Quiet

‎”I will spend more time with myself this lifetime than with anyone else. Let me learn to be the kind of person I would like to have as a friend.”
Anonymous

I am not sure I could honestly tell you, I have been “the kind of person I would like to have as a friend.”

Who would possibly want a friend that is always busy and stressed out and constantly in perpetual motion? I personally hate people like that, and yet, I must admit that much of my life has been about living at breakneck speed with lots of hoops in the air at the same time.

I am really good at “getting it done and quickly moving onto the next,” but quite honestly, living like a whirling dervish has been exhausting not only for me, but for others in my life.

I want to get off the treadmill and stop whizzing through my life.

I want to slow down and become aware of all the possibilities for joyful living right now, instead of “waiting until. . . . ”

I want to experience my life as a marathon rather than the sprint it has been.    In order to make this happen, I need to change and begin to live in a new way.

One big problem is that what others consider, “slowing down,” feels like a “total standstill,” to me.  I am a Type A personality.   I am not at all comfortable with “slow.”  However, I realize I need to make some act in a different way in order to be, not only the friend I would like to have, but the friend I would like to be.

Fortunately for me, there are lots of wise people around willing to teach me how to live more consciously and authentically and none of them recommend going faster.

Normally, I would make a  long list of every possible suggestion I have read or heard that could improve my life.  However, in the effort to live more consciously and a great deal less of overwhelm, I chosen to begin with 3 thoughts followed by ideas as to how I might begin the process to create an more thoughtful and less stressful life for myself:

1.  Stop doing and start being!

~  Begin each day in solitude, taking an hour for quiet, prayer and meditation

~  Stopping to think before I act. Think before I act.

2. Let go of my expectations!

~  Be grateful for the all the things in my life.

~  Deal with what is in my life, rather than what I  might want

3.  Nourish myself

~  Spend time in nature

~  Be open to all sorts of learning

Each of us has different needs and ways to begin to create the life we would like to live.  What is it that you might do to  improve the quality of your life and enable you to become the friend you would like to have?

Good luck, you are surely worth it!

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