“This is the miracle that happens every time to those who really love: the more they give, the more they possess.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
Life
Getting Too Caught Up
It’s so easy to get caught up in how much there is to do – how much work, how much running around, how much taking care of the kids or pets … how much, how much, how much. And serenity, inner peace, is out the window faster than a flash. Here’s where Monday morning often starts … already running with a mile long list of things to do.
It really is kind of depressing. We wake up and feel calm for about 2 seconds, then the to-do-list, the who-needs-what, comes crashing into our consciousness. How to stop this free fall of impending needs of others, our work, etc. that comes crashing on our heads so early? I do know the answer, but we really do have to do it.
And that is to take – or make – some small bit of time for ourselves. Whether it’s a short meditation, maybe a walk, journal, or doing whatever it is that centers us – in my case this morning, it’s writing a bit on my blog – it’s something to beat back the incessant demands of too much to do. All that stuff to do is not going away, but we can get them in a place where they are more in perspective and we can breathe. Take a deep breath … and let it go.
I’m writing this for me as much as for you who might be reading this … I’m still on the path of learning. And no matter how insistent all these demands are – unless they truly are life and death – we can be in a better space in how we look at it. Though it sometimes gets lost in all the crazy busy-ness, I always remember what Louise Hay says on her tapes – the only thing we can change is our thoughts. We can’t change the car-pooling, the amount of work our job demands, the daily errands, etc., but we can change how we think about them. It takes practice, but the getting too caught up in them is costly to our well-being.
So today I’m writing a little … I’m taking a deep breath … and starting all that stuff.
Have a great day!
Chronos vs. Kairos
How interesting that chronos and kairos should appear in my reading materials in so close a time frame. Not long ago, I read Madeleine L’Engle writing about it. Then on October 12th, in one of my favorite books, Simple Abundance – A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, Sarah Ban Breathnach addressed it. And as always, these “chance” messages were of particular relevance to my life at the moment, and my feelings of far too much to do in too little time all too often. Might you find yourself in here, too?
Ms. Ban Breathnach defines chronos as how we try and control time – clocks, calendars, datebooks, agendas, beepers, etc. Chronos is time at its worst and a delusion of grandeur – it is the world’s time.
Kairos, on the other hand, is time at its best. Kairos is transcendence, infinity, joy, passion, the sacred. Kairos let’s go and allows us to escape our own confines. It is spirit’s time.
We, who never seem to have enough time, are at the mercy of chronos … or allow ourselves to be. But we need kairos so desperately. We do already know it – it’s any time when we have been so wondrously involved in what we are doing at the moment that we lose track of worldly time and just are. And there we find joy, rapture, oneness with our own spirit.
But how to be in more kairos? Ms. Ban Breathnach recommends the following:
“* By slowing down
* By concentrating on one thing at a time
* By going about what we are doing as if it were the only thing worth doing at that moment
* By pretending we have all the time in the world, so that our subconscious will kick in and make it so
* By making time
* By taking time.”
She says, “It only takes a moment to cross over from chronos into kairos, but it does take a moment. All that kairos asks is our willingness to stop running long enough to hear the music of the spheres.
“Today be willing to join in the dance.
“Now you’re in kairos.”
Let Them Eat Cake II
Every now and then, people ask me what my blog is about. Well, let’s see … it’s about writing, illustrating, art, children’s books, reading, animals, nature, home, music, the wonder and mysteries of life itself, and oh, yes … food.
So I guess, in sum, my blog is about many of the things that inspire me!
I occasionally think I should really have more of a focus on my blog, specifically on the children’s book field. But so many people already do that SO well, I figured I might do best to share slices of life, and serve them up in an as attractive manner as I can … such as this lovely cake I made recently.
This is a Nectarine Upside-Down Cake, made from scratch, all butter, as is my wont to bake. I wish I had more time to bake … and even cook … but life being what it is, I will just continue to bake when I can and memorialize the results in a photograph. And share it with you. This was quite delicious, my last tribute to the fruits of summer, and was served with fresh whipped cream. Yum!
Where Is the Joy?
If you are a woman and you are reading this, then there’s a good chance that you are struggling to find the joy in life. Today’s pace, especially for women, is more frenetic than ever. Many of us are working, maintaining a home for ourselves and others, raising children, and running like crazy. We are often overwhelmed and exhausted. Despite all this, we may still be reasonably happy, or … we may be downright miserable.
I do believe our natural soul state is one of love and joy. And that it easily gets lost in the pace of everyday life. As I am reading Marianne Williamson’s book, A Woman’s Worth, I find myself dwelling on this section where she writes about joy. She writes that joy is what happens when we recognize how good things are, how beautiful and amazingly powerful we are as women. And she adds that we can create joy in our daily life; we can decide to be happy. It may take our attention and some effort to focus on this, but it is possible.
I know, and perhaps you have, too, the feeling of real joy. For me, it is a distinct feeling that all is right in the world; all is well and perfect at that moment. The fact is that we can experience this feeling so much more often by focusing on the good, and on the amazing beings we, as women, are. I want more joy; how about you? Reading A Woman’s Worth is just fueling that desire for joy right now. This might be a book you’d be interested in if you’d like to discover more of your own joy and your own worth in the world.
Without ever getting into a women’s rights kind of attitude, but always staying in the positive and the uplifting, Williamson writes about how women have lost their place and been kept down throughout much of history, and conversely, of all we are and can be.
The passage that I love in this section is as follows. “A joyful woman, merely by being, says it all. The world is terrified of joyful women. Make a stand. Be one anyway.”
Still A Dreamer 