Squiggle & Heart #2 - Revisited

In truth, the last two days of my life were largely full of tumbleweeds - I could have produced a new cartoon - but I am enjoying these repostings while my brain is in Famous Cast Words mode (two new eps now available!) instead of drawing mode.

Revisiting this cartoon at this moment in my life feels especially resonant. Despite the fact that the new season of my television show is rolling out, I’m a Fulbright finalist anxiously awaiting notification, and I’m absolutely in love with my adjunct teaching position, I’m still spending a lot of time bored, brainstorming, and trying to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to be doing right now. My days seem to be either mad-dash whirlwinds or lethargic slogs, and there’s very little Middle Path.

The busy days leave me content but depleted; the boring days leave me rested but hungry for containers into which to pour my skills. It’s no coincidence the metaphor I chose for this cartoon involved food and consumption: never do I snack more than on a day when I don’t have enough to do.

The Buddhist teachings swirling in my head remind me to sit, listen to Dharma talks, nap, take walks, hold my palms open to what will arise, and trust that I have engaged in seed planting over many, many years that will eventually bear fruit. I try to remind myself that being in the long game means I get to do work that is fulfilling and of service when it comes, and the patience and ability to wait for that work is a privilege.

The Squiggle swirling in my head just shouts repeatedly at me that I’m not doing enough.

May all our harvests come in. And in the meantime, if you need a guest speaker, moderator, consultant, writer, or performer… dear lord please call me.