Recovery to the Un-Busy

I am laying here in bed surrendering to a horrible flu bug, but not being able to leave my computer lid down. With my head propped up on pillows and Kleenex piling up beside me, I am thinking that the least I can get done is a blog post. As I type, I know, yet still wonder how we get caught in that crazy pattern of needing to get something done. It is like a drug addiction; if we aren’t busy checking something off a list, our body begins to show signs of withdrawal. The tapping of the foot, the lack of focus, and small bursts of impatient conversation are all signs of the need to get something, anything done.

The addiction to “busy” is a symptom of measuring our value according to our “doing”. In other words, how much we accomplish indicates how much we are worth. The mere processing of that statement makes one think, “how absurd; who would go through life believing that”. Sadly, most of us do fall into this without even realizing it. We slowly move into society’s expectation of achieving and perception of success without blinking an eye. The slow and steady societal pressure wins the race.

But small subtle messages appear along the way, and the finish line doesn't look that appealing any more. The feeling of missing “something” in life, and the yearning for calm is your mindfulness speaking to you. It is telling you that it is alright to slow things down and think about what really matters to you without worrying about what the “norm” is. I’m betting that if you were really honest with yourself, very few of the items on your list really need to get done today or tomorrow. Some of them may not ever really need to get done at all. Think of all the time you would have to do other things that reflect who you are and what you want.

Someone in full busy recovery will not just cut back on the “to do” list, but will erase it in its entirety and slowly replace the items with only those that they “want” to do. They will regress at times because lifelong patterns can never dissolve completely; they are embedded in that spot at the back of our heads like a sort of societal branding. Being aware of them is all we need to continue on our path of the un-busy. And with that comes, oh so many, surprises along the way.  And so, I press the "publish post" icon, and feel a sense of peace that I got that done today!!!!

"The Simplicity of the Path Ahead"

I decided to take the day off of all things called "work" yesterday as I felt something going on inside of me (flu appeared late last night), and just play!  As a result, I went out into the beauty of the day and walked and "clicked".  I didn't think this pic would turn out to be anything as I layed on the ground to get but, it turned out to be one of my favourites ~ the shadows with a bit of sunlight and the brown leaves scattered between the green grass gives me the feeling of balance during the transition from summer to fall.....

Enjoy the stillness of the day!! xoxo