This isn't rocket science, and I'm not the first to say this by any means, but why are we so determined to wear ourselves out? For years, I brushed my teeth while ironing my clothes for work (yep, I really did... I'll give you a lesson sometime). Cordless phones? YES! Now I'm not tied to a wall. I can talk with you and wash the dishes or put away clothes!
And... I'll never forget that horrific year of my brother's illness that led to a family crisis. I didn't just try to be there for my brother. I was there for both of my parents. I tried (not very successfully) to also be there for my daughter. And I missed very few days in my classroom of 18 at-risk preschoolers. I thought I could do all of this. I thought I was handling life from a spiritual platform. But, alas, too much was too much. The back finally called it and to bed I went.
Over this past week-end I went to see the film RACE TO NOWHERE. If you haven't heard of this, do check out the website. It clearly speaks of the adult need to not only wear out ourselves, but our children, too. Oh, I believe in living life to the fullest! I say on almost a daily basis two things: I need more than one life, and anyone who is bored is participating in one of the deadliest sins. Yes! Let's be alive! Let's explore and stretch. Let's learn something new everyday. Let's step up and serve those around us. But guess what? Let's also sit on the porch in the rain and listen to it. Let's take a nap now and again. Let's take the dog and the kids for a walk and name birdsongs. Let's put down the lists and pick up that book that has something to say to our hearts and spirits.
How can we teach our children to listen to their souls if our example is to drown our own? How can we tend what most needs tending when we are exhausted, over-extended, and swamped with frantic folly? What really matters? No. What REALLY matters?
How can we ever expect (or hope for) systems to get healthier and serve better until each one of us finds our way to our own deeper callings and truths? How can we demand systems to take the pressures off, to come back to humane ways of dealing with people until we each find our own balance and humanity? Unless it makes sense in our own lives, unless we implement health in our own homes and souls, unless we are willing as individuals to look into our own faces and see the present need... we'll never be able to evoke the changes this tired, dear world is begging for.
Go now, my beloveds, and rest.
And... I'll never forget that horrific year of my brother's illness that led to a family crisis. I didn't just try to be there for my brother. I was there for both of my parents. I tried (not very successfully) to also be there for my daughter. And I missed very few days in my classroom of 18 at-risk preschoolers. I thought I could do all of this. I thought I was handling life from a spiritual platform. But, alas, too much was too much. The back finally called it and to bed I went.
Over this past week-end I went to see the film RACE TO NOWHERE. If you haven't heard of this, do check out the website. It clearly speaks of the adult need to not only wear out ourselves, but our children, too. Oh, I believe in living life to the fullest! I say on almost a daily basis two things: I need more than one life, and anyone who is bored is participating in one of the deadliest sins. Yes! Let's be alive! Let's explore and stretch. Let's learn something new everyday. Let's step up and serve those around us. But guess what? Let's also sit on the porch in the rain and listen to it. Let's take a nap now and again. Let's take the dog and the kids for a walk and name birdsongs. Let's put down the lists and pick up that book that has something to say to our hearts and spirits.
How can we teach our children to listen to their souls if our example is to drown our own? How can we tend what most needs tending when we are exhausted, over-extended, and swamped with frantic folly? What really matters? No. What REALLY matters?
How can we ever expect (or hope for) systems to get healthier and serve better until each one of us finds our way to our own deeper callings and truths? How can we demand systems to take the pressures off, to come back to humane ways of dealing with people until we each find our own balance and humanity? Unless it makes sense in our own lives, unless we implement health in our own homes and souls, unless we are willing as individuals to look into our own faces and see the present need... we'll never be able to evoke the changes this tired, dear world is begging for.
Go now, my beloveds, and rest.
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