busy

a couple of the books i am reading right now are having a profound impact on the way i look at my life. in one of them, Soul and the City: Finding God in the Noise and Frenzy of Life, by Marcy Heidish, i am reading a chapter called 'finding God in stress', and in the few pages i have read so far, i have seen an unpleasant reflection of myself.

the author relates how on one monday morning, she received three emails in a row, all beginning with a variation of the phrase, 'i am busy'. she went on to tell how throughout that week, many of the other emails she received also told of how busy their authors were.

it strikes me that in our world and culture, being busy is easy. it has become the default setting for most of us. ask ten people how they are doing, and easily more than half will reply, 'busy.' couple that with the stresses of life, both good and bad, usual and unusual, and it seems that we've got a population of people who have no clue how to stop, how to shut off. how to rest.

i really hate being like everyone else.

simply deciding that stress and busyness will no longer be part of one's life is a nice fairy tale, but the truth is there is more work and discipline involved in making such a decision a reality. as a first step to doing so, i am erasing the word 'busy' from my vocabulary.

when someone asks me how i am, 'busy' is no longer an adequate answer. when writing letters or emails to friends, i will no longer relate epic tales of the busyness of my life. in essence, i will no longer allow the condition of my life to be determined by the things and quantity of things that i have to do.

if i can change the way i think during this season, then the rest of the year should be a piece of cake {she says hopefully}.

how are you doing?