Work smarter, not harder, is definitely a lifelong lesson for me and many others on the planet. It was a struggle for me to let go of my tribe in Sacred U recently, but I’m at a different place than I was six months ago. I just don’t have the time for it with all the positive things happening in my life. Giggle, the good thing about being owned by cats is they enforce breaks and let me know it’s time to stop working.
If there's one lesson (and there are many) we can learn from cats it's how to rest <3 I grumble when I want to get up from the couch but I'm blocked by one (or two or three or, these days, four) felines, but I'm secretly seeing it as a sign that I don't need to be doing anything but breathe in their calm for now. Everything is as it should be, right? So if I should be working on something right now, they wouldn't be in my way... ;)
All this. The Calvinist undercurrent in American culture is strong: "idle hands are the devil's playthings" and resting is evil and slothful and so on. I even had a Calvinist-leaning roommate in college who would wake me up from naps because she was afraid I would go to hell for sleeping during the day! And being not just busy but overworked is fashionable now. It's awful. And we've infected the rest of the world with it, sadly. My solution involves holding myself to a different kind of standard, not how much did I get done, but how did I feel? Did I enjoy the day? Was I able to appreciate the beauty of the world? I've been working on connecting with my ancient ancestors, the ones whose foraging culture involved so much less work than we have now and who valued, above all, joy and connection. If I can't find joy and connection, I'm doing it wrong. Those are my waymarkers now.
'If I can't find joy and connection, I'm doing it wrong.' AMEN! That is the shift I'm manifesting in 2024 for myself, because it's high time we release that Calvinist undercurrent you speak of, which is extremely strong still in the Netherlands as well.
I can't believe about your roommate though... I hope she's healed that wound <3
Work smarter, not harder, is definitely a lifelong lesson for me and many others on the planet. It was a struggle for me to let go of my tribe in Sacred U recently, but I’m at a different place than I was six months ago. I just don’t have the time for it with all the positive things happening in my life. Giggle, the good thing about being owned by cats is they enforce breaks and let me know it’s time to stop working.
If there's one lesson (and there are many) we can learn from cats it's how to rest <3 I grumble when I want to get up from the couch but I'm blocked by one (or two or three or, these days, four) felines, but I'm secretly seeing it as a sign that I don't need to be doing anything but breathe in their calm for now. Everything is as it should be, right? So if I should be working on something right now, they wouldn't be in my way... ;)
Purr, I agree!
All this. The Calvinist undercurrent in American culture is strong: "idle hands are the devil's playthings" and resting is evil and slothful and so on. I even had a Calvinist-leaning roommate in college who would wake me up from naps because she was afraid I would go to hell for sleeping during the day! And being not just busy but overworked is fashionable now. It's awful. And we've infected the rest of the world with it, sadly. My solution involves holding myself to a different kind of standard, not how much did I get done, but how did I feel? Did I enjoy the day? Was I able to appreciate the beauty of the world? I've been working on connecting with my ancient ancestors, the ones whose foraging culture involved so much less work than we have now and who valued, above all, joy and connection. If I can't find joy and connection, I'm doing it wrong. Those are my waymarkers now.
'If I can't find joy and connection, I'm doing it wrong.' AMEN! That is the shift I'm manifesting in 2024 for myself, because it's high time we release that Calvinist undercurrent you speak of, which is extremely strong still in the Netherlands as well.
I can't believe about your roommate though... I hope she's healed that wound <3