Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. -Rumi
This is good advice and like most good advice it’s hard to follow. After all there is a lot to get done everyday, bills to pay, children to raise, carpools and jobs, shopping and cooking. By the time it all gets done there’s very little time left to rest, let alone think about what else we really might like to do with ourselves and our lives. But if we just pay a little more attention during our daily round we’ll catch a glimpse of the more that’s waiting to be discovered in random and unexpected moments. When we start looking we’ll automatically notice what we’re drawn to. Then when we do finally get a moment to ourselves we can follow that thread deeper.
The best thing we can do for ourselves is to carve out some time in the day that is completely ours. We may not get an afternoon, maybe not even an hour, but creating some kind of time, like fifteen minutes all in a row, on a regular basis is a start. This is the time we get to think about what really matters to us, to jot down a couple of ideas or projects we’d like to do, maybe read a few pages of a book we’re excited about. When we create this space what we love will come to the surface. We tend to the soul in this way and this kind of work stops us from getting to the point of resenting everything else that demands our time and energy. In the end it’s tending to our own garden that lets ourselves and others bloom.
Starting with a journal and a half hour of quiet time in the morning is the best advice I can give. Of course this is the pull of what I really love. But no matter what else might draw you in it’s important to create some time to sort out what’s going on inside before everyone else is up and the daily routine is in full swing. Writing our thoughts, ideas, and connections down about what matters or inspires or perplexes us makes what we feel more tangible. We begin putting the pieces of the puzzle together instead of feeling haunted by all the unknowns. In writing it all out we give a voice to all that’s been unspoken and this gives us a better picture of what it is we really want. It’s there in black and white as a reference. It’s not necessary to write a tome, just the pertinent pieces and the big takeaways will suffice to get started. These ideas and observations will knit together in unusual ways and bring an unexpected gift into our lives, the truth of who we are. There will always more, but just beginning to pay more attention to what we want is huge, it plants the seed.
To be drawn by the stronger pull of what we love we have to be quiet enough to hear it. It’s there, just below the surface waiting for us to listen. Setting our self up to tune in is really all that’s needed. Day after day, a little bit at a time, we begin to see what lays beyond the daily routines and demands and build on what we’ve found to be true for us. So please take this good advice: Be kind to yourself, as kind as you are to those you love. Take the time to invest in your own life and listen to what calls to you. By doing this we are drawn into the deeper rhythms of life and begin to live more authentically.
Start listening the answers are there.
kb
