What Do You Do When It's Been One of Those Days?


I couldn’t get home fast enough tonight. Not only did I have a new music, I had a good meal planned and it had been one of those days. That was the real reason. Today was the definition of one of those days. The kids were chomping at the bit to be set loose for the summer which won’t happen until the end of the month. The teachers, that means me, were wild eyed crazy with the end of year list that gets added to each day and everyone was one frayed last nerve from snapping. There’s a reason that we are urged to stay in the moment and why we are encouraged to wrap our minds around the idea of what “this too shall pass,” means.

Today was one of those days. Yesterday was a model day and tomorrow is anyone’s guess. It’s all good if I don’t get caught up in it. I am able to fully embrace the many different experiences being a human being offers when I stay detached and treat all of life’s experience as equal. The Dali Lama says,” Once there is attachment there is also the potential for anger and hatred to arise. Attachment goes hand in hand with anger and hatred.” Works for me.

Nothing lasts forever, no matter how OMG!-wonderful or how poke my-eye–out-with-a-stick-awful something is it all passes. I try to ride life loose, try being the operative word, ‘cause some days I’m a little tight in the saddle. Today would be one of those days. Keeping things in relative perspective and taking things as they come can be a challenge on days like today when I am tugged and pulled at by desires, wants and honey do missives. I am always thankful for the refuge of my home and the sanctuary it offers my spirit.

Where is your sanctuary? We all need one. We need a time and place in the day where we can take refuge from the world and be reminded of who we truly are and our place in the world that is being created by what we say and do. We need a time and place to reconnect with God and our deepest self. We need a sanctuary. A friend from high school says that her garden is her sanctuary. Mine is a nearby piece of wilderness if I can’t get to a river and my home.

The first thing I do when I get home is change clothes and brew a pot of tea. When the tea is brewed I make a tray that I take outside with me if the weather is good and into the sunroom if the weather is stormy. Then I drink my tea, nothing else. I may wave at neighbors but that’s it. I drink my tea and take a pause in the day to refresh and replenish my spirit. I am detached. I am free. I am gifted with love that I may love and gifted with the grace of God that I may be an instrument of peace. Dear God, may it be so. Come on, where’s that amen.
                                                 

                                                 

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