Thursday, March 10, 2011
Joy4Life: Pace yourself...and breathe
Joy4Life: Pace yourself...and breathe: "I have to get this down. I thought I should be writing an intro, something describing my intentions to start a blog and be consistent with b..."
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Pace yourself...and breathe
I have to get this down. I thought I should be writing an intro, something describing my intentions to start a blog and be consistent with blogging. Not only as a means of self expression, but also as a tool to inspire others and create a following for my speaking and writing. Well today's events and epiphanies were so profound that before I can get into all that, I felt I had to get this down. Today was one of those days. One of those days when you feel so in sync. In sync with God, with yourself and with those around you. It's almost magical, these days and so you capture it in its grandest essence for tomorrow may be a totally different day with lessons of its own.
So on this day, a message that I've been receiving a lot lately was again brought into my awareness and I wanted to share it just as I wish to share all the things I intend to write in this blog as they help me follow my own path in life; but I also hope that by sharing my own experiences and insights that I will inspire, motivate and encourage someone else.
So come with me...just for a while as this unfolds.
Today I was confronted with some internal fears and doubts about life, my life. Being confronted with my fears is one thing, but my question was more related to now that I know what I know, what do I do about it? How do I change those things that I truly desire to change? First off, I am in the business of change you could say. I am a licensed professional counselor intern and have been working in social and human services for over 16 years, so I have years of experience in an industry aimed at change of some sort. Because of this, I know firsthand how difficult change can be. Not because I feel I can change others (I have long realized this is impossible and tiresome), but because I have watched others struggling to change even armed with the tools and information I have shared with them with the best intentions to see them improve their lives in some way. Change is difficult. Even more so, it can be scary. This scary feeling is the entire basis of this blog. (Yes, I could have said that in the beginning, but I needed to set the tone.)
So as I was saying, change can be a difficult process and a scary one and as I prepared to face some of my own fears and begin to work towards changing some things, I began to question the process of change itself. Even though change can and sometimes does happen in an instant, the change I am referring to is deep rooted, habitual change at the soul level, not the decision to change lanes in traffic or change toothpaste. The changes I am referring to often do not happen instantly. While the decision to change, the aha moment, may happen instantly, the process of change itself is much like that of a caterpillar going through metamorphosis. It can get hairy, scary and ugly. So as I am pondering all of this, I asked the question: If change is a process (and I now believe that it is), then what does one do in the meantime? What do you do while you are going through the process of change? The answer that came to me was pace yourself and breathe. Could it really be that simple? I then began to recall a time not long ago when I began teaching myself to distance run. Having been a sprinter for five years in high school, I had long decided that I was not a distance runner; so when I made a decision to learn to run and set a goal to run for thirty minutes consistently, it was then that I learned the true meaning of pace yourself...and breathe. Let me say that I approached this decision the same as I had most other things in my life and much like my training and experience as a sprinter had taught me...I set a simple and measurable goal. Start, run fast and finish first. I was good at this, I knew how to do it well, but I soon discovered that this tactic did not apply to running for time or distance. Needless to say, I found myself exhausted and struggling to breathe in the first five minutes. Looking at the other runners, I wondered if it was some special gift they had that I did not have. Determined, I continued going to the gym and running for five minute intervals until I was able to complete fifteen consecutive minutes. Elated, yet nervous that this was as good as I would get, I stayed at this level for weeks until one day something inside pushed me to keep going when I reached the fifteen minute mark. I didn't think I would make it. My legs ached, my lungs hurt and I thought I must not have had on the right clothes, because I felt heavy and clumsy. Nevertheless I persevered and I ended up running for twenty full minutes. Now that I knew I could do twenty minutes, I began increasing my time minute by minute until eventually, I hit my thirty minute goal. The funny thing was, by this time, my goal no longer mattered to me. I had found joy in the sheer act of running itself and I began to think that maybe this is what life is all about. Every day, I realize more and more that there is no end goal in life, no finish line, no destination. The real joy in life, I've found, is in living it day after day. And change is the process of life unfolding minute by minute and breath after breath. So no matter how difficult life gets at times and change seems to be, trust that you and I are a part of a wonderful process that is continually occurring. And if ever, make that "whenever" you feel as if you can't go another step, you feel heavy and clumsy and your lungs ache, remember to pace yourself...and breathe.
