Lord, some days I feel like a yo-yo–work, rest. Family, solitude. Creative, I can’t think of the right word for what I want to say. Creative…all the words I can come up with are negative words and that is not exactly what I mean. I think I mean, there are days I feel innovative, alert to possibility and to the light itself, and there are other days I feel very close-focused and the focus is detail-oriented, task-driven, necessary but not necessarily what I would call creative. There is an energy input, I will say, when I am being creative, and there is an energy output, let’s say, when I am occupied with all the background tasks of making a business life successful. Hence the yo-yo. Maybe that is not such a bad thing. Balance, right?
Balance, yes. Your challenge is that you tend to view your life in larger increments of time, and you plan to balance work now, and details now, and tasks now, with rest and refreshing and creative expressions later. And “later” doesn’t always balance out. Your challenge is to build your later into your now. Find ways to incorporate refreshment and relaxation, creative flow and time with family and friends, in the middle of the days that demand an immediate, detailed, task-oriented focus.
Ok, so, how in the world do I do that? I manage to find moments with You. Thankfully, You are Yourself, meaning, always Present. So I can talk to You at midnight, say, or while in the middle of doing something else, say, or driving, say, really anywhere, anytime–but I can’t necessarily relax anywhere anytime, and I sure can’t take creative time (which does take time and attention) and I sure can’t simultaneously get the shop ready to open and spend unstructured time, say, walking the beach or enjoying a long, lazy talk with a friend. I’m missing something, aren’t I? There is a third way I am not seeing, isn’t there?
You are living either/or again instead of both/and. The key is something you have done before, and that is to allow yourself moments in every day, as I told you before, to connect–you are faithfully connecting with Me, but you need moments to connect with yourself, and to connect with family, and to connect with friends.
Ok, here is the problem I see with that idea. Moments are just that, they are brief and elusive, and they don’t seem to have much value, all by themselves unless you string them together into hours or days or weeks or…
Stop. Take a breath. How long did that take?
I dunno. A moment? Oh. Clever.
That momentary breath, your inhale, your exhale, sustains you, literally keeps you alive. So do your little glances back and forth with Pete, your little hugs, your little kisses, your daily I-love-you’s. You haven’t had a vacation together away in more than three years. Yet your love continues to grow and be sustained by the daily moments of intention you both give to that love and to each other.
OK, point taken. And that absolutely works here, with Pete.
It would work with you, too–with yourself. Just give yourself a few minutes of attention. Check in with your body, are you warm, cold, thirsty, hungry? Check in with your emotions, and don’t brush them off, whatever they are. If you are feeling joyful and excited, then enjoy that! Really feel the feeling of the accomplishments you are making now, in your working days. If you are feeling worried or stressed, you don’t have to obsess on that in order to honor the feeling–but be willing to bring that feeling to the forefront so that you can take action based on its prompting. When you rush past joy, you diminish it. When you try to push past worry or stress, you magnify it. You already pay momentary mindful attention to nature, so you know how to do this.
What about friends, Lord? I have friendships I sustain in a series of moments. I’m thinking of friends who are long-distance, some extremely long-distance. But You help us stay connected, even if we are physically apart. It’s really something, how that works. Are You saying I can rely on that type of connection even in the busier times?
You already do. As you just said, you have friendships you have sustained in just this way, where distance separates you physically but your hearts are joined and every moment of contact just strengthens and reinforces the bond. Don’t neglect the moment just because you cannot spend hours. Don’t neglect the contact just because it will be brief. Don’t be all-or-nothing, either/or, in your thinking. Living in the Moment means living in the Moment with Me, with yourself, with nature, with family, with friends. Make Moments. They in turn will make your life.