| Dear Friends, I have been talking about being "busy" a great deal this past week. Not because I need to, but because I am changing and hopefully growing. I think it is because I have come to the conclusion that I do not want people to remember me by the fact that I was "busy". When someone asks me, "how are you?" I don't want my answer to be "busy", as it has been in the past. I want my value, my worthiness to represent something else - like I was present to someone or something or I took the time to spend it with another, or with myself. We have given busy-ness value in our world that it doesn't deserve. There is actually an unhealthiness attached to it. I would ask, what are we avoiding if we need to be "busy" all the time? Or is there another way to find my value in this world that doesn't lead to our burn out, distractedness, and unavailability that busy-ness tends to lead to. I cannot believe being "busy" is good for our health, our relationships, or our state of mind. We might fool ourselves into thinking it is, but it surely cannot be. With that being said, my plan (and I hope this might influence others who struggle with this) is to limit myself to the people and things in my life where I want to increase my time - eliminate that which isn't necessary or its just time to let them go. I want to find enjoyment and peace in what ends up on my list. Those people and those things cannot be things which suck the life out of me, ask too much of me, or things I do although they provide me false value. This takes an inventory of my life and I think that is exactly what I am doing and why I am talking so much about this "busy" thing these days.  Give yourself permission to be less "busy". That is what I am doing. Warmly and with love, Mother Lily |