I don’t know about you but I’ve been feeling really discombobulated of late (I’ve always wanted to write that word in my blog😉).
There just seems to be so much stuff happening.
I think it began with Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Cutting short our holiday and rushing home to prepare.
The waiting for it to hit, the quiet night when it did hit, and then the awful night when we were really hit.
Once we got power back, the kettle kept tripping the safety switch.
So we had to buy a new kettle.
Then as Michael was clearing up outside, the strimmer (or whipper sniper) died.
It was going to cost more to repair than it was worth, so we had to buy a new strimmer.
Our freezer started leaking from the door, so today we’re having the seals replaced.
Then on the weekend the oven suddenly displayed an F.40 ‘fatal error’ message.
All of this expense we hadn’t planned for…
We had planned to get our solar panels cleaned & checked after Alfred.
But we now think we may have a possum nesting under the panels, so as well as a clean, we now need to install pest-proofing.
The garage door needs a service.
We desperately need to do some painting.
But just as you start to plan these things – all the unexpected expenses crop up, and everything else is put on hold.
Then there’s the crashing of the financial markets.
Just as we mention the word retirement…
There seems to be so much unrest and uncertainty in the world.
We’re about to have a federal election… and all I’m hearing is cost of living crisis.
Hey – tell me about it!
On top of all this every time I step outside at the moment – all I hear is power tools.
Aargh! I feel like I just want to go to bed, pull the covers over my head and come out when all this is over!
So what does a meditation teacher do to cope with all this?
Well I have to admit, writing it all down has helped me understand why I have been feeling so ‘off‘.
I complained to Michael last night that trying to meditate with power tools everywhere wasn’t helping.
But I’m the first one to say anyone can meditate on a mountain…
It’s being able to meditate – or at least pause for a while to breathe mindfully – in and amongst this noise and disruption, that’s the trick.
So today, that’s what I’m doing.
Taking a few moments every hour to just breathe.
Nothing else.
Just pause… and breathe.
Breathing with awareness…
Breathe in…
Know you are breathing in…
Breathe out…
Know you are breathing out…
Being aware of your breath.
Aware of the movement within your body.
Building these little breaks into your day can really make a difference.
I’m already starting to feel a bit better… and definitely a bit less discombobulated. (Got it in again!)
Ann 🙏