So Busy

So Busy

What do you do for fun? How do you enjoy yourself? What do you look forward to in your days?

I don’t want to hear, “Nothing.” And I also know that some of you wanna say that. You feel all Gloomy-Doomy. Poor you.

What is going on when we have no free time? Oh, yeah, there is a lot to do. But there will always be more to do than we can get done. More than anyone can get done.

Why else? No one else will do it, or will do it the right way. Hmm. Okay.

Why else? If I don’t fill my time from wake up to fall asleep, I might feel something I don’t want to, or notice something I don’t want to. Uh-oh.

Busy-ness is a wonderful way to avoid stuff that may be painful, or ugly, or require us to do something uncomfortable.

I must say, I love to do stuff. I work my Clark Kent job. I teach meditation, Creative Questions, and knitting classes. I write to you everyday, practice qigong, meditate, garden, craft, read, socialize, study Chinese, oh, my list goes on.

I also make time for nothing everyday to check in with myself. And I do what I can to have a bunch of hours of leisure time each week, time when I can decide in the moment what I want to do. It wasn’t always like that.

Many years ago, I was planning a trip to Hong Kong. I mentioned to a very wise friend that I thought I’d likely not sleep the whole time I was there for fear I would miss something. He said, “You’ll always miss something, even if you never sleep. One of our tasks is to learn to choose.”

If we are spending all our time doing, and no time reflecting, or considering, or letting our brains just go, we aren’t choosing. Taking the reins, deciding what we want, and then moving toward it, choosing. I can’t choose if I don’t know my mind.

Yes, dishes and clothes and floors need to be washed. Yes, things need to be cleaned, errands need to be run, activities for the kids, and so on. In those bits of busy-ness are spaces. Using those spaces, five minutes to get present and peaceful a few times in the course of your running around, will do more for your day than the wine or joint at night. Micro-mini-vacations.

When we practice taking a bit of time out of our crazy days to be peaceful in ourselves, we find peace more easily. It gets easier to see what we can put off, what needs to be done right now. When we practice stillness, imagining a quiet forest perhaps, or a beach, or some other place that fills us with that sense of serenity, and still, and peace, we find our core more easily, we do our tasks more easily, and with more gratitude and joy. We may even find we make time for a new hobby.

How have I changed from racing through my busy day to accomplishing what I need to with peace and joy?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 02182013