Sunday Reflections: It's like Indiana Jones watching the big ball coming down the hall...

(from www.timbeaux.com)

It's going to be a long night and an early morning after a long weekend. I taught evening classes three nights in a row, spent all day Friday working on my Beginners' Workshop material (I made a handout for my students), taught hot yoga Saturday morning, the workshop Saturday afternoon, had a family event that evening, and then got up to teach today in Newport News. Since lunch, I've been sitting here going over homework for class tomorrow.

It's like that moment in that Indiana Jones movie. All this effort, all the struggle to get to the chamber, and now this big rock is after him!

I'm piecing together about 12 significant events in the life of Howard Thurman. Never heard of him? Me, neither. And now I see why. Even though he ran with the big boys like Gandhi and MLK, the resources on his life are few and oddly organized. I haven't been able to find a single linear biographical writing on him whatsoever. I broke down and asked for his autobiography from the library... which hasn't been helping very much. He jumps around a lot to whatever is relevant to a line of thought.

So, I can't see the end of this... just the big ball bearing down on me. It's laughable really. It's not like I haven't been here before. Up late working on an assignment during a week when you could hardly catch a breath... and I'm just taking one class! I wonder how I did this when I was working at the bookstore and taking five classes? No, really. How did I do this then?

Obviously I'm not going to rant tonight with all this work hanging over my head... but, surely some of you have had as busy a week if not busier than mine. I'm thinking of taking the Thurman approach to this stress. He had a special oak tree as a child that he would shelter under for comfort from the trials of youth in the early 1900s. He has several writings on the nurturing power of nature, the healing stillness of plants and animals. I've also recently read a meditation where you imagine yourself in some calming atmosphere, along the beach, in the mountains, in the forest, what have you.

So, if you're also freaking out under the threat of impending doom, close your eyes, breathe, and take yourself to that peaceful place in your mind. You deserve at least five minutes of peace. Take it.