Rushing Headlong?

Today I am grateful for good music and for my husband Darcy.

This was today's "Word for the Day" at www.gratefulness.org:

"Something precious is lost if we rush headlong into the details of life without pausing 

for a moment to pay homage to the mystery of life and the gift of another day."

(Kent Nerburn)

Okay, let's be honest here. I rush headlong too often. If not physically, then mentally for sure. It doesn't sound like much fun to rush headlong, so why am I and so many others prone to it? Because of expectations of ourselves, because of expectations others have of us, because we want to get things right, because our world has become a very busy place.

Pausing to pay homage takes just a moment. I try to do that when I write in my gratitude journal each morning and when I start my day with a few set prayers. The challenge comes as the rest of the day unfolds. The pauses, the gratefulness, the prayers need to continue throughout. They are self-righting mechanisms to this over-achieving, excessively-driven person I can sometimes become. 

Those pauses remind me that I am right where I am supposed to be, that I am enough. They remind me that I am perfectly imperfect and so is every one else, just like it was meant to be. Lighten up!

The mystery of life. The gift of another day. How very humbling it is to just consider either one of those. And if I take it a step further and honor both the mystery and the gift by paying attention, instead of rushing headlong I am moving with grace. Not physical grace, spiritual grace.

Rush headlong or pause to pay homage?  We each have a choice to make today and every day.