Pogue,

Good morning.

I’ve been listening to James Taylor this week.

James who?

Pogue, was your upbringing so negligently performed? James Taylor is one of the great singer song writers of recent times having written such classics as Fire and Rain and You’ve Got A Friend. I’ll send you a song of his this week in Songs To Pogue.

Anyway, there’s a line in Fire and Rain where James sings:

I’ve been walking my mind through an easy time…

That resonated with me and served to remind me that sometimes, by choice, with effort, we can take our thoughts to a better place. An easy place. A place where we are not troubled and tormented.

Remember I wrote you a letter entitled “I Choose Peace”? Well this action is part of the peace process. Choosing to take your mind to an “easy” place, whatever that may look like. Choosing, maybe, to take time off from the toil that everyday can bring. Choosing to disengaged and go to a place that is not hard work. Whether that’s getting away from your current location, even if that just means going for a walk, or getting away from certain people or even choosing not to engage, maybe spending time reading good literature, spending time listening to great music or just going to do something in the garden. Something that distracts or pushes away the frenetic activity that so often fills our days and our minds. And doing it for as long as it takes to allow us to find peace and a sense of balance. Hours, days or weeks?

Sometimes we need the break. Sometimes we need the rest. Often one or either will allow us to return with a fresh perspective. Like the man who is persuaded to stop and sharpen his blunt saw, having long resisted because, well if he stops he won’t get as much done. Then having taken the break returns to find his sharpened saw does four time as much work. Stopping can be the most productive thing to do! We need the rest and occasionally we need to heal. It can be an act of self preservation. Self love which is not an something we think about much.

I know that life can overtake us and responsibilities and commitments come rushing in. That walking away would be the wrong thing to do, even irresponsible. But when the gap comes, and it will, fill it with something easy. Listen to music, walk in gardens and as best as you can choose to follow thoughts that put a smile on your face.

You’re allowed time off. You need time off. For your own sanity you need to restore balance.

Here’s a week to choose to walk your thoughts through an “easy time” for a period, for the day or just an hour. Whatever, you’ll know the benefit.

Yours, with a smile on my face,

Wic.