Last week I found myself hauling a pack along a granite ridge at 8000 feet in Oregon’s Elkhorn Mountains. Though the air was thin, and drifts of snow gave way under my feet, I felt alive and present. Views rose up on all sides, and when we reached a pass, still more views splashed across our dazzled eyes. And even so, there were moments in those mountains when the spirit really came out. Light played in a certain way on the land – cliff, forest, lake and meadow – and said “here I am, this is it.”
Read MoreSpirit of the Elkhorn Mountains - photo by Robin Hostick
Although most of us manage to make it through that first day back at work after a vacation, for example, what about the less urgent stuff? What happens on week three after leaving off your training plan, diet, or whatever good thing you’re doing for yourself? Or, in the case of the self-employed artist, walking back into your mess of a studio after some time away, stacks of blank canvases staring reproachfully from the closet.
Luckily, there’s a solution to all that, at least one that seems to work for me.