It's been a while

The months of summer have disappeared into the days of fall. Where did time go and what did I do with it? My week away with my Parayogis peeps seems so far in the past and yet it was only a few weeks ago.

Time. It seems illusive. And yet the reality is that my mind has been so quickly pulled from one task to another, one person to another, one expectation to another, that time seems to have speed past me. Time doesn't speed, it is the rpm's of my mind through these past months that has.

So what's the trick to slowing it down? Oh... I know about meditation and certainly use that tool frequently. But what about in the moment. The moment when there are 24 children gathering around one with a gash in her knee that will need stitches and you have four instructors looking to you for 'what's next.' What slows you down when the there are people betraying your trust or expecting you to take care of something immediate when you are 30 minutes away?

Breath. For me I don't think about breath first - though it is what I suggest to others to think about in those moments. For me it is the magic of the vastness of this Universe. I recall one fall day many years ago, recently mistreated and scolded by University officials for wanting to pay my tuition without penalty, but not being able to stand in line for a few hours without losing my job. The unfairness of it and the lack of compassion and understanding washing over me. And then my eyes caught the radiant light reflecting off the fall leaves. And I had the thought, "well, they can't take this away from me." The this in my mind was the beauty of nature and her continuation despite war, struggle, despair and destruction.

I have a new puppy now and one of the most grateful parts is the getting outside twice a day and walking, just appreciating the mist, the rain, the sun, the mud, the trees, the beauty and steadfastness of nature. It is just what brings me back to earth.