Rushing around gets me nowhere fast.
Worked at the clinic this morning. Steady appointment schedule and a few interesting rechecks. Mom and puppy, from last week’s caesarean section, are doing fine. A sick puppy is stable but still has a high white cell count. The dog with chronic pancreatitis was brought in again because owner was concerned that it was not eating. Ends up that this doggie was just being stubborn and holding out for some boiled chicken!
I was trying to stay on schedule (impossible!). I could feel myself starting to rush by moving faster and talking faster. I hadn’t eaten lunch (the donut didn’t count…). I was also in the midst of PMS. However, I recognized the familiar but annoying signs of cramping in my low back.
And that was the key to it all. I was aware of the feelings in my physical body.
Yoga has been good for me that way. Most of my time, I spend my life “in my head”. Lots of thinking, planning, organizing and doing. I forget that there is a body attached to the head! I forget to pay attention to what is happening in the rest of me. Doing asanas in yoga has reminded me of my physical self. Those bodily sensations give me a clue of how I may be unconsciously reacting to the situation. As long as I can “read the signs”, I can avoid being taken over by them.
Samskara. I first heard this term in Stephen Cope’s “The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide for Extraordinary Living“. Samskaras are patterns that have been etched into our minds. Some are faint, like lines in the sand, and easily smoothed away. Others are etched more firmly, like deep grooves in stone. For me, rushing is like the groove in the stone.
I don’t rush when I have time. I have tried not to overbook myself in the past year. Seems to help. There are still days when things have to get done.
I will always have the tendency to rush. It is my stone (with grooves!) to bear in life.
