As any writer, composer, artist, or musician knows, motivating yourself to work when you live in lush surroundings full of nature's own eye candy is hard to do. Whether you face a seascape or a lake or a stunning view of mountains, it all comes down to the same thing - staying focused, being disciplined, making yourself sit down before the notepad or keyboard or blank canvas at a specified time every day for a minimum number of hours to pour forth something you don't know is there until you make yourself go through the process.
My work station actually faces away from any view - but I KNOW IT IS THERE. It calls to me, urging me to break my vow of self-discipline - a persistent voice pulling me to a window or to stand on the deck looking over our property. But I really shouldn't be so distracted. It's not like we have such breath-taking views. We live in a forest - Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, as a matter of fact - and although I don't look over a green valley or a sparkling lake, I do have a 360 degree view of trees - poplars, oaks, dogwoods, hemlocks, etc. And this time of year, the light filtering through the leaves is almost an emerald green. If you let it, you can become mesmerized by the frothy verdancy of the place - the quaking leaves in the wind, the dripping boughs in the rain. You watch and wonder and feel yourself pulled away from what you're supposed to be doing. And that's probably not good if your ambition is to write or paint or compose music. And yet, I guess I can't say having to put up with such distraction is a bad thing. Because occasionally when I'm looking off dazed into the trees, feeling the wind and smelling the scents, I get inspired to record the experience and use it some way as I finally sit down to write at that specified time of the day, for that minimum number of hours in order to create something. Those of you struggling with similar distraction know what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't struggle, well...God bless you!
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