practice being human

I came across a mention of this little e-zine in someone's blog a few days ago. It resonated with me to the point that I decided to do what she does - no computer except for limited email on the prime days of each month, 10 or 11 days. On those days, I'm going to read, make art, walk the dog twice as far, bake, call a friend or two - anything but let the day go by blog surfing or Flickr surfing or the myriad other things I can find to do on the puter.

Nothing evil about blog surfing, don't get me wrong. I LOVE blog surfing. I've learned a lot, seen some wonderful things, but I do it too much. I do it instead of making art because it's easier. On days when I'm not inspired, I spend hours at the keyboard, cruising around, accomplishing nothing concrete.

No more. I'm going to push thru the crust and spend those days reading, thinking, being human.

I found Practice Being Human on the 18th and made this spread the next day, the 19th, one of the prime days. It was Sunday, a day I often spend most of at the computer. Not so yesterday. I lay on the couch and read. I cleaned up my book making area in the front room. (more on that later) I tidied up my poor little studio so that I could almost see the desk top. And I made art.

After dinner, I turned on the computer for the first time that day, checked email, quickly looked thru my reader for any interesting blog posts, then went back to the art side of my office and made more art.

I understand that it may seem artificial to choose fixed days to stay off the computer, and it may not always be convenient, and I'm sure I'll fall off the wagon now and then, but I really enjoyed Sunday without that feeling of needing to check email all the time in case... in case what? What did I think was going to show up in my inbox that was so important?

Absolutely nothing, that's what. I'm looking forward to the 23rd.

Practice Being Human is a free download. Check it out.