A student of mine reached out for support yesterday, they were feeling overwhelmed by the world and the amount of work being thrust upon them. The overwhelm was a symptom of heaping high achievement expectations upon their own shoulders.
This made me wonder why we do that to ourselves. Why do we expend so much energy on one event, one test, one assignment at work? Is anyone else judging our result the way we are? What will this task mean years from now? Will it have changed the world or will it just fade away into an event that meant nothing?
The minutes in our day are the ONLY true currency we have in life. The things we accomplish, the items we accumulate over time, these are not the things we take with us in our final moments and they will not matter in the grand tally of our life.
Play with me for a moment. Let’s consider the thing that might be currently whirling about in your mind, spiraling you down into the pit of anxiety. You’ve likely been to the pit before, you’ve also likely accomplished that goal, or one similar, before.
When you finished the exam, the project at work or whatever you set out to do, how much time did you spend feeling the sense of accomplishment? How many minutes did you take to praise yourself for seeing it through? Did you take 10 minutes? 5? ZERO?
In comparison, how many minutes, hours or even days, not to mention sleepless nights, did you SPEND worrying about the doing of that task. If minutes are the currency of life, was the spending worth the outcome? What is the level of satisfaction of that spend? Is your spirit wallet full or empty now that you have accomplished the task?
How many of those precious minutes do you want to allot to the little things, the necessary things and where else could you focus your time and energy?
We human beings have so much to offer the world and each other, especially now. Let us all carefully consider the minutes we have on our life clock. What could we do with the time that will give us a return of joy? Where can we focus with our kind and loving hearts to multiply the joy for self and others?
Meditation, walk in nature, or a call to a friend who might be feeling alone right now. Those are good investments. Reading, writing in a journal or helping out a neighbour who can’t rake their own leaves right now or walk their dog, those are acts of kindness that will fill our heart banks and multiply love in the world.
We have a short time as spiritual beings in these human vehicles. Let’s spend that time wisely so that when it is our time to review our life’s account, we will smile and say it was worth it.
Patricia Meier
SparksofHealing.ca
