Busy-ness

This is probably the hardest part of balance - cutting out the unnecessary busy-ness of life. There are things we all need to do to keep our lives running smoothly - we have to grocery shop, assure our children have clothing, that we get them to school and activities, that we get ourselves to our jobs, and pay our bills. Other than that - we have options. We can stay home in the evening if we choose...even on week-ends. We can disconnect from online sources of busy-ness - like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

Worse than all of the external stimuli that crowd our lives is the internal dialogue that never shuts off. Who knew they would worry 24/7 about their children? Who knew life as an adult would be so fraught with angst and the endless to-do list that loops in our minds? Michael A. Singer, in “The Untethered Soul,” explains that our bodies have the same response to worrying about something as they do if that same thing actually happens to us. All those circulating stress hormones, triggered by the fight-or-flight response, do their damage in our bodies. They cause a higher incidence of heart disease and certain cancers. Given that over 90% of what we worry about never happens, that is a lot of damage being done for nothing.

Controlling the busy-ness is a constant struggle. What can wait? Everything in our instant-gratification society seems like such an immediate need - so pressing. Until you practice shutting off. What happened because you didn’t attend that event? Did the sky fall because you put off laundry or cleaning until the week-end? Who suffered because you laid down your worry? How much better did you feel because you elected to shut off the TV and go to bed at 8:00 pm once a month…or once a week?

If I do it right, I assess this in myself once a week. I make a list, on paper (getting it out of your mind helps), of things I’d like to get done. I plan when I will journal (or blog), what time I will go to bed based on my work schedule, when I will exercise and I plan my food for the week. Pre-planning makes day-to-day life go much more smoothly. When worry starts creeping in, I say the Serenity Prayer – sometimes multiple times a day…or multiple times an hour. You have this one life. Your goal should be to live it well and with as much joy as you can. In order to experience joy, you must be able to calm yourself, cut out the busy-ness, slow down and let joy in.

p.s. My Christmas tree is still up and it's January 6th.