What makes a good day for you?

[thelerner]

What ingredients, what checklist of things completed, for you to call a day good; well spent?

[Nungali]

I wake up .   -  thats a great start.

 

Seriously -  every morning I wake up, and  think " I am still here - still alive "  and that's great , another day!

 

I lie and look through the window, usually at a brightly shining Venus and some stars and   watch the sky start to get light .   Then I get up and make a coffee. Go back to bed, propped up and watch the light spread, illuminate the rainforest fog and watch the view outside gradually get illuminated by golden light ; the forest, the tree ferns and palms outside the window .    By now the birds are calling , that changes , depends on who is around ; Whippy  ( whip bird ) might be cracking and calling,  magpie might be singing on the door step for a  rosemary cracker (his favourite ) .  In summer , the pulse of cicadas might rise .   Then usually, as the sun rises and the dew lifts and the fog blows away down the river valley, I go online  and do 'computer stuff' .

 

There is a zillion chores to do around here , so I like to do some of them.   A good day though, can be simply 'nothing' , a bit of pottering and a lot of  just being and observing and 'being in' nature .   Mid week days  might include  a motorcycle ride , a walk in old growth ancient forest, a trip to the deserted beach, a swim in the river .  Harvest some food from veg garden or the  trees on the property. Maybe have a pawpaw and passionfruit smoothie.  If its raining, I spend time indoors, reading and studying .    A  bit of practice now and again ;  kata and weapons , train with others once a week .  

 

It varies of course , depends what I am currently into . Lately I have been building an outdoor bathhouse , its mostly glass on the front with a fantastic view through the palms and ferns, to the escarpment and down the valley.  Still waiting for the tiler to turn up .

 

Today I am going to the coast to buy fresh prawns , to make 'prawn twists '  ( minced prawn, coriander,  lime leaf, chilli rolled up in spring roll wrapper and fried  ... with lime juice and sweet chilli sauce dipping sauce ) for the local 'country store '  * - they have a new large rustic verandah they built with great views and are having their first  dinner and live music night there .    At home we have a large fire circle on 'solstice hill' nearby my place .  Sometimes people have a fire there and gather .

 

 This time of year has been good as I like  a fire , inside or outside  , but that time is passing , now at night the fireflys are coming out and thats pretty cool .

 

Then I give thanks for another great day ... even if its been 'bad'   and express appreciation for how good I have got it .

 

[Nungali]

Hmmm ... maybe I should make a 'check list '

 

 

 

Still alive    < tick >  good !

 

Have  fun  < tick >   good !

 

Give thanks and show appreciation  < tick >  good .

 

 

According to Solomon ; " A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, "
 

According to Nungali ;  " .  I have done all things under the sun  ... and the only worth of man is to do a good days work (in the field that he loves , where he can express his individuality and  particular calling and skills ) and rest and contemplate it at the end of the day , while drinking wine  ... or  a pawpaw and passionfruit smoothie .

 

 

[Paradoxal]

If I can genuinely smile at the end of the day, it has been a good day.

[Earl Grey]

Waking up and going to bed cuddling with my dogs and cats, getting in all my training (6-8 hour average), reading and playing video games, eating well, and sleeping a long time on a comfy bed with the fan on.

[silent thunder]

Every day is good... even the shit ones.

 

Wake before the alarm is a prerogative, I despise those things (it's always set just in case, but I haven't heard it in years).

 

Takes about 15 minutes making coffee, boiling eggs and cutting up bell peppers, olives, tomatoes and cukes then toss them with some garbanzo beans, edamame and sunflower seeds in some oil and vinegar for my lunch.  I eat pretty much the same thing every day, but the fruit changes depending what's in season.

 

I feed my babies.  Rama (Maine Coon) Maya (Short-hair) and Tara (Norwegian Forest).  and Pearl (our Betta)

Maya nibbles a bit and then goes to sit by my spot and wait for me.

 

Once my lunch is made and the coffee or tea is ready I pull myself into lotus and fire up the computer.  Maya chirps her approval and then climbs in my lap, leaning into my chest purring.  I wrap her in my arms and gently wuggle her.  She then turns a few times and settles herself on my folded legs, her head usually resting on my left foot and her legs draped across my right leg.  We spend the next 45 minutes this way.  I usually read TDB for a few minutes and these days, fill out the health questionnaire confirming that I have no symptoms of covid and have not been in contact with anyone known to have it, or to have any symptoms.

 

Then I sit in silence while petting Maya until 5 am rolls around.

 

I'm usually at work 30 minutes early, which is instrumental in crafting a good day for me.  Right now we have a health screening (temp check) and bi weekly testing.

 

From the earliest point in my career in this biz, I like to get into the space when it's silent, before the cacophony begins to set the tone for the energy in the space.  I arrange tools at my leisure for whatever project I'm on and then fold up into lotus on my table until starting time @ 6.  Most of my crew are dear friends, so they'll come hang out and we'll chat a bit.  Two are in the closing movements of painful divorces and custody proceedings.  They all know of my wife's years long healing repressed trauma and we spend that time getting anything we may want to talk about out and lift each other up.

