Dear Iris, I’ve just returned from a wonderful month of holidays. I lived slowly and spontaneously, paying close attention to the people and the world around me. Now I dread returning to my everyday life, which is lived by to-do lists. It seems less of a good life. It seems less true too; it seems we fool ourselves when we treat life and ourselves as if they submit to planning, to management, to our wills essentially. Yet I wouldn’t be able to fulfil my responsibilities and still thrive without to-do lists and the like. Dear Iris, I know receptivity and attention are important to you and also that you lead a productive life. Enlighten me: can receptivity and productivity be reconciled, or only lived in turns? all the best to you, Annemarie
