Joy

August 2014

The ultimate end of human acts is eudaimonia, happiness in the sense of living well, which all men desire; all acts are but different means chosen to arrive at it. – Hannah Arendt

Today is my Admin Day.  Sounds ominous, doesn’t it?  I have dance rehearsals and research commitments most days of the week, so have selected Mondays as my Admin Day within which I must achieve great and mighty things… via email mostly.  Yes, great and mighty Things can be achieved via email in a few short hours each week, I tell myself – and anyone else who will listen. 

Today I start by reading other people’s emails over coffee and then grimly facing the Admin List.  Yes, there’s also a List to be accomplished on Admin Day, all before the children arrive home from school at 3:15pm.  I yawn a lot on Admin Days.  There’s also a lot of staring out the window at my neighbour’s apricot tree.  Bare branches have been stripped clean of leaves and replaced with densely clustered white blossoms that reshape the tree; clumped cut-outs against the blue winter sky.  Sometimes my mind wanders a little, I’ve noticed.

However, very important tasks (VITs) are approached with serious aplomb.  Today I even get out of my pyjamas to consider the List and accomplish the VITs.  Sometimes though I’ve noticed I don’t quite get out of either my ugg boots or pyjamas, and just have a second cup of coffee before checking up on the white blossoms.  I find I hum a little on those Admin Days, cupping my favourite mug in two hands and rocking side-to-side like I used to do when shushing a fretful baby. I suspect these are the moments when I think my really Great Thoughts.

Today I find my Admin Groove, ticking off VITs with satisfying fervour and glancing only occasionally at the blossoms.  There is rhythm and passion in decisions made and actioned, even if only via email.  Suddenly it is 3:15pm and the Admin Day comes to an unsteady end.  I haven’t finished the VITs on the List but I did get dressed, so I call it a day of Much Success.  I also find something akin to happiness in having given time to consider the List.  The VITs are the runway lights on my flight path: a necessary guide for safe landings and for soaring through the blue of a winter sky fragrant with apricot blossoms.

Image by Amanda Humphries, 2014