Life Lessons

I've come down with a crappy cold, it seems like just yesterday I had a similar bug. But so it goes. It's given me some time to just chill out and stop running around like a crazed weasel. The weasel-go-round has been pretty non-stop since we got back from Hawaii, and I've given myself precious little time to just be. Be married. Be peaceful. Be quiet. Already.

So I've had time to read a book that one of my friends gave me for my birthday called Eat Pray Love. This is an awesome book. If you're in any way a spiritual seeker, or if you're in any way a woman, this is a great book. It's an autobiography of a year of travel and spiritual seeking, and the author is painfully honest about her own shortcomings, her frustrations and personal pain. It's also really funny in parts, and very inspiring. So many of her obstacles remind me of my own, and of how much the universe has to teach us if we would just shut up and listen for a minute.

So that's my New Year's Resolution for this year. Shut up and listen. This book reminded me that we don't find meaning or God or connectedness through ruminating about the past or imagining the future. Those activities have their place, but the most powerful and poignant experiences are found right now. So I'm going to listen more. Listen to silence. Listen to those around me. Listen to myself. Listen to my dog.

This does not mean that I plan to cure myself of my endless diarrhea of the mouth (or of the keyboard), or that I will transform from an analytical, inquisitive person into a Zen master. I have no plans to stop being me. I'm just going to listen a little harder to the world around and inside me to determine who me really is, and maybe to help her expand a bit.