Kaizen Chaos

I’ve determined my only real resolution for 2007 is to slow down and take time to enjoy the simple things that I’ve realized make me truly happy. It’s always been a back burner issue, or should I say goal for me but it always seemed slightly out of reach–my excuse was there was never enough time to slow down. I’d rationalize that after the month, the next project, the next WHATEVER maybe THEN I could take a breather. I’ve been like that for years, even back in high school. I was constantly adding responsibilities, materialistic things and basically mental and physical clutter in my life in the pursuit of happiness only to find that ultimately, I was pushing it farther away. 

My borderline OCD mantra of “do more, make more, be more, have more” has been a major (stressful) theme in my life for far too long. It has little to do with being materialistic and everything to do with feeling secure and independent. I’m learning to focus on the concept of having enough***. I’ve reached a point that I pretty much have enough tangible things to feel secure (enough) and independent (enough) for the time being. Not that I don’t want or expect to have bigger and better things, but for now I simply have enough. What I haven’t had is enough in or from my relationships. The past few years I’ve withdrawn myself from the world and instead added more tangible/materialistic things (read: clutter) to try and make up for the interpersonal things I was lacking. No wonder I was so unhappy. I had all this stuff and no one to share it with…or at least someone who truly wanted to share it with me.

I’m trying to shift my focus more on the relationships I have with the important people in my life rather than the stuff I have and you know what? I’m starting to experience a new depth of happiness. It’s about the simple act of making dinner and sitting down for a nice meal with good friends, spending the afternoon doing absolutely nothing but having girl-time, taking my niece to a movie, playing with the dogs, getting sloppy drunk off fabulous martinis and having a 5 minute conversation with your roommate that you don’t remember the next day :::wink::: (love you Turtle!), and even helping someone complete boring or monotonous tasks around the house. Nothing pressing, nothing too terrible or difficult, yet important and meaningful nonetheless.

Yeah…that’s the Good Stuff…

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I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish enough hellos to get you through the final goodbye.

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