Busy as a...

Have you been seduced by busyness? 

 

My back screened-in porch and flagstone patio are beginning to come alive with the signs of Spring. Hosta plants unfurling, frogs leaping, birds nesting and a fair amount of bumble bees buzzing. I've noticed that the bees tend to get trapped inside the screened in area (we leave the doors open for our dog to go in and out) and end up never making it back outside. Many meeting fate with no escape. Last night I discovered a constant buzzing sound and looked up to find one such bee still beating its wings wildly as it moved up and down the screen searching for an escape route. My heart ached to see such a sight. Knowing what was in store for this little guy. So I grabbed a plastic cup and tried to gently escort it into the cup and away from the window. He however did not see my vision and ended up one very angry bee. Buzzing, flapping wildly and not letting go of the screen. For fear of being stung when I tried to scoop him up into the cup, I had to walk away. 

I stood inside watching him return to the busyness of trying to find a way out. 

Maybe the bee would not find his escape from a life of unfruitful wing flapping... but I knew I had been given a second chance. 

You see, as I finished up my taxes yesterday with the humbling realization of my slowest year to date, I wondered what I was doing with all my free time last year. I know I was busy and stressed ... a lot of wing flapping apparently. 

Then I read Tara Gentile's E-Book and realized I was seduced. Here are some of her thoughts from "Making Motion"

"Busyness isn’t just a jealous lover. She’s also a habit. You

get in the habit of having too much to do. You get attached to

feeling overwhelmed. You learn to depend on being unfocused.

You know it doesn’t feel good but you just can’t stop.

Part of the problem with being busy is that you often don’t realize

your own busyness until you stop at the end of the day, drained.

It requires an awakening of mindfulness to even realize how

deeply you’ve been seduced."

 

The good news is that I know I have been given a second chance. The hands of Love have guided me gently away from the screened in trap and into the glorious freedom of being truly alive. Truly connected to my own heart, my desires, my passions, and the ability to believe in my best ideas. So I can get out there and start pollinating. 

Just as Martha Stewart tweeted this week:

"My best advice? Be passionate,work hard, believe in your good ideas"

Lets start flying toward freedom together, shall we?

images: bee necklace- creations by juliann, poster: evencleveland

Comments

[Melissa Allam]

I love your use of word pictures Heather. Thank you for sharing and for the links too.

[Stacy]

I started a post last week about my season of busyness.. but in my busyness, I haven't had a chance to tweak it and make it "publish button" worthy. I'm so linking to this in my post!!! :)

[BrigitteLyons]

Just catching up and saw this post. I get sucked into things like Twitter so easily that lately I'm trying to remind myself that I need to dip in and dip out, because a longer time spent browsing isn't productive. As you say here, just another form of busyness.

I've been thinking lately that I need a better method for organizing all my priorities, so that I can concentrate on the most important first -- not just my whim of the moment.