Rushing through life

What rushing through life has taught me

I was walking my dog in my 30 minute window of time and I passed by some folks and dogs whom I had never met. I wonder who they were? Not an uncommon scenario, heads down and focus forward, I got my walk in, changed back to my work clothes and headed back to work.

Check… done for the day.

On days like this, I often grab some fast food -hummus and chips, peanut butter and honey, carrots….these seem to be my staples. Nothing wrong with these as they support the “on the go lifestyle” for sure yet sometimes my system needs more.

I often do things like this.

Mindlessly, checking off the boxes, getting it done or cramming in more than I could ever do YET by gosh…. I am productive.

Do you know the feeling?

If you’re always racing to the next moment, what happens to the one you’re in?

My husband had a heart attack this past year. It was not on the radar and frankly, we didn’t have time for it. (<:) LOL He had hiked 90 miles on the Appalachian Trail last year so neither one of us saw this coming.

Yet, as we laid on the couch after returning from the hospital, him with a new, happy heart, grateful to be alive and me relieved yet down with the flu absorbed by days at the hospital and the shock of it all, I realized that all this stuff I needed to get done, well, really didn’t matter as much.

How often do we rush through life and miss the fullness of the moment?

Mindfulness teaches us that the present moment is where it is all happening. I used to have a card in my office that said, “Every moment if it is genuinely inside of you, brings you what you need.”

Stop and breathe that one in.

So back to rushing……I was speed walking my dog. Lolly Pop, the other day with her little legs and 8 lb body, and I thought, let’s do this a different way. We might not make the exact route we always do, but we might have something spontaneous and creative happen?

It sounded different.

I started calling this my new version of intuitive presence and as much as I want to just get the walk in…. I am also being called to more.

Being a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction trainer, I “should” know something i thought.

Within this intuitive presence lies certain qualities:

  • more love
  • more real connection …..
  • less exhausting accomplishment
  • more spaciousness and
  • more listening in to what is really needed -all around and within me.

Are you connected to these things throughout your day?

I LOVE to accomplish things. In fact, those who know me, would probably call me a happy workaholic. I go and go and go and often they say, ” I don’t know how you do it all?”

I guess I COULD put that on my tomb stone. The GIRL WHO DID IT ALL.

Hmmmm……Not so interesting really.

However, quality vs. quantity…..I am again choosing quality.

So has rushing through life taught me anything?

Rushing through life has its kudos. I have done a BUNCH of stuff and have accomplished a great deal….

But right now, I am drawn to the quality not the quantity. To my creative pulse, which is in itself “getting it done” yet with even more presence.

I am grateful for this new rhythm. It feels Soulful instead of adrenaline-based.

Imagine what your life could be like if adrenaline (stress) didn’t run the show?

It feels more open to the sacredness of the moment vs. being scheduled every square second.

This pace allows for more play and more flow. More big picture thinking yet more moment to moment presence. More creativity and more joy.

So rushing through life has taught me something…

I can be productive yet there is a more Soulful way.

I offer programs for letting go and creating new patterns if you are challenged by our adrenaline-based culture too –

These programs are called Ignite Your Life, Ignite your Relationships and Ignite Your Soul Based Practice (for therapists interested in spiritual psychology).

These programs train your nervous system to value going deeper so you can rise higher while learning to embrace new patterns. It’s a choice and I am finding, it’s a pretty darn amazing one!