“Beautifully Balanced” by Deborah South-McEvoy
Life is funny sometimes.
We tend to avoid what we need and want the most.
And then circumstances happen and we are suddenly faced with exactly what we weren’t able to give to ourselves.
Leaning into it, accepting it, can be a challenge.
But when we are able to be grateful for the experience, magic can happen.
Several weeks ago I tweaked my back (again) and spent five days resting, moving slowly, doing virtually nothing.
I couldn’t walk the dogs or do the laundry or run errands. I couldn’t sit at my computer for very long. I couldn’t do any of the things that I usually do to distract me from my heart work.
But it was such a gift, really, to have my body step in for me and give me what I most needed–time to let go and do nothing.
Because it is in this quiet space of stillness that we can choose to release the struggle and begin to ask, what do we really want.
The weeks leading up to my tweaked back had been very stressful, emotional, and challenging and I was feeling especially agitated, restless, uncertain. I had big choices to make and I had no clarity about anything.
I knew that what I most needed was to let go of all of the struggle and just step away from myself and create some space.
But I was too caught up in it all to do that.
And then I tweaked my back and had all the space in the world.
Now, when I’m not overly stressed, I do have a habit of creating quiet time in my life on a regular basis. And so, when faced with this sudden stillness, I was able to relax into it, grateful, even, for the opportunity, even though it was physically painful.
And in the stillness of not working, not housekeeping, not care taking, I could feel myself letting go of the struggle.
I was taking deeper breaths. I journaled. And I got very clear that I wanted to manifest more opportunities for community creativity in 2011.
Not surprisingly, as soon as I named and claimed this, emails appeared in my Inbox with opportunities to do just that. (Really!)
And I was standing straight again, walking my regular pace. I felt a lightness in my body and so much excitement in my heart for these new possibilities.
Struggle is hard. Stillness can be uncomfortable. But, for me, leaning into that quiet space is the only way to let go and discover what my heart really wants.
So how can you create some quiet stillness in your life?
Here are just a few suggestions. I’d love to hear your ideas.
· practice yoga
· take a long walk in nature
· listen to music without words
· color, doodle, draw without expectation
· take a nap in the middle of the day
· massage your dog or cat
· play an instrument
· lie in the grass and watch the clouds
• go on a weekend retreat
oh, YES!!! Hell Yes! Massage the dog(s) – rub their little round bellies til they stretch and use their front paws to scratch their faces and look so cute you just have to laugh out loud! And hands in clay with no expectations – which is a doodle, just a different doodle medium. Lovely post!
hey ruth ~
one of the things i love about your blogs is how you include really practical steps to take. i enjoy following along on your journey and considering all your suggestions. thanks for being the sharer of good things!
julie
Thanks Julie– ideas without action don’t get you very far…..
And Tammy, hands in clay as doodling–love it!
Ruth, I’ve been on a run to work an hour in the morning in silence on mindless type tasks (home care, etc) and oh how that keeping my hands busy but my mind free has brought so many good things!
Great writing, thanks!
Sweetie, that’s wonderful! One of my mom’s favorite sayings was from Captain Kangaroo: “Busy hands are happy hands, hands that can’t go wrong”