Beetroot!

Since we came back from our U.S. vacation, I have been really busy doing lots of fun things, including work. But... there have been some signs that perhaps I was a little out of whack... a martial arts master told me I had some serious signs of tiredness and emotional blockage; a doctor told me that I must be clamping my jaws when I sleep at night due to stress; my back felt like it was about to go out. Of course... since I obviously know how to manage my time and have worked steadfastly on eliminating negative stress ... I totally ignored all the signs.

It was thanks to Beetroot (see photo of pickled beetroot) I realised what was happening. I was in the garden, on a glorious fall day, with birds signing, Melvin the cat at my side, and I was picking the beetroot out of the ground. I felt like this was a really awful chore and the quicker I got it done, the quicker I could get to the next thing on my list so I could make sure I got that really important work done so I could make sure I would be absolutely perfect as a facilitator, so .... and on and so on. Suddenly - I realised this was ALL WRONG! I love being in the garden! I love being outside on such a beautiful day! I quit my job at Cat so I could take the time to do these types of things! So why was I rushing through this to rush through the 100 other things on my to do list for that day? Why was I feeling guilty that 93 of those things might not get done today and must be postponed until tomorrow instead of feeling guilty about not enjoying the moment?

So, I SLOWED DOWN! I took the time to wash the beetroot and prepare it for pickling and baking and really enjoyed it. I came back to enjoy the moment! Now the challenge is make sure I do that more often and even all the time! It showed me that although I have changed a lot since I left my corporate job... I am still on my journey to be as peaceful, calm and grounded as I would like to be! I have to work at it each day!

I told my coach about this little episode and she reminded about the work of Eckart Tolle. Time to go back and re-read some of that!