So much to do, so little time!
We are bombarded daily by the mass of tasks we are expected to accomplish, both by ourselves and others. “If you can help me be not stressed out by how much I have to get done, you will change my life,” a client said to me the other day. This seems impossible; honestly, it kinda’ is. For most of us, the possibility of removing things from that list is out of the question. We wake up, and before we have even gotten out of bed we are paralyzed by its looming weight: “The List”! It hangs over us, fogs our brain and eats our inspiration alive. Dark, I know; but bear with me, as there is a point here.
My dear friend and neighbor was over at our house the other day planting some seeds in a piece of our unused garden. (I know, blasphemy; an unused garden in Portland????? Story for another day.) They were sunflowers, to be exact…the Alice-in-Wonderland gigantic ones. She plants these every year, and my 4-year old son is fascinated by them. He looked at the seed and asked me, “Mama, where is all the sunflower part? The seed is too small”. He is right you know, the seed is too small to hold all that sunflower. It is, however, the perfect size to hold all that potential. What a daunting task that lies before that tiny seed; it must grow so much as to dwarf our big human bodies, and all in a matter of a month or two, (or maybe three, I am not sure).
But the sunflower is not stressed out by this task. It hunkers down in its bed of soil and cozies up for the journey; taking each step one at a time. A little water, a little work, a little snack, a little sunshine, and bit by bit it becomes magnificent. Each day it becomes stronger, more capable. It builds on the back of the previous day’s work. Not every seed will make it. Not every task gets accomplished. We plant our seeds and tend to our potential, knowing and embracing all the while that (guess what folks?) it WON’T all get done. Some tasks will fall by the side and some will become magnificent.
Bit by bit, we also build on the back of the previous day’s work, and we revel in each root that extends into the soil, each leaf that pushes above the surface. The trick is to remember, no one gets it all done. If we are human, we will leave unfinished business; it paves the path for what is to come next. It is the potential that will get picked up another day, or maybe by another person. If nothing were unfinished, we would be–finished, that is. Our unaccomplished tasks are our seeds. They give us reason to rise every morning and sometimes to pause as to where we begin, but they are a necessary part of the human experience.
We have planted many seeds here at Elementum and we are tending to them every day. Some will flourish and some will not. A little water, a little snack, a little work and a little sunshine will determine who we become. This community is growing and we are cultivating its strength with every practice.
More classes have arrived at Elementum, and our sunny retreat from urban living is almost ready to break the surface of the soil. Please join us and our growing staff when you get the chance. Bit by bit, we are growing from our tiny seed into a thriving community..
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Elementum. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.