On this beautiful, last day of July morning, I awakened with a serious case of the dreadful "gotta-dos". Gotta water the flowers...gotta feed the birds...gotta pay bills...gotta finish a painting, gotta make three phone calls....gotta...gotta...gotta!
The gottas swept over me like a fever, burning at the places in my mind where the enjoyment of the present moment should be.
Thinking about it seems to add another guilty gotta to the list......gotta CHANGE!
Of course, I'm not the only one suffering the symptoms of what has become a 21st century epidemic.
Everywhere, we see the results of overloaded, overscheduled lives.
Many stress related illnesses, from heart disease, cancer and digestive problems to overeating and drug use can be traced back to relentless, unmanaged cases of the "gotta dos".
A sure symptom of this condition is the the tragic inability to truly enjoy life as its victims feel compelled to dart from one gotta do act to another.
Perhaps the only cure is to take a powerful vaccine.
This vaccine, when taken properly, refocuses the gottas.
We are imunized by a dose of reverse thinking.
Rather than harming ourself with an early morning litney of gotta dos, we put in their place our peaceful will dos.
I will take three deep, slow breathes as I get out of bed. Aw! That feels so good!
I will spend ten minutes (yes, just ten minutes) as I begin the day, watching, in stillness, some form of beauty in nature. ('Can't give yourself 10 minutes? Why not? Don't you deserve ten minutes of your own time on earth? Look at your priorities. Reclaim your time!)
I will turn off the negative news spilling out of my T.V., computer and newspaper. I do not need to fill my thoughts with the woes of the world. (When was the last time your anxiety over events "out there" changed anything? If you are like most of us, they never changed a thing. They simply robbed you of your peace of mind.)
I will live in THIS MOMENT, THIS HOUR, THIS DAY knowing that the world will not end if I don't
give in to the gotta dos.
Look around at the other living things in this world. Do you see anything stressed out by gotta dos, other than human beings? No, you don't, because other living things trust the rhythms of life in ways we have forgotten.
Of course, there are things we are required to do, but we owe it to ourselves to take the vaccine against the dreadful , stressful gotta dos.
About Me
- Sandscript
- My life as a multimedia artist, poet and creative writing instructor has brought me to a deep awareness of nature's importance in my life. Beginning each day with a walk in a wildlife sanctuary keeps me healthy and spiritually centered. I look forward to sharing my experience with others through my blog, Quiet Waters.
