In Between the Storms
It’s been rather bleak up here. The storms brought by the atmospheric river have pounded much of California in the last couple of weeks seem to be still hanging around. While we still didn’t get as much snow as we should be getting in the season, we’ve received more than plenty of rainfall though they say it’s still not enough to relieve the severe drought.
We were also blessed with a couple days of reprieve from the storms, which gave us a chance to go out hiking. It’s nice to see the local creek running with rushing water and the hillside looking refreshingly green. It’s giving me hope that we will have a nice Super Bloom in the spring.
I must admit, though, it’s been really hard to motivate myself to work. As the new year began and the world has already started churning, I have a list of things I want to get done, people to contact, and things to organize. Of course, I’ve prepared my action plan for 2023 with my “goals” for the year. And I find myself staring at my action plan and feeling lost as to where to begin. It’s not that I’ve been lounging around with my cats, but I feel almost lethargic when it’s gloomy and cold outside. I would rather sit by the fire and read a book or something.
It’s probably a very natural response to the weather as a human being. Especially when you live in an environment when you’re directly surrounded by natural phenomena, we should be behaving accordingly, don’t you think? Yet the world will keep churning whether I churn with it or not. So I’m feeling in between “I gotta get things done!” and “I want to fully be with what’s happening in the natural world and sit quietly until the sun returns.”
In the book I’m reading recently, Work by Thich Nhat Hanh, he tells us to be mindful with everything we do throughout the work day. I’m oscillating between mindful pauses of watching the storms outside and spacy stares at my computer screen while some small things are getting done for work. I guess I’m trying to convince myself it is O.K. to be slow with my accomplishments as we ease into the new year while these storms are coming through. So it goes.
