Recently, I saw a meme on social media that truly resonated with me. It said something to the effect of "almost everything can be fixed if it is unplugged for awhile-even you."
It was a very timely bit of wisdom because due to a sidden health crises I was forced to really cut down to the bare minimum of activities in my life for a while.
Doing this made me stop and think about just how often I chide myself for not doing more, doing "better" or doing it all.
Slowing down also made me painfully aware of how often I try to double and triple task. As if taking the time to be mindful about things is just a wasted opportunity to get more done.
It brought me back to years ago when I was speaking with a friend who had spent time in a Buddhist Monastery. I recalled him describing how he was tasked once with picking up pine needles in the forest. A futile and never ending job for certain! But the idea was that the process was the task-not the result.
So I am trying, really and truly, to inject more mindfulness into my life. To stay in the here and now and bot be so caught up with being in a rush, beating myself up and giving credence to my inner critic.
It has been difficult, and yet, there is a zen beauty in focusing only on each task at hand. I have to remind myself often to focus, to slow down, to remember that this is what I need to be doing for the good of my physical health.
And you know-I feel like the psychological and spiritual benefits of this slow down might be a latent benefit of this new process-or maybe, just maybe-the true and genuine reason for it.
In Service,
Khouzhan Morgan
Leave a Reply