My ‘sit spot’.
With the beautiful autumn weather we have been experiencing on the West Coast I have been called away from my ‘To Do’ list and out into the sunshine of my backyard, where my ‘sit spot’ is. This is when I sit in stillness, observe nature and watch my thoughts for thirty minutes or more.
Personality wise my ‘set point’ for most of my life, has been more outer focussed.
The ‘Let’s start a project!’ ‘Set things up!’ ‘Make things happen!’ drive has long been a strength of mine as it guides me to get stuff done. The downside to this is I can ‘bite off more than I can chew’, and end up exhausted, and completely done with the world.
The Nature Cure
Over time I have learned to pace myself, and am now discovering the benefits of looking inwards, as opposed to externally.
Sometimes in my back yard I’m not meditating per se, but sitting quietly and observing the natural world around me; the bees, wasps, ants, and birds. Often I watch our cairn terrier Rebus as he snoozes in the sun, roots around in a hole, or tries his darnedest to catch a squirrel.
I am constantly surprised at how being in nature is SO satisfying.
How this backyard patch and the life within it, and the sky above me is, most days, all I need to restore balance. The sun is warm, the sky is blue, bird song surrounds me, there’s a smell of grass and wood smoke in the air, my body is at ease in the chair- nothing else is needed or needs to be done.
‘To Do’ list? What ‘To Do’ list?
When I make time for a ‘sit spot’ the outward stuff that I am usually propelling myself towards falls away.
In that moment I can understand how people who have lost everything; gone bankrupt, hit rock bottom, ended relationships etc. sometimes say that the worst thing that happened to them, turned out to be the BEST thing that ever happened to them.
Because in their stripped down, humbled state, they realize that they still possess everything they need, inside themselves and in nature.
Got Challenges?
And so my friend know this, despite whatever challenges you have right now in your life, peace and contentment is always available to you.
It is available to you, IF you put away your ‘To Do’ lists for awhile, get off your phone and turn off Netflix, and tell your partner and your kids that for the next 30 minutes you are UNAVAILABLE.
Then find a quiet spot, outside in nature if the weather is good, and sit in stillness and fill yourself up on all the goodness that surrounds you, and is within you.
xo
Eliz
PS AND!!!!!! Be sure to check out the beautiful poem by Mark Nepo (below) which was shared on FaceBook by one of the coaches from our Martha Beck tribe -I absolutely love it! And don’t miss the news about my new group coaching program, “The Club’ at the very end.
Quieting the Thieves
Today I am sad, or so I thought. But more I am tired of keeping up with all that doesn’t matter.
I’m sipping coffee, listening to the rain. I like watching the leaves hang in long weather. I like to close my eyes and feel the rain quiet the earth. I welcome that quieting. I like to have my habits of going here and there interrupted. I was caught in the rain when coming here. The cool blotches sink in all over.
The many lists I carry in my shirt are wet. I take them out to dry, and all the tasks have blurred. At last. Unreadable. Forgettable. We carry these lists near our heart and finger them like worry beads. It doesn’t matter what is on them. They are the thieves, and it is the insidious virtue to have everything in order before we live that is the greatest thief.
I feel the rain drip down my neck. I think I’m becoming unfinished.
-Mark Nepo
PPS
…and in case you missed it ‘The Club’ (Coaching, Cardio & Coffee Club) for local ladies kicks off Oct. 22nd. There will be awesome coaching lectures (by me!), hip hop dancing and snowshoeing and more…click HERE for all the details! Newbies always welcomed!!!
