You know the rush you feel at Christmas time when there are so many things on your to do list you feel like your head will explode? I always try to stop myself, take a deep breath and get centered in the true meaning of the season before I press forward. Otherwise, I end up feeling like a cliche, another person lost in the rat race of life lacking the common sense to stop and smell the flowers. Feeling like the only reason why I am shopping and decorating for the holidays is because the TV told me to. For these reasons, there are several people, you know them as well, who pronounce during the holidays that they hate Christmas.
This past year over the holidays, I once again felt the "rush" and my body and mind pulled into the powerful energy that time is a wastin'. Once the holidays were over and the new year had begun with expectancy I noticed the rush did not seem to end. I started to wonder as life was speeding all around me if this level of energy was the new normal?
I asked a few friends, "Does it feel like we are still in the holiday rush to you?"
Every friend I polled seemed to say, "Yes, its unbelievable, I don't know where the days are going!"
Something I can't ignore about this new "rush" compared to the holidays, for me anyways, is I am experiencing so much synchronicity. Unlike during the holidays when you get sucked up into all that "craziness" and nothing seems to go as planned. Lately my schedule between work and play and seeing friends and family is falling into place with ease. I suppose the other difference would be that I am working out regularly and eating right instead of pigging out on holiday cookies and skipping the gym! (Thank God I got that part figured out in my perpetual holiday season). I find I am so eager to get up in the morning and start the day with my many projects in front of me, I struggle to figure out which one to start first. I just don't have enough hours in the day to finish them all.
So now I get up between 5-6am and start working on my civil war novel (now in the homestretch) until I hit the gym around 930am and then I come home and start working on my training business for the rest of the day. Around lunch time, I take a break and call my dear friend Gerri and check in with her on how she is doing with her book and its different business aspects and we usually talk about what has been the best part of our day so far. Sometimes I am eating my lunch while we talk just to get extra time on the phone with her (she doesn't mind). We talk about our daily triumphs, obstacles, marketing strategies, writing schedules, ideas for growing our businesses and what or who we need to say some prayers for in our lives. I have come to understand what the term "power lunch" really means. After lunch, it's back to the day job until dinner. Between dinner and bedtime, I relax with my husband and give all my attention to him and a few random household chores. This schedule or rather how I execute it, or succeed, is always challenged but I hold the vision of harmony and can always try again the next day.
Truly, I realize the difference is perspective. In this new flow compared to the old holiday rush, I have noticed I am joyful and excited. I feel consumed by spirit and my new favorite word is unstoppable (it sounds a bit corny, I know).
I will finish my novel in the next two months, teach numerous CPR & First Aid training classes along the way (my day job) as well as help others reach their writing goals (my editing/consulting side job). In cohesion with all of this, my husband and I will continue to nurture and enjoy our marriage, I'll sing in the choir at church and have meaningful time with my family, friends as well as enjoy everyday moments shared with strangers where only a kind word or a smile is exchanged. All of which fill me up and keep me motivated in the face of daily adversity.
Indeed it is all about perspective. You can see your life and everything in it as a wonderful adventure, full of high energy and blessings or a hectic time where you are in complete resistance fighting life every step of the way wondering when something good is going to happen.
I used to work in law enforcement many years ago so I know a little something about being a control freak. I loved my job then too but sometimes struggled to find a peaceful balance between policing everything whether I was at work or not or just going with the flow and enjoying life's ride. To survive any type of public service job whether its being a police officer, a nurse or a flight attendant you have to find a little "Zen" in every day for balance. What you do for a living isn't always who you are, it's just the beginning.
I always say that when I began to write is when I entered into "Type A Recovery", one of these days I will write that book (great title)! One of my favorite quotes that keeps me centered is from Souza:
"Dance as though no one is watching you, love as though you have never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear you, live as though heaven is on earth."
If you try to search for Souza as source on the Internet, he is an enigma. The only information I could find referred to him as Alfred Souza, Alfred D. Souza or Father Alfred D. Souza and said that he was a writer, philosopher, theologian who lived in Brisbane Australia and died in 2004. It's too bad because this quote has given me and I'm sure thousands new perspective on life. Maybe Souza perferred anonimity or thought the credit should be given to a higher source?
I'm sure you have heard the quote many times before but my favorite part of the quote is the part about living as though "heaven is on earth." If heaven is on earth, than it is always Christmas!
In doing my research I found yet another Souza quote:
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.”
I think this quote is now my new favorite.
- JC Beichner
