Day 185: The Peace Arrived First

Plastic containers are crowded into my living space so that even the dogs are having a hard time finding a path through.

Outside there is furniture I have to find someone to reassemble.

And yet there is a calmness I haven't felt in a while.

It's saying to slow down and not be in such a hurry to find a place for everything. It can wait.

Instead, sit. Let it go. Relax.

How is that possible in this small space of a motorhome overtaken with plastic containers?

And when I look outside I see another big pile of stuff.

And yet, I do feel myself letting go and relaxing.

Not being concerned with the fact that I didn't do as many videos this week or that I missed some classes I had planned to attend.

That would normally make me feel behind and that I needed to work through the weekend to catch up.

But, no, I don't feel that.

It's an odd feeling when your mind and body have shifted to something unfamiliar.

And yet that happens when we make a change, a small shift that signals something.

Your mind, body, and soul are reconnecting. Aligning.

And in that moment, before you even start to feel anything, your nervous system is settling because something has told it that it's safe.

It's ok to stop constantly doing and just be.

But, because the feeling is so unfamiliar, many people will quickly get back to being busy with so much to do that they don't have to acknowledge they feel anything at all.

Just keep doing and pretend that is the goal.

I believe it's better to deal with that odd, unfamiliar feeling of calm and sit with it.

Give it space. Feel it.

And if you're lucky, that shift clicks in and the feeling stays with you and you find that sense of calm expanding from moments to minutes to hours.

And then it becomes a part of you.

That's my plan for this weekend.

I'm going to nurture that odd feeling. Welcome it. Ask it to stay.

Maybe that's what feels so different.

The calm isn't arriving because everything is finished. Nothing is finished.

There are still containers everywhere. Furniture still waiting to be assembled.

Things to sort through. Decisions to make. Work to do.

Life is still unfolding.

And yet the peace is here anyway.

For so many years, I unconsciously believed calm would be the reward for getting everything done.

That someday I would finally reach a point where there was nothing left to figure out, organize, improve, fix, or accomplish.

But life doesn't seem to work that way.

There will always be another project, another goal, another box to unpack.

Another chapter beginning.

Maybe peace was never waiting at the finish line. It has been available all along.

We just have to stop long enough to notice it.

So this weekend, I'm going to do something that would have been difficult for a younger version of me.

I'm going to let some things wait.

I'm going to sit with this unfamiliar feeling.

I'm going to welcome it.

And now that I talk this all out with you, instead of asking it to stay, I'm going to recognize that it was here all along.

Today's Gentle Practice

Notice one thing in your life that feels unfinished.

A project.

A decision.

A conversation.

A room full of boxes.

Something you've been telling yourself has to be completed before you can relax.

Then ask yourself:

What if I allowed myself to feel at peace before it's finished?

Not because it doesn't matter.

Not because you're giving up.

But because your peace doesn't have to wait for perfect conditions.

Sit with that possibility for a few moments today. See what shifts.

With you,

Lynn