33. PRACTICE BREATHING IN AND OUT

• Sometimes what we need most is to just “be”.  In our goal-oriented society, many of us have lost the knack for simply living. (HEALING A PARENT’S GRIEVING HEART: 100 PRACTICAL IDEAS AFTER YOUR CHILD DIES; Alan D. Wolfelt, PhD; 2005)

CARPE DIEM:

Sit down, focus on something 20-30 feet away and take 10 deep breaths.

Yes. It is okay to just be. I am retired…well, sort of. That’s what I tell myself, anyway. I am still “on demand” with my employer and take assignments here and there. And I agreed to work 5 hours, one day a week, in a private practice. So far I have only one client; and, they have been coming only every other week. 

I almost went to Germany for two months, on assignment, but there’s a problem with getting my fingerprints…they tend to be illegible…so the job offer was rescinded. I was a little disappointed…and a little relieved. 

I had lunch with a friend the other day. She is older than me and continues to work fairly regularly, 12 hour days, because, she says, she still has something to offer. And she does. She is an amazing hospice nurse who ensures that her patients get what they need.

It got me thinking I was being lazy. But…at Mass this morning, my pastor mentioned waiting on the Lord. And so, I am. Assignments, opportunities for service, will arise as they should. I get energized when I am working and then I need time to recover. I am not lazy. I am tired.

(Photo taken at BAPS, Robbinsville, NJ)