Dear Ultimate Consciousness,
Today, I just want to thank you for the reminder that if I want to stay in a space of peace, I just need to do one thing at a time. I do not need to be thinking about the list of things I have created for myself, many of which I have come to realize I really do not need to do. If I am spending time thinking about everything, then I am not able to accomplish anything. As I remember realizing years ago, I cannot be in a state of peace if I am trying to multitask. The lesson came to me about three years ago when I came across a quote that said, “When walking, walk. When eating, eat.” I remember laughing at the time because I was trying to drink my morning water, eat breakfast, check my email and FB all at the same time.
Being at the end of the fall semester and the onset of the winter semester, my mind has this desire to be thinking about the grading I need to do for one class, the new course management system I need to learn in the next week, the course I have to prep for this new system and have up and running four days before I have to have grades entered for the fall and in the background I am wondering when they are going to schedule my surgery and how is this going to impact the grading and course prep before me. The funny thing is that when I found myself thinking about this entire list, I realized I really was not doing anything. I was not able to focus on the paper I was trying to grade or the blog I wanted to write and I realized I was not at peace. I cannot feel this sense of frenzy and be at peace.
When I am focused solely on one thing, I complete it with ease and am in a state of peace. I make fewer mistakes and seem to accomplish so much in so little time. Today, what I really wanted to do and should have done was just to sit with the joy of finding out my heart was in good shape and I was cleared to have the surgery on my kidneys to clean them out and remove the stones. I should have told the voice that was listing all the things I needed to do, that I would get to that work eventually. The reality is that until I was intentional about taking that time, I was not able to focus on anything else.
So starting now, I am going to work on being intentional about just doing one thing at a time. I can do that when I am with a client or with my students, so I know that I can. I have learned to do that most of the time with Zoe as well. It almost seems counter cultural to slow down and just do one thing. However, if I am going to be intentional about staying in a space of peace and presence, then this is what I have to do.
So thank you for the reminder and making sure I took time to celebrate and give thanks for the good news!