So on this day, a message that I've been receiving a lot lately was again brought into my awareness and I wanted to share it just as I wish to share all the things I intend to write in this blog as they help me follow my own path in life; but I also hope that by sharing my own experiences and insights that I will inspire, motivate and encourage someone else.
So come with me...just for a while as this unfolds.
Today I was confronted with some internal fears and doubts about life, my life. Being confronted with my fears is one thing, but my question was more related to now that I know what I know, what do I do about it? How do I change those things that I truly desire to change? First off, I am in the business of change you could say. I am a licensed professional counselor intern and have been working in social and human services for over 16 years, so I have years of experience in an industry aimed at change of some sort. Because of this, I know firsthand how difficult change can be. Not because I feel I can change others (I have long realized this is impossible and tiresome), but because I have watched others struggling to change even armed with the tools and information I have shared with them with the best intentions to see them improve their lives in some way. Change is difficult. Even more so, it can be scary. This scary feeling is the entire basis of this blog. (Yes, I could have said that in the beginning, but I needed to set the tone.)
So as I was saying, change can be a difficult process and a scary one and as I prepared to face some of my own fears and begin to work towards changing some things, I began to question the process of change itself. Even though change can and sometimes does happen in an instant, the change I am referring to is deep rooted, habitual change at the soul level, not the decision to change lanes in traffic or change toothpaste. The changes I am referring to often do not happen instantly. While the decision to change, the aha moment, may happen instantly, the process of change itself is much like that of a caterpillar going through metamorphosis. It can get hairy, scary and ugly. So as I am pondering all of this, I asked the question: If change is a process (and I now believe that it is), then what does one do in the meantime? What do you do while you are going through the process of change? The answer that came to me was pace yourself and breathe. Could it really be that simple? I then began to recall a time not long ago when I began teaching myself to distance run. Having been a sprinter for five years in high school, I had long decided that I was not a distance runner; so when I made a decision to learn to run and set a goal to run for thirty minutes consistently, it was then that I learned the true meaning of pace yourself...and breathe. Let me say that I approached this decision the same as I had most other things in my life and much like my training and experience as a sprinter had taught me...I set a simple and measurable goal. Start, run fast and finish first. I was good at this, I knew how to do it well, but I soon discovered that this tactic did not apply to running for time or distance. Needless to say, I found myself exhausted and struggling to breathe in the first five minutes. Looking at the other runners, I wondered if it was some special gift they had that I did not have. Determined, I continued going to the gym and running for five minute intervals until I was able to complete fifteen consecutive minutes. Elated, yet nervous that this was as good as I would get, I stayed at this level for weeks until one day something inside pushed me to keep going when I reached the fifteen minute mark. I didn't think I would make it. My legs ached, my lungs hurt and I thought I must not have had on the right clothes, because I felt heavy and clumsy. Nevertheless I persevered and I ended up running for twenty full minutes. Now that I knew I could do twenty minutes, I began increasing my time minute by minute until eventually, I hit my thirty minute goal. The funny thing was, by this time, my goal no longer mattered to me. I had found joy in the sheer act of running itself and I began to think that maybe this is what life is all about. Every day, I realize more and more that there is no end goal in life, no finish line, no destination. The real joy in life, I've found, is in living it day after day. And change is the process of life unfolding minute by minute and breath after breath. So no matter how difficult life gets at times and change seems to be, trust that you and I are a part of a wonderful process that is continually occurring. And if ever, make that "whenever" you feel as if you can't go another step, you feel heavy and clumsy and your lungs ache, remember to pace yourself...and breathe.
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