Breakfast in the Castro - Broken Keys

Me: Good morning, Mibes.

_{Mibes: (He stands up from the table and we embrace.) Good morning! So good to see you again. How are you?}

_{Me: Still not the usual energy. But I went to bed early and am feeling better than I did last night. And, you?}

_{Mibes: No complaints. I’m glad to be alive. Glad to be here with you.}

_{Me: How’s your creative life, Mibes? Are you still writing and producing?}

_{Mibes: Thanks for asking. Seems like I finish one project and two others are waiting for me. A game of Whack a Mole.}

_{Me: I know that feeling. What’s your secret to getting it done, day in and day out?}

_{Mibes: Great question. I don’t know that I have any secrets. Some of it is habit and the need for income. But I also recognize I have a need to feel like I’m making a difference. I think my work helps others. But I don’t know. Goals and gratitude also help. What about you?}

_{Me: I agree with what you’ve said above but I’d add to it asking questions and being comfortable with a question hanging there.}

_{Mibes: Sounds a bit like prayer. You ask for an answer or for help and then you wait. Sometimes you have an immediate insight, but sometimes there’s just silence.}

_{Me: Yes. And it’s being Ok with the silence. I just finished an evaluation of a project and I realized that I’d built right into the structure of it that I’d wait for a theme to emerge from the initial research. I didn’t try to push for something I didn’t have, but I felt some confidence that something would emerge.}

_{Mibes: And it did?}

_{Me: Sooner and more organically that I had imagined.}

_{Mikes: So finding the approach you want to use is a matter of asking questions and waiting until the answer emerges. And being patient with that process even when you’re on deadline?}

_{Me: That’s a fair summary. Reminds me of the idea that if you’re playing a piano with broken keys, you’ve just got to go with the notes that you can play.}

_{Mibes: You’re into playing broken pianos these days?}

_{Me: Oh yeah. Got a whole warehouse full of them.}

_{Mibes: We’ll have to talk more about projects and productivity.}

_{Me: I’d enjoy that. (gives Mibes a hug)}

_{Mibes: And I’ve enjoyed our breakfast. Hope your day goes well.}

_{Me: You, too. I love you Mibes.}

_{Mibes: I love you more.}

_{Me: Not as much as I love you.}

_{Mibes: Sounds like a topic we need to keep discussing.}