Clarity

What brings clarity to our minds? Life is full. Multiple roles and responsibilities crowd our thinking. Continual deadlines add the sense of urgency to quicken our pace, leaving us little time to really think many matters through.

Up pops a problem, opportunity or issue in an already crowded day. It too must be dealt with in the next several hours. It seems like more is coming on our to-do list than is going off the list. All this "stuff" of life seems to weave together like the grass at our feet -- each blade indistinguishable from another. This blended stew of "stuff" that needs to be dealt with creates pressure to decide and act. And that pressure in people can cause snapping or becoming overwhelmed and doing nothing.

People who are overwhelmed or unclear on a matter either do nothing at all or become irritable.

So what brings clarity in the midst of confusion?

Number one on my list is drawing away from all the activity of life and writing. Drawing away stops the onslaught of new issues and problems being piled upon my mind. Writing allows my feelings and my thinking to begin to "put everything on the table" so to speak and see it for exactly what it is or is not. The issues of life begin to be assigned some type of comparative value or priority as I write, think and contemplate them individually and collectively.

Prayer, listening, and reasoning, dealt with in a slower, unhurried pace provide a "soaking" type of an effect to allow the rust of confusion to be broken off the tools of my decision making capabilities. Focus can work for me when distractions are eliminated.

Early morning works well for me. Outside, in God's great creation, away from distractions, works well for me. When I stop making progress in my thinking, taking a walk, maybe with music and earphones, help me keep forward progress. I don't walk long, or I lose momentum in my thinking and writing. If multiple, competing, thoughts pop in my mind, I jot them on a small notepad so I can recapture and develop them later, while generally staying focused on the main topic at hand.

I have noticed that the more habitual this "pulling away" from the hectic pace of life becomes,the more normal and less confused I am over the many decisions that need to be made in life. Even if this time "away" is only 15-30 minutes a day, forward motion will be seen in life.

Life is noisy and demanding of our attention. We must become master of it, by requiring ourselves to pull away and regain the clarity we need to make good decisions and stay the course of effective living.