Embracing the Space

So, I started my workday today as I often do — by logging on to my computer, connecting in to my social media sites, checking email and scanning my daytimer to see “what’s on the agenda.”  Each of these activities allows me to “get connected” and prepare for what’s ahead.

Today, I had a very interesting thing happen.  When I opened my email program, I was greeted by several messages from individuals who were needing to reschedule appointments, which is not a problem at all.  I’m nothing if not flexible.  As I responded to each request in turn, however, and then stopped to check my now altered agenda, I noticed that with the exception of one appointment, my entire calendar had been cleared for today.  That’s right, every single appointment had been rescheduled to later in the week.  Which means that I’ve been presented with a very spacious day.

As I sat with this noticing for a bit, I was surprised by the different internal reactions I experienced.  On one hand, there was a bit (albeit a small bit) of frustration over having to rejig things.  Not major; and it was there.  Along with this, almost in opposition to this, there was a feeling of “freedom” — that’s the best word I can think of — a sense of having the option to use my time as I wanted, rather than having it be punctuated by appointments.  This gave rise to a sense of gratitude — after all, it’s like being given the gift of time in abundance, time to address those tasks that often fall to the bottom of the to-do list.

Then there was this really weird feeling, perhaps the feeling that surprised me most of all. For this, I can find no single-word description.  Instead, I’ll have to resort to a combination of words — it was a mix of curiousity and angst.  It’s like I was excited about what would unfold on this day that was suddenly wide-open, and nervous about it all at the same time.  I mean, why the heck is the universe clearing my calendar for me?  What’s up?

As I sit here post-lunch, here’s what I know for sure.  In the midst of all of these feelings, there’s a paradoxical desire to simultaneously “use my time wisely” — dive into busy-work and get things done as it were — and to give myself over to the time that’s presented itself.  This morning, I’ve done a bit of both.  I’ve absolutely tackled some “mundane” tasks — the filing, the research, the organizing — things that would ordinarily be overlooked in service of more important things.  But I’ve also allowed myself to just sit, breathe and listen.  I still don’t know exactly why the space opened up for me.  And I don’t think I need to know, at least not yet.  Sitting, breathing and listening is allowing my head to clear, my thoughts to crystalize, ideas to form.   And so I’ve let go of needing to know, and simply embraced the spaciousness, letting my mind wander, doing what I feel called to do, and trusting that it’s all good.

Bottom-line learning:  when the universe hands you a gift, in this case the gift of time, go ahead and be aware of your reaction.  And, don’t let your noticings rob you of embracing and enjoying the gift.  All will become clear when it’s meant to.

Learning to Make Lemonade

When I think of summer, I often think of lemonade — a nice, thirst-quenching, icy-cold glass of pure yum.  I will confess that I rarely make it from scratch — frozen concentrate works quite well for my children’s lemonade stands.  But I do know that the “from scratch” recipe isn’t that hard; essentially, it’s lemon juice, water and sugar (as well as ice, to give it that essential coolness).

This morning, I was reminded by a colleague that “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade” — and this old adage got me thinking.  In the context of life, when life provides the lemons what are the life equivalents of water, sugar and ice?  Given that I’ve got a few lemons being handed to me right now, this seems like a good question for me to ponder.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

Life lemonade is made up of the lemons that life provides, as well as plenty of openness (water), and trust (sugar).  The openness on your part is absolutely required — it makes the pure lemon juice more palatable, even without sugar.  And the openness is about having both an open heart, and an open mind.  When making life’s lemonade, it’s essential for you to be open to the idea that something good can and will get created, or at least emerge, from the lemons.

The sweetness of the beverage is provided by trust.  If you’re going to make life lemonade, you’ve got to trust that the universe isn’t handing you anything you can’t handle, and that you’ve got the  creative genius to end up with something that serves.  When you stand in the place of trust, you willingly let go of the control demons that can make any situation sour, and allow the lemons to be transformed into something that’s more than simply palatable (which is what happens when you add the openness, aka water) — it’s down-right pleasant.

So now, you’ve got a beverage that’s almost perfect. It’s just not cold enough.  And if you want it to be cold — you’ve got to add the element of time.  That’s right, give it time to chill.  It’s funny that in colloquial terms, the word “chill” means to “relax”.  If you’re making life lemonade, you’ve got to relax and allow time for the perfect beverage to brew.

Bottom-line is this:  if life hands you lemons, you can end up with a really good, life-enhancing lemonade.  All you’ve got to do is add the right amount of openness, trust and time, and all will be well.  The metaphor seems to fit for me right now.  Here’s hoping it works for you.

Receiving the Gift of Time

We live in a fast-paced, busy world.  This likely isn’t news to anybody.  If you look around, it’s easy to see that people are constantly racing against the clock, trying to fit a myriad of tasks into a seemingly little amount of time, and simultaneously complaining about the busy-ness of it all.  I’ve experienced the same busy-ness, and I know you have too.  What I’ve also discovered, however, is that there actually is a way to increase the time available to you — or at least make better use of what’s available to you.  Simply put, if you want to increase the amount of time in your day, RECEIVE IT.

You see, while it is true that there are 24 hours in any given day, and 60 minutes in each of those hours, the way in which youopen yourself up to that time determines in great measure how your time will unfold.  If you approach each day (or whatever unit of time you care to use in this example) with an attitude of “there’s not enough time” — well, there simply won’t be enough.  If, however, you apply a perspective such as “time expands as I need it” (a mantra which I have used with huge success in my world), you’ll start to notice that time does indeed seem to expand.

The only explanation which I can offer for this is to say that time, like everything else on the planet, is subject to the Law of Attraction.  So whatever you focus on, even with respect to time, is what you get.  Put your focus on the lack of time, lack is what shows up.  Put your focus on the abundance of time, you have more time than you’d have imagined possible.

When I align the simplicity of this learning with what I see out there in the world, and indeed with what I periodically experience myself as a “time-scarcity” I have to wonder, how open are people to receiving the gift of time?  How attached are they to a particular view of time that implies they must be constantly on the move, with no room to breathe?  What I know for sure is that, when I allow myself to stand in a perspective of abundance with respect to time, time shows up.  Time becomes available.  Time does expand as I need it.  And I find time available for my use where I couldn’t have predicted it would be.

Bottom-line:  there is more than enough time in the world for everything that you want and need to do.  The question is this:  are you ready and willing to receive it?