30 Days of Gratitude - Day 17 - Memory

I know I've written about Evernote before. I jokingly said in a meeting the other day that it's my brain, but really, it is.

I discovered a long time ago that I can't keep everything in my head. I would wake up in the middle of the night with lists in my head, trying to remember everything that I needed to do. I figured out that if I write it down, I don't have to worry about it. So I started keeping a pad of paper and a pen on my bedside table so I could write things down when I woke up.

Then when I got the iPhone (and later, the iPad), I discovered Evernote. There are a lot of different apps that do similar things, and they're probably just as good, but I picked Evernote and have stuck with it.

I put lists of things that I want to remember--books I want to read, ideas about things to write. When I get a new piece of equipment, like a phone or DVD player, I find the instruction manual online and save it into Evernote. I keep my work to-do lists there. I keep lists of the medications that we take, knitting patterns, recipes. I just stick everything there so I know when I'm looking for something, it's going to be in one place.

I'm grateful for Evernote, for giving me a place to keep everything, and I'm grateful that I got in the habit of putting everything there. I'm grateful that I don't have to keep my grocery lists in my head anymore.

Photo: 9/17: Memory

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 16 - My obsession

I guess I have a lot of obsessions. I sort of hate to admit it, but yeah, I'm a little obsessive-compulsive. Most of my obsessions are fairly harmless, I think. This photo illustrates two of them -- sock knitting and Vera Bradley.

I go through periods of sock knitting fever. I knit and knit, then I lay off for a few months. I love sock knitting because it's portable, and because of the cool self-patterning yarn. When I'm in one of my crazy sock knitting phases, I spend time at yarn shops and yarn websites and collect sock patterns (although I never use any patterns except my basic one). I love all the little accouterments--the tiny bamboo needles, the little stitch markers that I make, yarn snippers, the coilless safety pins I use as markers, the little pill box I keep them in. And the knitting bag that I keep all of it in.

Lately, I've been sock knitting with yarn that comes in 50 gram balls, enough for one sock, rather than the 100 gram balls I normally use. A 50 gram ball of yarn fits perfectly (along with all the aforementioned bits and pieces) in a Vera Bradley medium cosmetic bag.

Which leads into the Vera Bradley obsession. I don't think I've ever paid full price for any VB piece, but I do occasionally check on Ebay, and I get their email sale announcements. They've got such a great marketing technique--they change the patterns every season, so if you find one you like, you'd better buy everything you want in it, because it will be gone in a few months. Or else you haunt eBay for it. Right now I have everything I want in this pattern--one purse, one tote bag, one wallet, a lanyard, and the cosmetic case that I use for knitting. (Oh, and the backpack that I had such problems with on eBay. But we won't mention that. It resides in a plastic bin in the basement.)

I do know that it's crazy. But pretty harmless, I think. I'm grateful that my obsessions don't run to drugs, drinking or gambling, and that they are so easily fulfilled.

Photo: 9/16: My obsession

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 15 - Artist Date

One of the main tenets of Julia Cameron's "Artist's Way" is the artist date, basically time spent by yourself in creative or inspirational pursuits. For instance, you could take a walk with your sketchbook, go to an art supply shop and buy some new supplies, or write in a journal. Extra points for doing something for your inner child, like getting new crayons or fingerpainting.

Here are some ideas.

I did this on Saturday; I went to JoAnn and spent as much time as I wanted (probably around an hour) wandering around, looking at everything, looking at beads and magazines and art supplies, and was particularly struck by the new Halloween items.

One of the SARK quotes that I always remember is something like, "Inspiration follows action, not the other way around." In other words, to get inspired, do something. Write something, even if it's junk (like Anne Lamott's "shitty first drafts" advice). Paint something, make something, write something. If you can't think of anything to write, make lists.

James Altucher:

Every day I write down ideas. I write down so many ideas that it hurts my head to come up with one more. Then I try to write down five more.

. . .

The “idea muscle” atrophies within days if you don’t use it. Just like walking. If you don’t use your legs for a week, they atrophy. You need to exercise the idea muscle. It takes about 3-6 months to build up once it atrophies. Trust me on this.

It's the same way with the "creative muscle." The more you create, whether it's writing or painting or sewing, the more you do, the more ideas come to you.

I'm grateful for my "creative muscles," and grateful that there are so many inspirational places for me to spend time feeding and growing them.

Photo: 9/15: Artist Date

Links:

Julia Cameron Live - Artist Dates
101 Artist's Date Ideas
James Altucher - How to be the luckiest guy on the planet

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 14

I am grateful for this beautiful world that we live in. I know that there is much suffering and unhappiness and pain in the world, and I am never able to think of the things that I'm grateful for without thinking of the people who are in terrible trouble. But I do try to remember that my happiness doesn't depend on someone else being unhappy. I can enjoy a sunset without that affecting anyone else in a negative way. It's hard sometimes, though. My empathy gets in the way.

But I try to remember to look up and around me, to see all of the beautiful things that surround us, and to be grateful for them.

Photo: 9/14: Gratitude

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 13 - Take a note

It's really important to me to have notebooks and pens around in case I need to write something down. I remember once when Bob and I went to the State Fair, I had put my wallet in a really small bag so I wouldn't have to lug something large around, but once we got there, I started worrying because I didn't have a notebook a pen. It made me really nervous. So one of the first stops we made was the conservation hall, were I found a giveaway pencil and a brochure. So, whew. If I needed to write something down, I had a way to do that.

Now that I have the iPhone, it isn't really quite as important, since I can always write something down in that, but that isn't always convenient. So I try to always have an alternate form of note-taking supplies.

I'm really picky about notebooks and pens; Bob will attest to that. For ballpoint pens, I love Bic "Velocity," and my favorite notebooks are Miquelrius. There's just something about their paper that feels right to me. It's smooth and thick, and I just like it better than anything I've ever found.

Except for Moleskine, I guess, which is another favorite. However, the Miquelrius notebooks are spiral bound, so they open flat, and Moleskines aren't. But they are nice. Right now I'm using a purple ("Simply Violet") Vera Bradley "Hipster" bag, and at Target I found some tiny Moleskine notebooks in purple, and I already had a Pilot "Precise" pen in purple, so that's my current notebook and pen combo. It's small and light, and doesn't take up much room at all, but I have something to jot down lists and ideas when it isn't convenient to type them out on the iPhone. The notebook is actually tiny enough to fit inside my (purple) wallet when I don't carry the whole purse.

I know it's OCD, but it is what it is. I am what I am. I have my quirks, like anyone (maybe more than most), but I really do love things like this. And it's something that's fairly easy to take care of.

I'm so thankful for the wonderful variety of things like this--notebooks with beautiful paper, pens in every color, the seemingly endless array of ways to fulfill an admittedly somewhat silly "need." Again, so grateful for the abundance that I have access to, and the ability to acquire the small things that make my life easier and happier.

Photo: 9/13: Take a note