 

Work for now is mellow, 10 hour days and only monday to friday.  Soon we'll be 12-14 hours a day 7 a week until we hand off the opening sets to Production.

 

We're still setting up the Mill and haven't received drawings for any sets or props yet so the pace is ours to control.  The space we are using is a converted warehouse recently purchased by Apple and this is the first production to make use of it, so we have a hand in determining some of the final touches to the space with the site rep and architect.  Apple is very new to television and film production, and thankfully their initial pompousness has given way to some gratitude from our input on increasing flow and diminishing chaos in the production process.  This is our second production for Apple.  We built The Morning Show for them last year for which our department was nominated for an Emmy (Handmaid's Tale won very deservedly). 

 

I spend my day organizing, drawing up and helping build what is needed for the shop as well as helping the various departments (Grip, Electric, Costumes) with what they need before we get production rolling.  My crew is comprised entirely of good friends who are highly educated exceptional artists, most are masters of several crafts.  (My partner on The Voice (season 5) was a British musician who played guitar on Lennon's Imagine album in the studio). Many are still working actors, long term professional musicians and print/media artists in addition to this work.  Our days are long and intense, but we are constantly riffing off of each other, talking philosophy giving each other deep guff and venting political bile lately.

 

We laugh most of the day, but lately there's some tears as well. 

 

Hardest part of this production is no touching.  We hug a lot usually.  Most of us have been refining this crew over the last 15 years and are like family.

 

At the end of the day I sit in my truck for a few minutes and decompress before driving home.  This location is great for me.  I live south of Los Angeles and my drive home is usually a little under two hours.  Our current studio, gets me home in under 45.  So instead of getting home and going right to bed, I have some time to hang out with my son and wife and read here a bit.

 

I am so grateful to be able to provide for my family and to work in a manner that uses my mind and body to such a degree.

 

While we were building Season 2 of the OA, my colon ruptured spilling fecal matter into my abdomen and I spent 11 days hovering in and out of death due to septic blood poisoning.  Several energy workers here, helped me avoid emergency surgery and answered my call for aid.  *deep bow dawei in particular*

 

Every single day is an amazing blessing, that I am still able to be a Father for my 14 year old son and provide a coccoon for he and my wife of 32 years through this pandemic.

 

My days are full of challenge and high pressure chaos when at work, but they are equally filled with incredible people of wit, intelligence, open heart and amazing depth. 

 

I often find myself taking a moment and looking about me in awe that such treasure is mine to inhabit day in and day out.

 

When I'm not at work, I substitute my drive into work with a long walk before dawn where I high five the trees and talk to the shrubs and the sleeping critters, while gazing at Mars and Venus and the Moon when she's about...

 

Such simple treasure... I'm so blessed it's staggering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by silent thunder

[CloudHands]

If one of these proposition is checked...

* done something meaningful

* made a nice discovery

* spend time with loved one

* behaved according to myself

...that's a good day so basically all of my days are good !

 

unless some things can make a day turns bad -shit happens- and that's depending on me dealing with it 

 

[Encephalon]

I use the acronym DREW to organize my day -

D - domestics; all chores pertaining to being the househusband.  All shopping, cleaning, cooking, assisting my child while she's in cyberschool, all errands and appointments.  When time management meets energy management, all domestic conditions get met AND I get my own life.

R - reading; I'm focused on one book a week, a four-year reading plan designed to create a second BA by filling in the gaps of my formal education.  Right now the focus is on Russian history and the Russian future, Buddhism,  select biographies, and some hard science.  Reading scores very high on the list of activities that can foster the FLOW state, and I'm deleriously happy when I'm so engrossed.

E - exercise; not nearly as ambitious as I used to be, having just turned 60, but I absolutely do NOT allow myself to skip a workout. Strength training, rebounding, dog-walking up the hills, elliptical training for cardio.  This is critical stress management, absolutely essential.

W - writing; 4,000 words a day.  I'm trying to stay on the same pace as my daughter's cyber-class,  which gives me 3.5 hours of writing, broken up by ten minute breaks and lunch.  When this word count is accomplished, I rejoice.

 

One or two 20-min brain entrainment sessions now replace formal meditation practice.  It's not a perfect act of replacement, but for now, it's the healthiest thing I do for brain-mind health.

 

I also try to maintain a short daily piano practice, mostly scales and agility exercises, but this opportunity often eludes me.  I don't yet have an acronym that includes music.  Maybe I'll need another one some day. 

 

When these elements fall into place I go to bed with the contentment that comes from a productive day. 

[EmeraldHead]

For me personally a painful or reliving day does not matter, only momentarily because to some degree I seek to escape the pain or increase the pleasure, naturally.

 

But if I count days and look forward to such and such a day I feel that I'm getting old and non flexible mentally or spiritually. Many mental thoughts and pursues last less than a day and more last more than a day. Fulfilling my pursuits will inevitably make any suffering worth - a great suffering