Lately I have come to fully understand the meaning of the phrase: Just breathe.
Right now it is evening and sitting at my kitchen table, the summer melodies of crickets waft in the window. Tonight is the first night this summer that I have noticed them.
Every day I enjoy my husband and my children, my friends and family, and those precious quiet times when everyone in the house is asleep and I can just sit and think.
I am finding a quiet, inner peace comes from this renewed focus on what is important in my life. It is a quiet within my soul that is still and deep beyond measure. Paradoxically, the quietness leads to great activity and productivity. I spend less time spinning my wheels or preparing to focus on a task and instead I can just simply sit down and do it. I have already contemplated the task and possible approaches so I am ready to act as soon as I have the opportunity to sit down. In the space between, I can cherish my husband and play with my children without the burden of losing focus on them.
I have always enjoyed contemplation but until recently I have always engaged in contemplation through a state of near manic focus and concentration, pushing everything else in my life away. Some undefinable event has broadened my view of late. Why now? I have no idea. Now I enjoy contemplation as part of a broader awareness of my husband, children, family, friends, and my life.
Just breathe…
