Where'd My Life Go?!

Ok, I'll make this brief.  I'd like to tell you why I didn't write a column last month.

Have you ever had a period in your life where nearly every single aspect of life as you knew it changed, quite suddenly?

The reason I didn't write a column last month is that I have returned to being a recreation therapist for an adult daycare center.  Yes -- it's true.  I have gone from being a reflexologist and meditation facilitator to being something like a cruise director/standup comedian for eight hours a day.  Yikes.

I used to joke that it was 'my job to be relaxed'.  And it was true!

Now, it's 'my job' to be energetic, uplifting, spontaneous, and creative.  All day.  Whether I feel like it or not.  The question that I have to ask myself at the end of every day is "did I have fun today?"  Because if I didn't have fun, I can guarantee that the 30+ elderly people I spent the day with didn't have fun either!

The really odd thing about all this is that I now could easily be on the other side of the Meditation Fence -- saying "Look, I just don't HAVE TIME TO MEDITATE!"  And I really don't have much time.  Plus, I'm living in the land of High Energy, all day long -- not so easy to come down from.

Still, an interesting thing has happened:  I've realized that I simply don't have time to get too far out of whack, or it will show up at work immediately, like an avalanche.  So, yeah, maybe my Happy Dance has been cut back to 5 minutes -- but I always do it.  And I take those 3 minutes at lunch to put my legs up on the couch and chant.  Or I go in my office and take five deep breaths and clap my hands.  I've found a hundred new ways to 'push my reset button', almost instantly -- and yes, some of them involve chocolate.  I also find that I'm using my time super efficiently -- because I don't have time not to.  My huge intention to live a joyful, centered, intentional life seems to have carried through into this Giant Change, and is leaking out all over everything -- even though outwardly, it would seem that my life is now the antithesis of what it was two months ago.  Pretty interesting.  

So, I'll say it again, with even more conviction -- don't tell me that you don't have time to meditate!!!  In truth, you don't have time not to.  Yeah, well -- let's see what I'm saying in another three months, ok?

Love, MJ