Last week I asked you to claim your dose of magic and miracles every day. One of the magical things that happened for me was that things (my marvelous large to-do list!) seemed less overwhelming. I felt like I slowed down, eased up, and quit stressing. And guess what? I still got things done. Slowly, steadily, and done! I made some connections, tried some new things, made some mistakes, and learned some good lessons. All in all a fabulous week.
Remember the tale of the turtle and the hare? The moral of the story is slow and steady beats fast. That’s the message of today’s note to you: to embrace the turtle in you!
The energy of pushing to complete things, rushing, and above all of stressing, takes us out of the moment. It keeps us living in the future, thinking always of that next thing needing doing, of the long list of undone things, and so forth. You can only be truly alive in the present moment. Therefore, worrying is completely non-productive. Not only is worrying future-tripping, it is also using your imagination to invite in negative scenarios. Not a good use of the incredible power of your thoughts.
Living fully, feeling joy every day of your life requires that you stay in the present moment. Joy for no reason at all can happen as you breathe in, breathe out, relax, and repeat. Try it! See if you don’t get a buzz of joy when you simply focus on fresh air coming in, spent air and tension going out, then simply be for a moment, until you need to inhale again. It’s remarkable.
There are other qualities the turtle has that bear remarking on. They use their environment to regulate their temperature. When things get too hot, they move to the shade. Too cold? They find the sun (or hibernate!) Paying attention to when we need to change environments for the good of our health is a worthy habit.
A turtle’s shell is not strictly for shutting the world out – in fact, it is the turtle’s largest sensing organ. The turtle feels the world through its head, feet, and shell. How fully are you using your skin, nerve-endings, and intuitive senses to feel the world around you, respond to its cues? Not just the cues from your 5 senses, but from your “shell,” your intuitive, creative powers?
Life is not just about responding. It’s about being proactively creative. So since you’ve read this far, here’s your reward. Some water turtles manage to stay under water so long because they’ve learned to breathe through their butts! Honest to goodness. I read it in a book. Of course it’s not stated that way, but, hey – the entertainment factor is truly worthy.
With that, I say once again, embrace the turtle in you! And if you can learn to breathe through your butt, you should be writing your own blog, not hanging out reading mine!
Coach’s Challenge: Take your cue from the turtle this week. Sense the world fully. Pull in when you need protection and internal time. Proceed slowly and with every confidence that it will all get done. And for heaven’s sake, breathe. In any way you know how! Please, share your journey, leave a comment. You can be sure someone else in the community will benefit by it. I know I do!
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