I had plans to visit my daughter Amaryllis and new granddaughter Vanessa, on Friday. I have a tendency to run a little late. For several recent visits, I had arrived at my daughter’s house with not as much time as I wanted to cuddle and admire Vanessa. Today I was determined to be on time, so I would have a full two hours and not feel so rushed in getting to my next commitment.
As usual, I was late. As I drove the 40 minutes to their house, I thought about my morning, and the choices I had made. I thought about my determination to be on time. Suddenly I realized where the problem came from. It was my determination! By being determined and bringing in “fight” energy, I was adding more “force” to the situation. That didn’t help me reach my goal of being on time. It actually helped me be late.
How might my morning have gone if I had taken a few moments first thing to review my planned activities and consciously add gentle intent that I work fast and efficiently and leave the house with plenty of time to enjoy my granddaughter? I have no doubt adding gentle intent and bringing more awareness into my tasks would have helped me get done on time.
Do you take time to notice what state of mind, or energy, you are bringing into your daily activities? Our culture teaches us we are valuable when we get things done outwardly. Those who accomplish great things in our physical world are rewarded and admired. But what about the other parts of who we are? What about how we feel and the ability to bring those good feelings or positive energy into our day to day activities? We are moving into a time when this part of our lives will become much more important.
I remember hearing this once, “when the time is right, it takes hardly any time at all.” I latched onto that and I use it often. When we take the time to do a few things that help us feel good about ourselves, the energy we bring to our work is more in harmony and we are able to do our work with greater ease and speed.
When I have things on my list to do and I notice I am not getting them done, I no longer criticize myself for it. I figure the time isn’t right yet, and when it is, the job will get done with ease and speed. My own writing is an example of that. For months, actually almost a year, I’ve been intending to write and share my experiences with others, but I just couldn’t make it happen. Some days I would write a few pages and it flowed and was easy. I’d think, this is great! I’m finally going to be able to do this. Then I would go days at a time without writing anything.
Maybe the time has come for abundant writing, because the words are flowing out and flowing out and flowing out. It’s fun. And when the words slow or stop, I’m going to let that be okay too.
One of the things that causes people the most pain and frustration is bringing will power or determination or fight energy into a situation and working to make certain things happen. My own experience has taught me that bringing gentleness and acceptance into the situation, with a willingness to allow all the needed pieces to unfold in the proper timing, will allow me to move forward with much less tension in my life!