In the swirl of your hurricane life, can you be the still-point, the eye, of the storm? Over the past few days, images of a swirling storm around the calm eye kept intruding themselves on me. I kept trying to swat the thoughts from my mind like little mosquitoes because I had a lot to do. I didn’t have time to sit: children need to be picked up from school, fed, and homework done in between paying bills and meetings! Little did I realize that I had become a minor hurricane, arms swirling around to satisfy all that needed to get done. I needed to remember to stop, become the still-point in the middle of what moved around me. It seemed counter-intuitive to stop moving. My brain kept screaming: SO MUCH TO DO! SO LITTLE TIME!! My heart answered: There is always enough time, breathe.
I did stop today, made coffee and sat out in the sun, thinking. What I saw was that when I know what I need to do, I can focus, move calmly forward in the middle of everything. There is a wall that protects me from fears and insecurities because I know I am moving at the pace I am supposed to. I have the tendency to want to be able to accomplish everything, NOW, because time needs to be filled while it is available. It is a constant battle to let go of control to be “productive” and appreciate the quiet of nothing.
Reading about the eye of the hurricane made me understand the analogy between a life-storm and this weather formation.
“The eye is so calm because the now strong surface winds that converge towards the center never reach it.” It is the focus of the storm. Because the air is so focused and converging toward the center, it sinks into the eye creating warmer air and stillness. If we can take a move to focus on our center, maintain who we are and what we want, the storms around us may swirl around but can’t touch us. Losing focus, we become that lamppost ripped out of the ground with the and sent flying out of control.
Being still, centered, and the eye in a life-storm is not about hours of laziness. I am talking about 5-35 minutes, same as the eye of the hurricane. Taking at least 5 minutes a day to sit, reconnect, is all it may take to maintain balance. What do think-Shall we give it a try?