Do you know what it means to let your day evolve organically? I know, it sounds like psychobabble but I have been getting glimpses of it lately and it is a beautiful feeling of joy and contentment. I think it means living in the moment as the spirit moves you throughout the day which is something I have never been very good at. I used to think this was only possible in retirement, when your time is truly your own but I think the younger crowd can aspire to more meaningful days like this as well. First and foremost, it means being able to suspend the “To Do” list at least for the moment, a few hours or a whole day if you are willing and able. I say willing and able because I have found it takes a great deal of internal discipline and patience to allow oneself what at first feels like a guilty pleasure. So let me share a few of my experiences with this being home alone the past several weeks.
I still have a list but I have tried to think of it as just a list of suggestions and I know the world won’t end if I don’t get to some or all of them today or tomorrow. Yes, this is difficult for “get er done” sort of people which I think is a predisposition for Midwesterners. Take today, for example, when after just four hours of sleep I woke up for some reason, made myself breakfast and went right back to sleep. After getting fully rested, I then had the energy to hit the gym. On the way home I headed to the grocery store to buy flowers for my sewing coach and immediately ran into a colleague who I was able to catch up with in the produce aisle. While dropping off the flowers at the quilt store, one of my past key managers came into the store for sewing advice so we were able to catch up as well. In the past, these kinds of random visits with important people in my life were rare as I seldom ventured out of the house on the weekend or was too stressed to see and/or interact positively with those around me.
After watching one of my favorite shows tonight: Say Yes To The Dress, I sent a wedding dress picture to my niece who is in the early stages of planning her wedding. I was thrilled that she liked the style I sent and can’t wait to accompany her in trying on dresses later this spring. I chose to pace my way through a stained glass project this past week and came out much less worse for the wear. In the past, I would have just powered through to “get er done” as quickly as possible and been exhausted.
Finally, this topic came to me as I stood on my front porch watching the snow gently and silently fall in the middle of the night. I then fired up my laptop to write, as the spirit moved me, which means something on that list of suspended suggestions just happened. In closing, this is really just about being flexibly present in your life or “stopping long enough to smell the roses.” I can’t believe how an old familiar saying took on such new meaning for me this week. I guess all it took was A New Lens!