{"id":86,"date":"2012-07-22T17:45:24","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T00:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/?p=86"},"modified":"2012-07-22T17:45:24","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T00:45:24","slug":"why-havent-you-blogged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/?p=86","title":{"rendered":"Why Haven’t You Blogged?"},"content":{"rendered":"

“OK – Why was your last blog so long ago?”<\/em><\/h4>\n

That’s what friends are for — straight-forward, “Why?”<\/em>
\nThen the typical answer,
\n“I’ve been very busy — so many things to do, so many other demands on my time.”<\/em>
\nSurely, I can respond more intelligently.<\/p>\n

Life involves the passage of time — everyone is allocated the same amount while alive — 24 hours per day for the number of days we’ve been allotted. How we spend that time is a matter of personal choice — more correctly many choices we make every single hour, minute by minute.<\/p>\n

So … why didn’t I write?
\nRight … it’s a reflection of my many choices of my activities that superceded the choice to write.<\/p>\n

OK … there are the basics of living — sleeping, eating … all of that but now come the choices: I keep up with the news (too much so … TV, Macleans, The Economist, Business Week, …); yes, I did watch a fair bit of basketball (more as the playoffs rolled around); high interest programs on TV (some travel, some ‘Megastructures’, some Discovery Channel, oh – Beautiful Mind, and … and … ; TOO much TV — yes, that’s a biggie! More choices I (we – including Ruth) have made: travel, photo processing, etc.. Then, the choices to be involved with people: family, friends, neighbours, new acquaintances. I can enumerate more ways to account for my time that’s passed.<\/p>\n

So what, why go into that?
\nTime to take stock. Every action involves a commitment of time. The choice I make reflects what’s important to me at that moment.<\/p>\n

‘Live in the Moment’, we are told. OK — there is merit to spontaneity — many moments are special and in hindsight they were choices that we treasure or regret. But — I cannot live most of my life by letting the moments dictate my choices. Some moments (some would argue, every and all moments) are distinct ‘God Moments’ — people encounters that lift us up or contribute to the lives of others; ‘God Moments’ of intervention — “Wow, that was close!” or “The way these events went down, I can’t claim credit for — God intervened!”<\/p>\n

I admit, I don’t just ‘live in the moment’ — for the most part, I choose deliberately what I do.
\nI do what I enjoy — if possible (no pressing demands to take care of the business of life — participating as a partner in home life, fulfilling obligations, etc.), I head outside to prune bonsai-style — consider how trees and shrubs will look more interesting and stay small in limited yard spaces. Now, that is almost a passion — it may even be considered a ‘waste of time’ by some. Now, we’re getting closer to the real answer, I choose to prune rather than write.
\nWhy?\"Severely<\/a>
\nDo I enjoy pruning more than writing?
\nIt looks that way but it’s probably more complicated than that.
\nReally? Why so?
\nI do enjoy writing — I can express myself without anyone listening and taking me up on it immediately. Feedback and responses are welcome after I expressed myself. Aha — do I write only because someone will read? Oh — in that case, it’s not really for self-gratification only — the payoff is the interaction with others. There is benefit that derives from the exchange of ideas with others who think it worthwhile to exchange ideas.\"2-Yr<\/a>
\nNow, I need to assess this — pruning vs writing …
\nIf I prune, I cannot write (not at the same time). It is a choice … to prune, to write.
\nToday, I am writing … I’m responding to a direct question: “Why haven’t you written?”
\nWell, no one had noticed. If no one cares, should I write?
\nIf I write, will someone read, will someone care, will someone respond?
\nIf so, is that the payoff? Will that be the reward, someone cares if I write?
\nI’m not so sure, some have written wonderful books. Did they write because someone would read? What was or is the payoff — what brings satisfaction?<\/p>\n

Am I writing this because someone will read?
\nNO!
\nI am writing this to answer the question to myself.<\/p>\n

Firstly, ideas that rise to the top need expression.
\nFirst, to clarify them to myself — to write means to clarify.
\nShould someone read my self-expressions, that leads to an opportunity for dialogue — that is satisfying, further exploration of ideas and concepts.<\/p>\n

The economist in me is prompting — why not recognize that everything is a ‘trade off’, every action has an opportunity cost — something else is given up — one action is valued over another.<\/p>\n

Not to belabour this — after all, it’s responding to an innocent question.
\nI haven’t written because my perceived payoff — self-expression, potential responses to my meandering thoughts was perceived to be lower than the enjoyment or valuing of other pursuits.<\/p>\n

Allright — anyone have another analysis — “why didn’t you write?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“OK – Why was your last blog so long ago?” That’s what friends are for — straight-forward, “Why?” Then the typical answer, “I’ve been very busy — so many things to do, so many other demands on my time.” Surely, I can respond more intelligently. Life involves the passage of time — everyone is allocated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95,"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwb.ca\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}