My time away was really beautiful and I made some good personal progress. I’d committed to some self care, and so travelled free-form with few plans. My friends put absolutely no pressure on me to plan too far in advance. Patty and I went to Thermea spa and relaxed on Monday evening. Some time to chat with Patty is always engaging and inspiring, and thought provoking. We were both a little tired and so didn’t make any major decisions in the if-we-were-in-charge-of-the-world sort of way. Lots of silent and reflective moments.
Jenny’s quitter’s party on Tuesday night was lovely. Just the right amount of speeches, food, and laughs. It was good to see some of my political mentors and friends. I met friends for late breakfast or lunch each of the three days away, and in-between-times walked around the city and sat in my flat at Alt hotel reading a novel – which I finished on the way back. I didn’t desire drinks while I was there, although I did have some wonderful repasado, there were no runaways or hangovers. This trip was very good for my soul and body. A nice balanced time alone, with old friends, and some new friends. Thinking, walking, reading, playing.
This time away gave me time to think, but not about the things that I planned on thinking about. I had thought I would work on the projects from home. Do some business writing required for bank proposals, leasing arrangements etc. Instead, I spent quite a lot of time thinking about a book that’s been rattling around in my head for years trying to get out.
Over lunch with Jenny on Monday a lot of my thoughts spilled out onto the table between us. I suppose as we both make major decisions about the future of our lives the conversation flowed easily. My thinking over the past couple of decades about identity and societal change seemed clear and it was fun to explore concepts using the things on the table in front of us – glasses, water jug, bottles.
Later, in a text conversation with my friend Alan, I roughed out some chapter ideas and some thoughts about about the content. This month, I’ve been challenged to write 50,000 words this month by Kathryn but I’ve decided that this may be too much additional pressure given all else that I need to accomplish in this season of communication and change. Last night however, Fran, another colleague, mentioned that she’s appreciating these posts and suggested that I lift some of things that I’m writing here for the book. I’m not sure there is anything useful so far… but I could write some of the chapter ideas here over the next month, and perhaps that will help me begin to get the concept onto paper.
A working title: The aesthetics of identity and living. It may be a framework for personal, organisational, and societal change that helps us understand who we are and how we can gently transform ourselves and the world around us.
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