Go faster! Go faster, go faster! Slow down!

  Print out this blog, take it to the mirror, and try the following. 

1.   Put a hand on either cheek, shove your cheeks forward so you look like  a Cabbage Patch Doll, and say, “Go faster! Go faster! Go faster!” 

2.   Suddenly and firmly pull your cheeks back to look like you’re going down a roller coaster and yell, “Slow down!” 

  For some reason this silly sight gag is one of the memories which has stuck with me since childhood.  Why?  I don’t know.  Perhaps so that I could write this very blog.

  This week was a whole lot of Faster! Faster! Faster!  Squeezing in the kids’ summer wishes while there was still time; medical appointments; exercise sessions; three picnics in five days: shove all these together in the blender of my tolerance, and the lid goes flying off.

  Did I get everything done this week?  Well, I guess I’ve satisfied all the demands placed on my family and me.  But now the house is in disarray, the laundry has piled up, and sleep has pitched fits every night.

  This morning I decided it was time to take the bull by the horns.  I grabbed it, I looked into its frenzied eyes, and I searched for a way to soothe it.  Candlelight came to mind.  Bedrooms are for sleep, not for to-do lists and medicines.  I took some time to look at my  catastrophe of a night stand and to clear it.  Everything off: books, safety pins, lotion, pens, greeting cards, medications, kids’ test scores – everything I’d been hauling along with me to the Land of Nod.

  I washed and dusted my night stand.

  I selected a number of items to keep on my night stand: messages of peace and of joyful, thankful living.  Everything else got put into its place.

  I’m listening to peaceful music while I type.  I’m mapping out those tasks which make sense to reach today, how they fit into obligations.  I’m not going to cram it all in.

  Am I going to exercise today?  No.  Will I care for my health today?  Yes.  I will use food as fuel for my body; I will allow my body to recover from all that it went through this week; I will release my mind from the pressures of forms and registrations; I will create a pool of tranquility for my soul.

  And with balance and peace restored, I’ll be ready to face the appointments and paperwork of next week, and for my next goal: jogging with my son three miles by next Saturday.

~Karin