When she was younger, Allison Moorer used to believe that she wanted an intellectual existence, a life of the mind. But now, at 42, she sighs, “What I’ve realized that I have is a life of the hands—I’m always just making something, or I’m writing or drawing something, because it makes me feel connected; it makes me feel real. It’s the same way with music—I just want to make it.” Hence, her latest ambitious set, Down To Believing, which documents her recent split from her husband, Steve Earle, and even the motherly guilt she felt when their son John Henry, now four, was diagnosed with autism two years ago. Moorer will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on her.
Moorer: What is it to have intentions? The happiest people I know are the ones who do one thing at a time, and when they’re doing that thing, they’re completely doing it. They’re not distracted by their phone, email, texting, the television, social media or whatever it is among those types of things that keep us all so harried and ultimately diverted, and being absent-mindedly blown through our lives.
I think of it as not sleepwalking. Deciding who you are and what you want and living accordingly. Never “kind of” doing anything. Deleting the word “whatever” from your vocabulary.
I think of it as putting thought into everything, from the coffee cup you drink from in the morning, to the shoes you put on your feet, to really, truly listening to your best friend when she talks about her day. I think of it as taking time to pay attention to the world in a real, non-virtual way, to engage, to appreciate or not, and knowing why. I think of it as tuning in to the minutes and being as present as possible in every action. No going through the motions. Sounds tiring, doesn’t it? But anything else is to live without passion. Think about how tired we are living the other way. And most of us, including me, are exhausted from the constant multi-tasking.
I have a friend whose father told her “life is minutes.” It certainly is. I don’t want to waste any more of mine.
