Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Oct/Nov2019 Aspire Magazine | Page 58
When we go within to reflect and come to truly understand
ourselves—the sacred and profane dimensions of our lives—
we develop the capacity to deal honestly, thoughtfully and
lovingly with ourselves, as well as other people.
evaluate our beliefs around being selfish. Do
we really aspire to always put ourselves last
on the never-ending list? Or is it important
to love and value ourselves, to think for
ourselves, to have our own lives and to be
able to love others without losing ourselves?
How do we balance valuing ourselves and
egotistically indulging ourselves?
The answers lie in self-knowledge. When
we go within to reflect and come to truly
understand ourselves—the sacred and
profane dimensions of our lives—we
develop the capacity to deal honestly,
thoughtfully and lovingly with ourselves, as
well as other people.
We also develop a better understanding of
our limits when it comes to productivity and
meeting obligations. Because despite what
your favorite motivational speaker tells you,
we all have limits. In the book Dark Nights of
the Soul, Thomas Moore said, “As a human
being you have limits. Your soul is vast and
participates in the infinite, but your life is
bound by time, place, and the laws of nature
and humanity.”
This is a sobering thought in a time where
things are moving at lightning speed and
there’s great potential for overwhelm.
Technology’s ubiquitous time saving apps
and devices seem to have yielded less
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leisure time, not more. Employers are
demanding longer work hours. Many adults
are sandwiched between the needs of
younger and older generations.
Another challenge is dealing with the cultural
belief system in place, one that overrates
doing and achievement and underrates quality
of experience and connection with values.
In that cultural mindset, it’s not unusual for a
friend, an online article, or an Instagram post
to suggest the well-known “Nike solution”:
Just do it. Make priorities. Choose three
things and accomplish them quickly. Sort
through the mail as soon as it arrives. Do a
“brain dump” and create a massive to-do list
with everything that you can think of on it.
Get started right now!
Did you feel tension in your shoulders just by
reading that?
They are not necessarily bad suggestions,
but overcoming overwhelm isn’t really about
measuring accomplishment. It’s about
slowing down and connecting with what
has meaning for us, with what feeds and
enlivens us.
In order to connect with what feeds and
enlivens us, we need to step back and create
space for ourselves.
www.AspireMAG.net | October / November 2019