6-5-26
Working before working. Collection, meditation. Paris on the mind. One way or another, I’m getting there.
Produced an image with AI this morning, pulling up to the house. Parked but engine still on, seeing a French, or more acutely Parisian, bakery. Just the scene…
Had me thinking. Daydreaming but more than that. Confirming I belong there, I need to walk those small little streets and capture everything that I can.
Why I took this one picture this morning, of the Nut Tree Plaza, if that’s what you call it. To be present and capture what I see. Yes, you could call it part of a mindful practice, but… more than that. Needed before a day of teaching.
This latte, giving me life but not enough and not quick enough. LoFi, calming. Hot up here. Summer showing up early. But I won’t slow down.
Looking again at both pictures, and I draw a comparison. But no, each its own voice and memory button—
Still though…
This morning feels slightly out of tune.
Not broken. Not tragic. Just a little misaligned, as if some invisible hand nudged the compass a few degrees last night. Everything is still here—the coffee, the keyboard, the sunlight finding its usual places—but something in me is taking a slower route to arrival.
I’ve learned not to wrestle these mornings.
Demanded answers from every strange mood, I used to. I wanted reasons, diagnoses, explanations, tidy narratives. Now I realize that some days are just weather. Internal weather. Clouds passing through landscapes we mistakenly believe should always be sunny.
So today, instead of fixing, I’m noticing.
The quiet hum of the room.
The weight of the latte cup.
The sound of keys clicking uncertain thoughts.
Perhaps being human is less about feeling right all the time and more about remaining present when things feel slightly off-center.
The world encourages constant certainty. Constant productivity. Constant confidence. But some of the most meaningful moments arrive disguised as uncertainty. They ask us to sit still long enough to hear what certainty has been drowning out.
Maybe that’s today’s lesson.
Not every feeling requires a solution.
Not every question demands an answer.
Not every morning needs to become a masterpiece.
Sometimes the work is to show up, write honest sentences, trust that the path will be there, eventually.
So, exactly what I’m doing.
One sentence.
One SELF-collection.
One everyday morning after another.