Day 39 (2008-04-13): Scary Sundays, Part 2

It is Sunday again, and there is much I would like to do today. Here is my list:

• Write my 100 Days of Peace post
• Play tennis
• Visit my sister, mom, and nieces
• Finish my taxes
• Write a coaching article
• Meditate
• Answer emails
• Play guitar
• Chill out and do nothing

Enough on that list to make me anxious if I choose to be. Add to it that my appointment to have my two wisdom teeth extracted is tomorrow.

Centering and grounding myself helps. Feeling the inner body, as Eckhart Tolle teaches. And acknowledging the structural element of any anxiety I feel today — recognizing it as conditioning and not reality.

And not looking at the clock all day. Wow, I just now realized that checking the time is a key ingredient in this recipe for anxiety. “Time’s running out! Oh no!”

Maybe true time management is not looking at the clock.  🙂

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Day 11 (2008-03-16): Simplicity

Today was much more peaceful than yesterday. The main difference was simplicity. I chose to focus on two main things today:

1. Working on my taxes
2. Visiting my sister and my nieces

Other things got done as they needed to, but there was an ease to them. There were just as many things going on around me, just as many sense perceptions, just as many tasks on my to do list, just as many goals, and just as much stuff in my life as there was yesterday. But I experienced it differently.

It made me think that the difference between chaos and order may be simply a choice. Could the difference between uncertainty creating anxiety or peace also be a choice?

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