Friday, February 26, 2010

A time to slow down

Peg's been reading "The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have" by Mark Nepo. There's a quote she told me yesterday as we did our daily morning "checking in" that helped me, as I hope it helps you.

I've got some heavy responsibilities with my design work. Panicky clients, jobs that are taking far more many hours to complete than I estimated, immovable and looming deadlines.

When I told Peg what I had on my plate for the day, she smiled and opened the book, and read this to me:

"Unless someone is bleeding or can't breathe, unless there is some true physical requirement to act swiftly, a sense of urgency is a terrible illusion, a trick that happens, again and again, because life inside our skin and outside our skin are forever different."

Though it's not helpful, practical or useful to carry the unseen weight of "urgency," I do it more often than not. But we've been through true urgency this summer... and seeing Peg's serene face and bright eyes is my reminder to keep everything else in perspective.