Tomorrow is Monday morning, and the weekend’s delirium begins to fade. Responsibility, to-do lists, tasks, productivity, demands, work, go-mode, doing begin to twirl like a baby mobile, around and around. You finally fall asleep in this in and out, lucid dream-like reality of what this week has in store. Will it be good? Will I meet all that I need to do? Will I be good enough?
Your alarm hits you headless. It's another start of another week, and you wake up after snoozing your alarm 3 times. You wake up with less time than you would like to get ready, so you begin to cut corners and multi-task, brushing your teeth as you think of the next step. You half-asleep put your outfit together on your body, maybe grab a breakfast item to go, and possibly put together a lunch. You bargain with yourself that you can always grab some fast food if you get hungry. You clock in; you clock out. The day has ended. Maybe, you have plans after work or maybe your plan-less, but either way, the day has come to a close.
Work, sleep, repeat.
Your heart and soul don’t have time to catch up with where your body is because you are going 1,000,000 miles per hour as most default solo jet flyers do.
It is so easy to resort to the way things have always been or resort to this default way of living.
It is so easy to live this life solo not just in the context of community but solo in our own personal existence where we don’t give our heart and soul time to catch up with where our bodies are and what our bodies are doing.
This my friend, I like to call the Fog.
The Fog that distracts us from living a life of vibrancy, authenticity, and quality.
The Fog inhibits, conceals, and limits.
If you ever have driven in thick fog, it inhibits seeing rich detail where you are unable to see the sacred vibrancy of this life. It conceals our current reality where you can’t see where you came from or where you are going. It limits possibilities where you are afraid to make decisions.
Beyond weather forecasts that allow us to experience fog, we as human-beings choose to live in this weather forecast a lot more often than we realize.
When we choose to live in this fog, the vibrancy of our lives is inhibited; the color black becomes the new grey, and it only becomes drearier and drearier.
Personal authenticity is concealed, and cordial hypocrisy is welcomed.
Our life’s quality is limited, and we begin to deem dreams as dead.
My Fog may be different than your Fog, and the scary thing is sometimes we don’t even know we are living in it until we choose to slow down and be still.
Sometimes our answer isn’t in the frantic and busy rather in the chase for slower living.
Sometimes our fog is lifted not from a thunderstorm, hurricane, or typhoon rather from still rain, every drop rejuvenating and bringing clarity and the clearing that it takes to get out of this Fog.
You will notice that you will begin to feel as your heart and soul get time to speak and surface.
I encourage you this moment and this week to allow your soul and heart catch up with you.
Slow down the thunderstorm thoughts, the hurricane heart-ache, the typhoon temper and forecast the rain to soothe your soul that has found home in this Fog.
Feel every drop begin to lift it. Sometimes the answer is in the stillness.
“11 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. 13 So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”