Rachel E. Watson

Before I go to bed each night, I make the next day’s to-do list. It’s usually a laughably ambitious one, like “write three blog posts + a poem + do research + catch up on reading everything in my newsfeed + clean the whole house + go to the laundromat + see the doctor + grocery shop + read a book."

The to-do list is an essential exercise nonetheless. It’s how I stay on top of my full-time writing job.

What often happens the next morning, though? I procrastinate. And la dee da, it’s 10 a.m., and I haven't started writing yet.

My most productive writing hours are in the morning, when my brain is fresh. (I also can write in the late evening, but that’s a post for another day.)

BUT, sometimes little ol’ perfectionist me gets scared by the more daunting tasks in my writing life: prewriting or writing my work-in-progress. Research. Ripping up the shitty first draft and diving into draft two. Writing good blog posts. Writing pitches and proposals for new projects.

It’s all quite terrifying. What if I mess up? So I procrastinate. Like so:

1. I putz around in my kitchen, washing counters, planning meals or dumping out the coffee grounds and starting a new cuppa joe. Hum dee dum, this is fun.

2. I ignore the priority list and start doing little tasks at the bottom of the list. Promote or re-promote my latest blog post? Yeah, that’s easy! Of course I'll do that first.

3. I get sidetracked with paying bills. Yikes, the license plate tabs need renewing! Yikes, my doctor bill is almost due! I HAVE TO PAY BILLS NOW! Even though I don’t.

4. I start tidying up the living room. This book stack should be organized better. My hubs folded the couch blanket the wrong way after we watched a show last night; let me fix that. I know. Like I said. Perfectionist.

5. I listen to that shiny new folk-rock album I ordered last week. What? This is research for my next music review blog post, riiiiiiight? Yes, but it doesn't have to be done right now.

Share your thoughts

Do any of you fellow creative types struggle with procrastination? If so, I'd love to hear your funny stories or tips for getting back on track.

I'll share my own tips in a follow-up blog post next Friday.

Because redirection is essential if we're going to write the next Great American Novel. ;)

No, I'm not about to tell you a silly joke. I stole today's blog title from the opening anecdote of the Memorial Weekend sermon at my church, Ada Bible. It was called "Your God Response."

Listen to the sermon here.

Here's a recap: Guest speaker Marcus Bieschke shared about the musicality and beauty of Psalm 19, one of my favorite Psalms ever. According to C.S. Lewis, it's "the greatest poem in the Psalter and one of the greatest lyrics in the world."

Bieschke is lead teaching pastor at the Crystal Lake campus of Willow Creek Church in Illinois. He is a music lover, just like me, and asked us in the sermon's opening minutes to turn to our neighbor and tell him or her our favorite song. I dislike that game because I have too many favorites, so it was awesome when he admitted he himself has about 83 favorite songs and can't narrow it down.

For his talk at Ada, Bieschke selected three of the Top 500 Songs of All Time, as compiled by Rolling Stone Magazine in 2011. And he held those songs, full of pain, despair and hopelessness, up to the light of Psalm 19, written by King David thousands of years ago.

Here are the songs he chose to compare against Psalm 19. I'm embedding videos in case you haven't listened to the songs before.

No. 3 from the Rolling Stone list: "Imagine," by John Lennon:

Bieschke said he imagines King David sitting down with each songwriter, one by one, and having a conversation about the merits and philosophies behind each work of musical genius.

To Lennon, he imagines King David would have said something like, "This is beautiful. Your longing for a world free of pain and united by peace is a truly worthy aspiration. But let's start with a new premise. God is not the cause of our pain. Sin is. Eliminating Him from the equation won't fix our world. God sees the pain that we humans caused, and it breaks His heart. In fact, he promises that in heaven, he will wipe away our tears, and there will be no more sorrow and pain." (Isaiah 25:8, Revelation 21:4)

I love that. It reminds me of the deep heartbreak I felt when I attended the funeral of a dearly loved mentor three summers ago, and a colleague of his sang "Imagine." It frustrated me to hear that message at a funeral. The lyrics are wistful and beautiful, but they offer no hope to grieving hearts.

