Don’t we sometimes get so busy doing, running faster and faster, trying to get it all done, that we fail to really realize how fast time is flying by? Before you know it, an entire day has flown by and we suddenly realize we missed most of it, that is, we weren’t really present at all. When I recognize the swirl I get myself into in moments like these, I try to remember something Kim taught me in our first year of marriage, “Just Be” she would suggest. I used to have my long Saturday to-do list and get so stressed if Kim and I didn’t get it all done that day. As I reflect back on it now, most of it wasn’t all that important. You might even say Kim was right, ”who cares?” My diligence to get more and more done, caught up in this particular form of ’Chasing’ instead of ‘Simplifying’ my life and living present to the wonder of now, led my father to routinely tease me that the country song (I forget the title) with the chorus, “I’m in a hurry to get things done, oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun. All I really have to do is live and die, but I’m in a hurry and don’t know why” was the perfect reflection of my then mindset. He would routinely tell me, “relax son, there is plenty of time”. I never could understand why he thought that way or why he pinned me with that song until that one particular Saturday in my first year of marriage to Kim. Up I got, eager to get started to beat the crowds, list in hand and there was Kim, my best friend and devoted ally in getting it all done. Only this time something was different. “Put your list away Preston. I just want us ‘to be’ this morning.” “What the heck are you talking about?” ”Just sit and be with me for a while”, Kim replied. I could tell right away by her demeanor that I better do it, or we would never get to my list. She sat on the couch, patted the spot right next to her and down I sat, I’m certain wearing a scowl on my face. Reaching for the TV remote, she stopped me, “No Preston, we’re just going to be right now. No TV”. I still remember looking around, thoroughly dismayed, impatiently sitting there next to my wonderful wife for what seemed like an eternity. Wow! I couldn’t even sit down for five minutes to simply be present with my wife. I had a lot of work to do. What a lesson Kim began to share with me, though I’m not sure she knew it at the time. I must say it took countless ‘just be’ sessions with her to get me oriented in a better direction, a direction I still work toward every day. I’m telling you though, once I learn something, it sticks. Fast forward to last Tuesday evening before trash pickup-day the next morning. Kim says, “Preston, don’t you think the trash needs taking out? I could also really use some help with some of the chores today.” Instead of ‘Complaining’, I immediately thought, ’Be Positive and Playful’. I replied, “Oh I will, promise. Right now I’m ‘just being’ baby, ‘just being’.” HA! You should have seen the look of love she gave me just then.
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