Stuck

I've been listening to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance while pruning in the orchards these last couple of weeks. And today it was the part about being stuck... man that book has stuff to say about 'stuck' that I never imagined. In fact I kind of thought stuck and procrastinating were different versions of the same word. Wrong! Stuck is so much more.
It is a place where perspective is lost, passion is lost, quality (lots of talk about quality) can't be found. As I'm listening I'm thinking okay - purpose, he's talking about purpose that is not aligned with values inside us. Yet don't we get stuck with the things we are passionate about ... hell yes, like this writing assignment I have - I love writing and voluntarily chose this assignment because I think it will be good for my writing and I believe it will take me another step. AND SO ... what is my stuck??

The author uses the example of a motorcycle that siezed because of an innocuous little screw that somehow got stuck. And the manuals didn't talk about how to get a screw unstuck, the trained monkey mechanics didn't know because it wasn't classical training, and in all the reasoning and rationalizing of what could be wrong a stuck screw was not mentioned. Then, if by some chance it was discovered and diagnosed as the root of the problem there were no instructions how to fix it ... essentially the machine was junk if the conventional instructions were all that was available.

Fortunately there are things like quality... and in this I infer he refers to 'quality' as a feeling that the product of whatever you are working on is of value. And from this 'quality' the manuals are but a starting point. There is a more intuitive learning and assessment. For certain deductive and reasoning are used; to start at least, then if the object has enough value to the person working on it a passion or a zone place of quality kicks in, the mind goes quiet and restrictions of knowledge are forgotten. This is where the 101 ways to remove this screw become available, or accessible; because they were always available. The knowledge was there, just in a different form for a different purpose and the connection not made because it was out of context and the motivation wasn't strong enough before there was 'quality' or 'value'.

And how does this relate to my writing? I haven't made the connection yet ... wonder if it has anything to do with value? Am I trying to do it in a trained monkey way?? Where is my little screw and where and in what context do I look for answers. Ahhhh, my old favourite quote, paraphrased from Albert Einstein "You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it"

Or- maybe it is just plain old fear keeping me away from my computer; fear that it won't be good enough (for what i wonder), fear that it will lead me somewhere I'm afraid to go, fear that if I stop procrastinating on this then I'll have to move on to where it leads me ...

And there we have it ladies; Jan and Lou, at least if you can't understand what I've written you will see that I have written today. About time the old coach was herself accountable.