Written March 8, 2013
So how exactly do we experience life rather than perform it? In classic In Summary… style, I offer you a bullet list of learnings from this week’s writings and artwork that helped me connect some of the key ingredients.
- Move forward even when the path isn’t clear. After some soul-searching for this week’s blog post, I remembered that taking a risk is the best way to focus. Some people take risks by sky diving. I do it by publicly committing to a weekly blog and social media expansion. The tendency for many of us can be to ensure all of our ducks are in a row to do something seemingly risky, but I think when things are fresh and a little unknown, our attention piques and we watch and feel each step of the way more intently. We then experience our experience, shifting and adjusting as needed, rather than just checking it off the list as an accomplishment.
- Simplify. Tammy Strobel seriously simplified by downsizing to the nth degree. I have recently renovated a house that I now live in and trust me, after all of that, I ain’t moving anytime soon. But she offers a glaring example of the importance of lightening our load. It can come in many forms, such as being more conscious of what comes into our spaces and not filling every corner just to fill them up; clearing our calendars so open spaces are present to fill in with whatever feels nurturing in the moment; and for me, clearing out worries about the future and ruminations about the past so I am free to experience the now.
- Walk softly. I’m always learning something new from Marylou and Alan, but this week I’m grateful for the reminder to soften the edges of my presence. To speak to others with kindness and more importantly, to stop speaking so I can listen. Experiencing life isn’t always about ‘grabbing the bull by the horns’ and ‘speaking your mind’. Sometimes it’s just about being. About moving slowly enough to really feel each moment. About seeing who we bump up against and pondering why.
- Speaking of pondering…when we really do move a little more softly, taking in each piece of life’s experience, we have the chance to see how one piece of life connects to the next. We can, in words that make great sense to me, weave them into our web to enhance and repair and regroup. When life is too cluttered or moves too quickly or is wrought with worry there’s simply no time to sort things out. My Sacred Blending weaving is a good example of this.
Life is an experience, not a performance. Let’s take the load off of ourselves and make this our mantra until it sinks in for good.
