Mulling; Doing

All the time things happen. In our personal lives and career endeavors. Then there are the events of governments, social trends and international matters of importance. How do you handle these? Well, my way is mulling.

You know what I mean! Just sitting and pondering random events and topics. What do they mean? What impact on other topics do they have? Is there a swelling up of growing importance? Is a large change getting ready to burst on the scene? Or, the opposite? Maybe we are thinking too much on this topic, making too much of it.

Topics are like that. Large. Small. Consequential and not so much. How do we know which is which?

We don’t unless we think about them over time. Getting away from the noise of the news helps sort things out. That’s the job of mulling. Make no conclusions, just expand the topic whichever way. Let it brew. Let it become what it may. Think about it broadly. Think about it narrowly. Does it matter?

Time will lead to eventual conclusions. Certainly, those will be recognized in a timely manner if we mull and ponder to best understand the issues. This homework is necessary on so many levels. Best we do it and remember it.

Doing is something else entirely. Doing is taking action, responding to the demands of a task, or simply filling a request from a colleague. Hobbies create activity, too. So does dreaming. Doing is a logical reaction to a need perceived or made known.

In my case, I write a blog. I respond to Facebook items. I coach and mentor SCORE clients. That requires study, reading, note taking, and writing minutes of meeting sessions. Those minutes become a complete case file and it is shared with the mentee and other mentors who need to know the particulars of the case. Lots of activity involved in communications.

That includes eight years as a writer, reporter and managing editor of a weekly newspaper. I was never schooled in those matters, just asked to do it. Learned it by doing it. Turned out to be a whole lot of fun and a very needed service for the community’s wellbeing.

Living in an apartment by my lonesome, what needs to be done gets done by me or a caregiver who visits weekly. Or the activity simply isn’t done. And that invites a look in itself. Doing nothing is a new possibility in my life. Ignoring needed tasks is viable. Who cares if things accumulate, especially dust and crumbs? Or soiled windows. We actually lived here 9 years with washing the windows once. It was of no consequence in the long run. Nicer to have clean windows, but certainly not a requirement. So a new level of relaxation enters the mind. Do what has to be done but don’t fret the rest.

Mulling is fun. Doing mostly is work. Ignoring the latter is an option. And it gives more time for the mulling. Ah! Now that I have the time, what will I think about next?

October 9, 2023

  

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