“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Aurora Borealis over Iceland
These days my pace is slower and the week less compacted with activity. There is less of a need to “do everything” or to squeeze in one more thing to the day in order to feel accomplished or productive. (What does it really mean to be productive anymore?)
Part of this is because my energy is sometimes unreliable based on what’s going on, but also because I’ve just simply chosen to slow down and as a result miraculously gained patience. When you sit with yourself for many hours and many days, there is a stillness and calm that comes with how you choose to receive the world again.
In creating more simplicity in our lives, we are electing to do less and see more. It’s a hard shift that not everyone is comfortable making but is so needed as the compounding effect of work, real or perceived responsibilities, and changes in our world demand our attention. What we need to realize is that often when we give over our personal energy to these things, we have nothing left for ourselves or for the pursuit of what matters to us.
It may be the approaching holidays or maybe just the accumulation of so many months of insecurity around our public health and how to approach the new order of the day. In conversations with different people I’m finding there to be a certain fatigue that has taken hold and is leaving them in a kind of fog.
It’s my hope that if we’ve learned nothing else from all this insane change and tragedy, we can look inward and decide what fits and what works for us as we move ahead. Continuing to do the same thing or never making a shift in our thinking, time, or perspective means nothing has changed at all. If you’re ok with that then you accept where you are in the process, but if you’re not ok with it, then it’s a good idea to consider how to re-focus your energy and who you give permission to use that energy. When we give away more than we should, it’s like being in a fog where you can’t see clearly and become stuck. But it’s also possible to work your way through that fog and eliminate the things that are blocking you in order to be happier and more balanced.
Try observing what’s around you. See things that are amazing in their simplicity and construction; the smell of each season as it changes, the flow of time, and how the sky tells us what’s coming next. These are a gift to the senses. And like a good yogic breathing exercise, it can calm and stabilize our minds and help us to be more clear.
As we enter a new year let’s aim to find something special about each new day and look to make our lives more in line with how we really want to live.
Embrace the opportunity to find your joy.
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
~excerpt from The Summer Day, Mary Oliver
