I don’t know about you, but the one thing that stresses me out is when my technology doesn’t work. I recently decided to upgrade my Microsoft account to enable me to share my calendar between email and Teams. Ever since, it has been one technical challenge after another. The most frustrating thing is it should be a very simple process.
Last week, I was allowing this to get in the way of my peace I was driving home from a meeting mulling this over and could sense my stress levels rising. Knowing that being out in nature helps me to ground myself and see things clearly, I pulled to go for a walk along a lovely beech ridge. The kites were soaring in the sky, and as I walked, I could feel the stress ebbing away. Twenty minutes later I was feeling better, but still a little edgy so pulled a little stool out of the car and sat, took some deep breaths and settled myself. I focused on my breathing and felt my energy shifting to a more natural rhythm. As I sat enjoying the scenery around me, the leaves on the trees wafting in the breeze, the sounds of the birds with a red kite providing a stunning aerial display, the weight lifted with a reminder that in the greater scheme of things none of this really mattered. I sat for a few more minutes, watched a grasshopper make its way across the grass in front of me and smiled. Everything was ok.
It is so easy sometimes to get caught up in the hurly burly of life and to think that continuing with something that is zapping our energy is the right thing to do. It is a bit like trying to push a boulder up a hill. By recognising the signs, stopping and rebalancing we can see a way forward. My decision that morning was to stop, let go and ultimately take a different route.
Later in the balmy evening I sat in the garden, reflecting on the day and how much better I felt by having let go. I heard some rustling followed by a few little snorts and looked down to see a hedgehog wandering past, snuffling around in the vegetation. This was the first one I had seen for several years. Now if that wasn’t a sign!
99% of the time I can let things go of things quickly and easily, however this incident reminded me that I will be knocked off balance from time to time; and when this happens, I need to be kind to myself. I am also reminded that it isn’t about what happens in our life that is important, it is about what we choose to do at those times that is crucial to our health and wellbeing.
We are all a work in progress! So, lets breathe deep and fly high…