Monday, April 26, 2010

Clarity

It's been a long time since I've been at peace with my blog. I am taking the time now, as I have to force myself these days from my daily whirlwind.

To update you, I've taken on a new job. Certainly different from the prison nursing venue, but a desire I have had for some time. I am finally able to to act as a nurse for which I intended. To care, empathize, and coach people with needs that go well beyond physical health. I am performing now as a "wellness coach". An up incoming new role for medical professionals as health care as we now know it reveals uncertainty in our future. I enjoy it, very much, but it has taken its toll on my daily routine as a wife and mother. I have found myself caught up in the daily grind of challenges and barriers of those I listen to as I coach. Last week, I sat by myself wondering how I let myself get to this point. Frustrated & overwhelmed of all the things "to do" swimming around in my head, I felt nothing more than a hypocrite. Here I am, doing the same things I try to guide my clients not to do. I wondered, how do we allow ourselves this chaos? How is it, that all the technology to make our lives simple have only created more havoc? What happened to the basics?

Sitting in a chair outside attempting to absorb the sunshine, with no one else at home, I stared at the trampoline my children so adore as they jump, laugh and soar with delight.

Then it hit me.......

I walked over to it, slid off my shoes and climbed in. With aged knees, I felt the give of the material, embracing my caution yet forcing me to move forward. The canvas luring my steps in different directions without intent. In apprehension I lifted myself in a pathetic hop, realizing how ridiculous I must have looked had someone been watching. Then an apathetic smirk smeared my face as I tried to prevent it only to focus on the chore of hopping in one place. Without even trying the next thing I knew, I was jumping! Not just jumping,.....but bouncing! Left & right, forward & back, side to side,.....I WAS SOARING! The gentle wind brushed my face & my hair flopped up & down as I did. Then I felt something that I hadn't felt in years. I thought for sure at my age I'd never experience it again......

My tummy flipped!

You know the feeling,....that first time you got on a swing and went as high as you could go,...just as you reached the highest of high,.....your tummy would flip. Then,....laughter would spill out of your mouth like nothing before or could ever be again! No thoughts could consume your mind or inferior feelings of self could proceed you,....effortless fusion of joy & peace encapsulated your every breath.

AHHHH,..........CLARITY!

How sad it is, we as grown ups have forgotten the simplest pleasures that only children seem to posses. We try in vain to substitute the fulfilment, only to fail in every attempt.

There is no substitute for simplicity.

I'm not sure what my message is trying to state with accuracy, but hopefully it will be a glaring reminder for some, that keeping life in its simplest form will encourage internal growth as God & as nature has intended, without allowing all the external distractions to infect us on a daily basis.

And if I can offer one piece of guidance,.....make it a point, this week, to do something that will make your tummy flip! Laugh like a child again, like you never thought you would before. It WILL enable pure clarity & joy to be restored in your soul.


Have an intimate day!

Jennifer