No. 9 from the list: "Smells Like Teen Spirit," by Kurt Cobain:

Bieschke imagines King David answering the despair and hopelessness of Cobain's anthem, "Here we are now, entertain us // I feel stupid and contagious // Here we are now, entertain us," with a dose of the soul-reviving power of Scripture found in Psalm 19.

Bieschke believes King David would emphasize the "special revelation" aspects of the Word of God in his chat with Cobain. The Word is perfect, trustworthy, right, radiant, pure, firm, righteous, precious and sweet, as listed in verses 7-11. And it has powerful effects on the human heart: refreshing, making wise, giving joy, giving light, offering great reward, etc. That doesn't sound hopeless to me!

No. 2 from the list: "Satisfaction," by Mick Jagger:

"I can't get no satisfaction," Mick Jagger wails, "I've tried, and I've tried, and I've tried, and I've TRIIIIIIIIIED!"

Well, King David might ask Jagger, "What if life isn't about pleasing ourselves? What if we're here for a bigger purpose?"

What if we woke up each morning to ask, "What can I do for YOU today, God?"

As King David's Psalm ends, we're whacked in the face with truth, AGAIN:

"May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." (Psalm 19:14)

I hope, having read this post, you'll "ponder anew what the Almighty can do," as the old hymn "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" so boldly beseeches.

Read more of my blog posts about music here and faith here.

(Image credit: WorldLifestyle.com)

Today, I would like to share a poem I wrote. It was inspired by the practice of mindfulness, which has helped me cope with depression and anxiety.

I first learned how to be mindful in an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class taught by my husband's aunt, Carol Hendershot, co-founder of the Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness.

Some of the most helpful techniques I learned from Carol's class included deep breathing, mindful eating, mindful walking, mindful listening, mindful yoga and mindfulness in meditation.

The first practice Carol taught us was called the body scan. Lie down on your back and let your mind drift over your whole body, noticing every part of it. We used a CD recording to help guide us through this practice.

The body scan put me in touch with the areas in which I carry tension; it taught my mind to be attuned to what my body is feeling and doing (or not doing).

This poem is largely based on the body scan, but also includes aspects of other practices we learned in Carol's class.

Meditations on Mindfulness

By Rachel E. Watson

I meditate.

I scan my body,

noticing everything.

My left great toe, my right great toe,

my ankles and joints,

my parts great and small,

the sections that make me whole.

The winter in my heart,

the spring in my brain,

the fall in the pit of my stomach,

when I heard your life-changing news.

The summer I felt when last

we were together.

In noticing myself, I’m here to observe,

not to judge or to blame.

But the factual truth about noticing,

is noticing won’t let me go.

In the rhythm of my breath,

the rise and fall of my chest,

I find new marching orders.

I reach inside and seize my plough,

ripping up those old, worn cow-paths

and seeding the ground

with vibrant perennials.

A garden I sow

in the earth of my mind—

all because of this little thing

called noticing.

About GRCFM

The Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness was founded by Carol Hendershot and April Hadley, two longtime local yoga and mindfulness instructors.

GRCFM teaches mindfulness techniques based on the work of John Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn's work established a scientific basis for using mindfulness techniques to manage chronic pain, reduce stress and promote whole-body wellness.

Free Information/Orientation Sessions for MBSR Classes

The GRCFM's next Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses begin the week of June 8. GRCFM will offer several free orientation sessions to acquaint participants with the specifics of the eight-week course, including rates and scholarship opportunities.

When: 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 25 and June 1

Where: Holistic Care Approach , 3368 East Beltline Ct. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525

When: 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 27 and June 3

Where: Holistic Care Approach 

When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 28 and June 4

Where: Energy Touch Center , 1331 Lake Drive SE, Suite 100, Grand Rapids, MI 49506

Note: I was not paid to write this article; I am not in any way affiliated with GRCFM besides the fact that Carol is my aunt. We took her class and fell in love with mindfulness, and that's why I write. Give it a try! It works.

Rachel E. Watson

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