Long time between entries. So much has happened in the past few months and I have allowed some things to get away but it seems that it was meant to be.
I was planning to do a video blog while I was away but it didn’t happen. I took my camera which has a video function with me on the Pyrenees hike and was so challenged by it, so totally focussed on what I had to do, that I forgot all about it.
I had never really hiked before so I was not prepared for the physical intensity. As a seaside dwelling person, and used to mainly flat or gently undulating ground, I found the hike very challenging. I usually don’t have to think about the act of walking, I just DO it, it’s automatic. In the Pyrenees, having to walk up very steep slopes, with little or no discerable track, covered with stones and rocks meant that there were times I had to think before I placed my foot on the ground, and I had to slow my pace. I am very much used to walking at the fast same pace and soon found that it was just not possible. One of my hiking partners powered up the tracks; he lives in that area and is used to the terrain and the altitude – that is his comfort zone.
It made me think about life in general. I don’t know about you, but that is how I am used to leading my life – wanting to do things too easily sometimes and then being surprised when a lot of effort needs to be made. Leading a life at the same pace can be right sometimes and be too fast other times. There are times when it is necessary to slow down down, or to even STOP and think about what to do next – life cannot be lived at the same pace all the time. This is especially true when you are out of your comfort zone. When you are doing something very different it can take time for your level of fitness or expertise to develop.
I thought about how I was applying my thinking to my life – I expected that everything I did would be a breeze!! When I started up my business, I expected everything to flow like it does in my day job. I thought that I would be able to power along on a daily basis, coming home from work, creating a business, products etc in just a matter of hours, all running long smoothly with information at my fingertips. Other coaches were doing things that I wasn’t and I expected that I should be doing the same even though when I thought about it, it didn’t feel quite right for me. I didn’t feel the same passion they did about things; I now know that what they were doing was not MY passion and so when I tried I only gave my half-hearted focus. No wonder I felt it was a drag.
Going far away from home, practicing yoga for hours every day and hiking, showed me the value in slowing down. I realised that there is value in NOT making decisions straight away, just for the sake of taking action. There is value in just BEING. When you are actually ‘being’ then you can do. I read somewhere recently that we are human ‘beings’, not human doings. And ‘being’ includes being true to yourself.
“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.”
Eddie Cantor
It is perfectly OK to ‘be’ before deciding on an action; to take time to look around, to do what feels right for YOU. It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing; what matters is that what you do is right for YOU!
P.S In the days after writing this piece my father died. I was pretty upset obviously including that fact that he didn’t wait for me. I had read that when people know they are going to die, they wait for their loved ones. Well, this certainly didn’t happen. Dad lived a few hundred kilometres away from me. I had rung him a few days earlier and told him that I would make the trip over to see him on the weekend. About an hour before I was due to depart, I received the phone call to tell me he passed away.
I have had time to think about it and realised that Dad wanted it that way; he was ready to go – nearly 88 – and he didn’t like fuss. So, my father died n a way that was meaningful to him. It mattered to him how he died and in the days preceding his death he arranged to settle a few things. Dad had decided that had had enough and wanted to go. He went with little fuss, just the way he wanted it to be.
Csokolom apuka
