Clarity

My focus for 2013.  Get your own ring here. 

"There are so few empty pages in my engagement pad or empty hours in which to stand alone and find myself."--Dawna Markova, I Will Not Die An Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion

and, from the same book, which is rocking my socks off....

"When we find ourselves devoid of passion and purpose, the first thing we need to do is stop.  But that's not easy.  The rest of the world is zooming by at full speed.  Left alone with ourselves, without a project to occupy us, we can become nervous and self-critical about what we should be doing and feeling.  This can become so uncomfortable that we look for any distraction rather than allowing ourselves the space to be as we are."

I am deeply grateful to Retta for sharing this book with me.  I am deeply grateful to Dawna Markova for writing it.  I am deeply grateful to myself for having the inner strength to make some very hard decisions that are leading me down a path to my own purpose, whatever that might be.  I am deeply grateful to my friends who encourage, support, and buffer me from the hurts and disappointments.

I am deeply grateful, right here, in this moment in which it's 10:22 pm and my daughter is still awake despite all my best efforts and laundry and dishes are going unwashed.  I am deeply grateful even though tomorrow I will return to my job and I'll still be surrounded by stacks of papers, all requiring some action, and reminders of all the deadlines I'm not meeting.  I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to make my life, my load, lighter.