Permission

It’s important to have friends. They remind you of things you know, but somehow forget.

This afternoon, I vented to a very wise friend about how undisciplined I am and I guffawed at the fact that I have found myself spending AN HOUR AND A HALF in the morning, journaling and reading and pondering life and listening to the birds sing and watching the sun come up and just enjoying the amazingness of life.

“I have things to do!” I exclaimed. “How can I accomplish anything, if I am sitting outside staring at the sky for hours?”

She asked how I felt when I did that. Easy answer… peaceful, calm, like I have the best life ever, and I could probably actually stay out there all day.

Then she dropped a bomb on me. She gave me permission to give myself permission to keep taking that HOUR AND A HALF to sit with life and find my peace before the storm of my day comes at me.

Wow. Just like that, I remembered… this is MY life. I make the rules. I make my schedule. How liberating. How exciting. I may not always have the opportunity to spend my time like this, but today and tomorrow I do.

AND… I KNOW that when I don’t practice this mindfulness, I miss things… the beauty and awe of the sunrise, the smell of a fresh rainfall… and boy trees. Huh. Life is so funny and good and beautiful and weird and all the things… if we’d only stop to look.