This article is one of the most insightful and clear commentaries I’ve read on the life of a working artist.

It has me thinking about all sorts of things. Like what elements of my time use cause pressure on my life. And how my time use is related to my spiritual perspective at any given moment. And how that relates to levels of mental pressure I put on myself in creating.

So, a brief productivity and quality-of-life assessment: I’m coming to conclude that I can either use a computer for work or for fun. Since work requires it, it appears I’m only going to get less fun from here on in–at least in the social media sense.

That should, however, help pave the way for getting back to regular blogging. Part of the irregular silence of the Scienda is deciding what I want to do next with it. Part of deciding what I want to do next is knowing how I want to spend my unpaid time. It’s not all about getting started anymore, trying out every opportunity to see if it fits. I know what I can do, how I do it best and what knocks me off the track. If one thing stands out clear to me right now, today, it’s that those knock-offs need some more elimination.

And that will take discipline. Because life is always changing, and the things a person needs to do are always changing in response. The one constant is that we do have to handle the perpetual shift.

Is self-assessment part of it? Because it helps to know whether my capacities have outstripped my previous goals. It also helps to keep tabs on which goals still outstrip my capacities–whether it’s a question of my personal situation or my particular skillset.

Is my sense of discipline the sort that keeps me locked in to ideas, actions or thoughts that are stalling my life? Or is it the sort that assists in inevitable transitions? Discipline and routine are not the same thing, though routine often arises from discipline. This has become crystal clear to me over the last ten years, as I’m married to the most self-disciplined person on the planet. David’s work affords no regular schedule, and yet he’s always on top of it.

Do I know what direction I’m headed? Yes. I couldn’t be knocked off the track if I didn’t have one, right? I feel no need to explain it here, but I very much have that figured. And there’s peace in the passage, as long as discipline is an ongoing goal for mastery along with everything else. More discipline will always be required as life continues to do what it does best: change.