Getting ‘Ahead’….. vs Staying in the Heart
All the astrologists say the new year will be heart expanding. And if that sounds too hippy-dippy to you, look up Dr Joe Dispenza and his very detailed scientific studies on Heart Rate Variability. We are understanding more and more about the power of staying in the heart, using its power - whether you envision that as a pink light or as evidenced by a quantifiably measured electromagnetic field.
But I’ll be honest, this is still a work in progress for me. My habits are more about the head. I love getting my list done, feeling productive, like I won against the ongoing pile of ‘to dos’. As we end the term at school, I love the tidying up, (yes, the throwing away) and even more the feeling that I can preload next term’s lesson plans. I like to look at the curriculum , plan what we need, get some resources made and stored, all with the notion that I will be ahead when it comes to next term. Through experience, I know that I will lose or NOT use a percentage of these documents. So is it worth it? Why am I taking myself out of the now, in order to control a future that I know I can’t in fact preordain?
Now some of this is good practice, and I could claim it shows me to be organised and efficient. But there is a deeper truth for me - it is a head space not a heart space. Before I go into holiday rest mode, my brain wants me to be able to avoid the stress of this term by doing what I can for next term.
There is no getting ‘ahead’ in the heart - you can’t preload love like you would store up food in the freezer. Yes you can charge up, fill up the well, plug in and connect - but the heart is not an outcome based experience. It is not at the end of a completed to do list. It is the depths of NOW. It is how present you are.
Housework is my teacher on this. You can get the laundry done that is in the basket but you can’t pre-wash next week’s sheets. No matter how much you do now, there will always be more coming, sometimes even the moment you step away (those who share space with dependents know this well).
So I have learnt to find satisfaction in the process of the housework, not just in the accomplishment of it. the doing, not the ‘getting it done’. It frustrates my ever eager mind that is looking for how to get ahead. And moreover, as I practise this in the kitchen, I am learning there is no inherent benefit in rushing - ANYTHING.
I have planned some grammar lessons for next term - but I have also booked time with my favourite mentors and wellbeing pros. My prep for next term will be to dive into nature and meditation, soaking in bliss to dissolve the stress.
So while you may be wishing for the new year to hurry up and begin already, please enjoy this hunkering down time. Tidy the aspects of ‘house’ that present themselves to you now - be it tax forms, back ache, old clothes, garden weeds or just a lot of muddy trainers. Nature is resting outwardly, but there is important, unseen, background maintenance going on. It is a time I enjoy, when I remember and realise it’s about not just about preparing for next year, but really about the now-ness of now.
I have midwinter events (dawn walk has just one space left!) on 20th and 21st December, and 2 cacao ceremonies for getting into communication with your heart centre. Please join me, it would be a delight to have you along for the journey.
Tickets and Info: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/camilla-baker-28620346779
