventh morning in Paris, I am reflecting on the amazing urban yoga retreat I've been on. By the time I leave tomorrow, I will have attended a total of 6 classes, thanks to a briliant schedule put together for me by my personal #yogayoda Yogateau. 

Really, truly: yoga is my passport.

This is the first time I’ve had the anchor of the practice while here, in the City of Light, although I’ve been here many times. It’s also the first time I’ve had such a homebase thanks to my sister, who now lives here, which of course also makes an enormous difference.

But the yoga?

That's been amazing.

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