“You will be faithful to your trust today, forgetting no one, bringing everyone into the boundless circle of your peace, the holy sanctuary where you rest.” ~A Course in Miracles Workbook, Lesson 109

The days are spinning faster and in the busyness I feel myself being swept up, but I do not wish to be carried away. Work is intense, the stress high. There is a tension that exists between need and capacity and the pull is fully palpable. I realize it is the nature of the “beast.” The need is always so much greater than what is humanly possible. Yet, if  you let it, it will eat you up and spit you out.

So how do we reckon with this ever looming, ever growing monster? I used to think the answer could be found in peddling faster, working harder with increasingly longer hours. Yes, some days that is exactly what is called for and we push the bounds to get it done. There are deadlines to meet, there are human beings who count on us to come through on our commitments. There is no denying the stakes are high.

I’ve become addicted to multi-tasking. I just don’t feel productive if I am not trying to do two things at once. Yet, studies reveal that multi-tasking is not effective and can waste more time in having to re-do work. Juggling multiple important priorities can be challenging to say the least. Recently, I am trying a new tact. I am giving my full attention to projects for limited amounts of time. This enables progress to be made in unison but without multi-tasking. I’m finding it helpful.

The most important lesson for me is the necessity of self-care. I find that when I am hectic, I let go of self-care first. I feel too exhausted to exercise. In the morning, rather than meditate, I just want to sip a cup of coffee and take time to wake up. Yet, I am coming to understand that is not wise to do this.  Some days I cave in to my tiredness and that is okay. However, I am making a conscious effort to do my self-care routines more faithfully. Each time I do, I feel so much better and I am more effective in all aspects of my work and caregiving. Otherwise, things begin to spiral, or as they say, "it's a vicious cycle." All these words seem to connote images of violence. This is true; it is violence against ourselves, or as a dear friend once reflected back to me, “spiritual suicide.” Wow, did that give me an awakening jolt.

We must not get swept away and lose sight of what matters. Spring is here. Mother Earth is giving birth to Iris, Buttercup, Rose and Jasmine. Are we going to visit these bundles of joy? These little miracles of creation, or will we lose out on these precious moments of their new lives. We can’t hit the rewind button, puff… it's gone. So stop the madness and take time out for what you love. Even if in little snippets reach out to Love, and come rest in God today.

~liz Sorensen Wessel

An Excerpt from A Course in Miracles, Lesson 109

“Each hour that you take your rest today, a tired mind is suddenly made glad, a bird with broken wings begins to sing, a stream long dry begins to flow again. The world is born again each time you rest, and hourly remember that you came to bring the peace of God into the world, that it might take its rest along with you.”

Note: Forest photo, photographer unknown; Rose at Judy Vine's Garden, photo by ~liz; Bluebird, photo by Barry Pike