Slow Down!

I spent the day yesterday lazing and reading and slowly coming back down to earth. I don't know about you, but I very easily get lured by the distractions that life and our culture constantly offer me. I am guilty of not always staying with things, following through with them in a respectful and thorough way. Often I find myself being uncomfortable with quiet and stillness, even though I know the immense benefit and importance of being in this space.

I read a passage from my current novel, 'The Year of Pleasures' by Elizabeth Berg and it really made me take a good look at myself. So, I thought I'd share it with you...

"I was guilty as anyone else of buying books I never read, of rushing through days without ever looking up, of taking for granted things for which I should give thanks every day. Who appreciated their good health until they lost it? Who said grace? Who read to their children before bed without one eye on the clock, despairing of all they had to do before they themselves had to sleep? Who engaged cashiers in grocery stores in conversations? Everyone seemed in a blind hurry, and there was no relief in sight. Technology rushed us ever forward, and simple civility - a certain kindness and care - got sacrificed."

ME - Guilty as charged!

So how does one stop?

Sometimes when we don't get the messages that our angels are sending us in the form of advise from friends, loved ones, strangers, billboards, etc. we have to reverse our car into a pole so that we're forced to stop and assess where we're going.

So the long and the short of it is that this is what happened to me when reversing out of my client's carport this morning. And I immediately looked within for the lesson which is this:

I really don't give enough thanks and praise to my wonderful husband for all the little and big things that he does for me. I never fully settle down and engage with my sons, listening to them, without some other burgeoning agenda on my mind. When my family want massages I'm too busy or tired. I notice the moon once or twice a month. The sun rises and sets and I scarcely am in touch with its rhythm. The books are piled up on my bedside table and on my dressing table and stuffed into all my bedside draws. I gobble my food down without a thought of gratitude often in front of a blaring TV. My life is just a whirling roundabout.

So, I wondered if it was just me or if you also feel like you're going too fast.

I've decided that for this week I am going to step off the treadmill and mull over life's treasures. I am going to have gratitude for my health, my hubby, my children, my friends, all of nature. I am going to give thanks for my food and instead of attacking it like a wolf, I am going to chew it gently with intention of it nourishing my body. I am going to breathe deeply inhaling life and I'm definitely going to say no to any distractions that life dangles before me. I am going to come back to consciousness, conscious that I am. I am NOT what I DO. I just AM.

And already I breath a sigh of relief, because I feel I have arrived home.

Until next week, may you find the stillness within and meaning in the silences

in love

Nicolette