A Philosopher’s Adventure #13
Episode #13 - Piles Shrink One Stone at a Time
The Stone’s Pace Is Ok, If They Keep Moving
We get a tour of the fruit grove to start the episode, and it feels like Martijn is still learning about his surroundings. A nice reminder that we are always making ourselves more familiar with that which can be in plain sight. The plans for the garden are revealed, and Martijn’s philosophy of doing all the little things at the same time is partially laid out. However we plan our time; if it works for us, then we are doing it right. In the case of Martijn, he is trying to rebuild a cabin so the garden will have to be small. The fruit trees will have to get through the spring on their own. We then get to what I consider the core of this story. Example of persistent effort and the shrinking rock piles. It’s one thing for me to sit here and say, “Take one step at a time,” and so on, but how do we avoid the piles from growing in the first place? This question is semi-rhetorical because the problem trying to be solved is less about the pile’s contents and more about the state of mind that got the pile started. I don’t have an answer or idea, not today. I am currently trying to get out from under my own piles. I am seeing progress. My desk has been cleared for two weeks. Well, clear in the sense that nothing I don’t want sits on my desk. I feel like I am too far away from the answer to the question to offer any real solution. This is an answer I hope to find over the course of time and experience. The things that I let go of will have a final lesson for me, and I hope I can report back an answer at some point.
One last point about the smaller projects is that they act as an enrichment tool around the projects that take a lot of focused effort. Writing a novel is hard, but writing a Random Image Post is 20-25 min of flow of thought. In this case, planting a garden or moving part of a rock pile offers breaks and measurable progress to fill in, whereas replacing a stone may not show progress for weeks at a time. This varies from person to person, but we need to build in tools that allow us to feel like we are helping ourselves. For me, writing a daily RIP post makes me feel like I am being active on my website. I think this is what makes sustained exercise so difficult because the path is monotone. The gains only show by sustained effort and plateaus can be difficult to traverse.
The stone path is started and as most of these early projects can be classified, is a foundational effort that will pay dividends as the larger cabin projects get going. I don’t get a sense of how long it took to “build” these stones into the ground, but it looks like a lot of effort. The end product looks great compared to the mud patch he started with. This day’s work ends with Martijn declaring, “let’s call it a day” which feels so healthy to hear. The goal was set for the day’s progress, a stone path was built to solve a problem, and his evening rest has been earned.
Thanks for reading, see you next time.
CHR;)
