the art of living

But as you well know, a garden has to be turned in the fall in order to prepare it for the spring. It cannot bloom all the time.

-Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D. from Women Who Run With the Wolves

When I finished with my responsibilities yesterday, I gave into a feeling that has been creeping over me for several days. A whisper running through my body saying slow down, conserve, rest. I'm so glad I did. I have to work today but only not all day. Resting before and after. Conserving my energy. Turning my garden.

It is easy to allow ourselves to be run ragged by doing...doing until it's all done. The thing is, the tasks never stop lining up. There are always things that need to be tended, cleaned, fixed, organized, sorted, people that need our help, calls that need to be made, letters and emails that need to be answered. With graduate school starting, it is even more important that I am able to discern which tasks to do, and, though the thought makes me shudder, which tasks not to do. I have a lot to learn in this arena. Perhaps because the arena keeps changing. New ways of living, new responsibilities, changing schedules require us to re-examine, refocus, shuffle our priorities, constantly. I ask myself, how much I can accomplish and still remain grounded, rested, and centered? I tend to accomplish first and hope I'm still grounded, rested, and centered at the end, and I rarely am. Perhaps if I shift my focus....grounded, rested, and centered being where I am rooted, and I accomplish whatever I accomplish from this place.

I humbly stumble along, looking for examples of living with graceful balance, knowing that achieving such a thing is one of our many journeys to wisdom. Coming to balance, as my mother would say, is quite simply the Art of Living.

Coming to balance.

Movement towards balance.

May I move ever closer to balance.

May we move ever closer to balance.