Theme song for remodeling your spirit
Ever feel like you need some spring cleaning for your soul? Does it feel like your spunk has been spanked, your energy evaporated, and your creativity cramped? When you’re feeling down, cranky, mopey, or otherwise less then your most ebullient, loving, and playful self, it may be time to do some spiritual cleaning, remodeling, or even a complete renovation.
Of course everyone knows that manual labor can actually feel fun if you’re working to a rhythm, so here’s a recording/video of a little theme song for your spiritual scrub down. It’s from gifted songwriter, singer David LaMotte. It’s called “Crawl Inside” and can be found on his album, Change. Click the play triangle to listen (David tells some stories before beginning the song; audio quality is so so but the song is well worth the listen). The song’s lyrics are below the video. Alternate option — Listen to “Crawl Inside” on David’s MySpace page.
Crawl Inside
Gonna crawl inside your head
Gonna move a few things around
You got your furniture up against the doors
It’s bound to be slowing you down
You’ve been getting in your own way
And that’s a silly thing to do
I’m gonna crawl inside your head
Make it work a little better for you
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside your heart
And bring a whole bunch of paint
From the outside it’s so beautiful
From the inside it just ain’t
And I know this will be hard for you but your graffiti’s got to go
I’m gonna crawl inside your soul
So you can see what we all know
I want to crawl inside your soul
Gonna cook you up a little meal
‘Cause you’ve been feeding yourself this garbage
Makes you feel the way you feel
You got stuff in your refrigerator
That’s way, way overdue
I’m gonna crawl inside your heart
And give you something that’s good for you
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside
And when we’ve got the dishes washed
And soaked the brushes in turpentine
I was wondering if you might have a minute
To help me work on mine
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside
Words and Music by David LaMotte
©2005 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP
Multitasking destroys more than it accomplishes
“We can do fifty things at once and ’save time,’ but is multitasking mania really an effective long-term survival response? As I stand in my kitchen in the midst of chaos, can I hear the fear in my mother’s voice when she expresses concerns about paying for her heating bill? Can I read my client’s e-mail well enough to recognize the faulty logic he’s applied to the new project? Can I sense my teenager’s anxiety about going to a late-night party where peer pressure is dangerously intense? I can see what I’ve accomplished on my to-do-list, but can I see what I’m missing in my overstimulated state?
~Mary LoVerde, in I Used to Have a Handle on Life But It Broke
I am confident in my belief that most of us will multitask some, no matter how many times we’re told it’s not good or effective. We’ve conditioned ourselves–or we’ve been culturally conditioned–to think that doing just one thing at a time is old-fashioned and unproductive. However, I am simultaneously hopeful that many of us will also take significant steps to rein in our habits of doing many things at once because it’s not what creates the quality of life for which most of us yearn.
Multitasking robs us of the precious moments of our lives because we’re not present in the moment when we’re doing more than one thing at a time. No one ever thinks to themselves, “Man, I bet I would enjoy love-making more if I could watch my favorite TV show at the same time,” or “It would be much more rewarding to pay bills while eating dinner with my kids.” The reason we don’t say those things is because we know that multitasking keeps us from truly experiencing the moment we’re in. . .and that it prevents us from truly connecting with those sharing the moments with us.
“Conducting a symphony while using a Blackberry will result in doing both poorly. Nothing worthwhile can be done well while simultaneously conducting another task. Thus, whenever we multitask, we are choosing to be mediocre.”
~ Lance Secretan, Multitasking and the Decline of Brilliance
So, I encourage you–and remind myself–to get off the multitasking mule train and reclaim your power to be deliberate and focused. Be proud of your ability to do one thing at a time with love, attention, intention, and steadfastness. You’ll still get plenty done. . .and you’ll notice plenty of payoffs that multitaskers only dream of.
Environmental protection — it’s not just for mother Earth anymore
When we regain our spirituality, we will again learn to laugh from our hearts and play because “those who know how to play can easily leap over the adversaries of life. And one who knows how to sing and laugh never brews mischief.”
~ Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley with quote from an Iglulik Proverb
In “How Negative Emotions Impact our Moods,” retreat coach Judith Geiger writes about how her African Grey Parrot started becoming irritable and mean after being in a room daily with a TV tuned to cartoons. (And we’re perplexed when kids are cranky and cantankerous after a cartoon binge.) I’m not surprised. In fact, I think that one of the greatest challenges of our times is to create soul-nurturing environments. . . places and spaces in which we’re free of “modern conveniences,” unhooked from our hectic schedules, and allowed–or, more correctly, we allow ourselves–to simply BE.
Is your soul suffocating or soaring?
Most people I know live in hurry-scurry suburbia. They’re deluged by the drone of TVs, radios, and even modern appliances. Conversations and concentration are regularly interrupted by ringing cell phones, vibrating Blackberrys, and instant messages flashing across their computer screens. Rather than having the chance to soak in our surroundings, we’re more often assaulted by the environments in which we’re choosing to live.
Ways to nurture your soul
In the first chapter of my book, Live the Life You’ve Imagined, I write about ways in which you can “awaken your spirit.” Specifically this chapter presents 10 specific strategies for reintroducing spiritually-nurturing energy back into your life. Four ideas which I think are of particular relevance to creating soul-nurturing environments are below.
- Live in healthy environments. Like Judith learned from her parrot, the environments in which we spend our time impact our state of mind and our emotional mood. Begin to notice which environments (places, people, energies) support you and which leave you feeling drained, desparing, depressed, or disconnected. Then start choosing nurturing spaces and eliminating the unhealthy environments from your life.
- Be nurtured by nature. We are animals and we are part of the natural world, even if many of us think of outdoors as “foreign territory.” Put yourself back in nature and take a break from human-made-habitats. Bring more nature into your regular environments (plants, flowers, pictures of beautiful environs, music of birdsong, forest sounds, or ocean waves). Find ways to reconnect yourself with your wild, untamed roots.
- Get quiet. Though I do mean “quiet” in the sense of blocking out outside sources of auditory bombardment, I also am referring to a silencing of the near constant chatter coming from our critical minds. It’s imperative that we find ways to lower the volume of the messages being foisted upon us 24-7, 365, so take the time to learn what methods of silence-making work best for you.
Have a haven. Though I’m fortunate to live and work in a wonderfully nurturing environment, it’s still invaluable to have special places I can go for even more soul satisfaction. Find retreat centers, parks, and cozy bookstore corners where you can go to when you need sanctuary for your soul. Then, once you know the places to go, make sure you make your visits regular respites rather than merely Septennial sojourns.
Remember, if it’s important for a African Grey Parrot to have a healthy environment, it’s good enough for you too! 
Downtime is where we become ourselves, looking into the middle distance, kicking at the curb, lying on the grass or sitting on the stoop and staring at the tedious blue of the summer sky. I don’t believe you can write poetry, or compose music, or become an actor without downtime, and plenty of it, a hiatus that passes for boredom but is really the quiet moving of the wheels inside that fuel creativity.
~ Anna Quindlen
