The Feather

Do you consider yourself a good multitasker? I once bragged that when I drove a stick shift car, I could eat an ice cream cone at the same time (in the long-ago era of pre-cell phones). I’m a mom. Multitasking is a requirement. Except that it’s not.

Over the last few months, my ability to multitask said “Ciao, Jené! Good luck without me!” (a gift from grief). And evenings after school with three children is interesting without it, requiring new processes, habits, even language, between me and them. But even though I know I function better without it, I still attempt multitasking, especially with work.

But today, I finally, really, finally, got it, when I happened upon Miyoko Shida Rigolo and her feather.

This is amazing. Please watch it. It is worth every one of the seven minutes. She is amazing. Her performance is amazing all on its own, but it is moreso because most of us don’t come into contact with this sort of focus every day…we certainly don’t execute it ourselves.

But I think we should. We should practice and fail and practice and BE so completely, that it becomes a daily thing, that watching her makes us think of the last similarly focused thing WE did, that perhaps we might even yawn a little watching something like this. Now, you know how much I hate the big “Should,” but I stand by it.

These aspirations rose up inside me as I watched her:

to be fully present with my work and minutes

to build on Wildness – What is wilder than a feather?

to be fully focused on each stage/task

to move in harmony with the wind

to grace my efforts with beauty

to build intimacy with my materials

to master the processes

And last, to be able to grasp the feather and let it all fall to the ground.