We had quite the weather week in Austin this week. Monday, multiple tornadoes touched down around the greater Austin area, one (pictured here) not more than ½ mile from my house. (Here’s an actual video of the tornado on You Tube here. It’s crazy to watch.)
As you can imagine, I was without power until Tuesday morning and the internet didn’t come back until Tuesday night.
It was alarming how often I caught myself picking up my phone to check for a connection. So, into the drawer went the phone. It was also alarming how uncomfortable it was without the phone or computer to go to.
I finally STOPPED doing and I looked up. It was a forced stop, yes, but it was enjoyable and enlightening.
If you’re a woman like me, even a Type-A woman over 60 having left your career a while ago, you still get yourself caught up in the doing, gathering, planning of life.
You know how important it is to take time to process what you’re doing, gathering, and planning as you go. But, you still don’t - even with your newfound retirement time.
Perhaps it’s our culture of instant gratification or our paradigm of Action = Productivity.
But, the constant doing keeps you in the perpetual position of always looking for the next thing, rarely looking back to process or enjoy what you’ve done. And by now, we’ve all done a lot.
It reminds me of a Japanese Zen fable.
A great Japanese master received a local elder who came to inquire about Zen.
The master served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full and then kept on pouring. The elder watched the overflow until she no longer could restrain herself.
“STOP!” “Can’t you see the cup is full!?”
“This is you.”, the master said. “You are like this teacup, so full that nothing more can be added. Come back to me when the cup is empty."
Come back to me with an empty mind.”
If you’re trying to build something new after leaving your career, or if you’re still trying to figure out what you want now that you’ve left your career, I challenge you to take the time and STOP, look up and empty your cup.
For me, I’ve recommitted to a daily 15-minute, 3-step mindfulness practice.
If I don’t “feel” it one morning, I know I only have 15 minutes to get through. When I do “feel” it and get into flow, which is what normally happens, then hooray!
So, here’s to fabulous Spring weather, taking time to smell the budding Spring growth, and here’s to emptying your cup.
