Sunday, February 03, 2013

The Busy-ness of Life

A colleague recently sighed, “I want some boredom!”

We’ve all been there.  Had times in our lives when the busy-ness of life is so consuming, whether with good or bad things, that we long for a break.  Sometimes I write ‘relax’ and ‘rest’ on my to-do list and have found that actually helped me remember to do so.
On the flip side, we’ve all also had those times of complacency when we are muddling along, not particularly engaged in anything exciting.  We go through the motions of the routine busi-ness of the day to day.  That’s when we might sigh, “Where’s the thrill?”

Last night as I was packing I put a couple of rubber bands around the box of nails and screws.  This morning, I saw that one of them had snapped.   It had not been the right size for the job.  I had asked it to do too much.
It’s a unique challenge to find the right amount of tension for the rubber band of our life.  It needs to be taut enough so we are not lax and lifeless but are involved in the business of living fully, yet not too tight so that we will snap and break.  Have you recently felt that the tension on your life’s rubber band is too much, too little, or just right?  Perhaps one of the following thoughts will speak to where your rubber band is today:

Problems arise in that one has to find a balance between what people need from you and what you need for yourself.  Jessye Norman, opera singer

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. Dale Carnegie, author

Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.  Lao Tzu, philosopher

God didn't do it all in one day. What makes me think I can? Author Unknown

The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. William James, psychologist

Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are. Chinese Proverb

Let’s do one thing today to either create, lessen, or sustain the tension on our rubber band so that we can celebrate our unique contribution to the world.

Marilyn

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