An Oasis of Gratitude

I’m excited to begin sharing my voice in this Balance community; but I have to admit I felt like a bit of an imposter earlier this week. How could I share advice on balance when I felt so out of whack myself?

I’ll spare you the details but it has been one of those periods of time….we all have them….when life really does come at you fast. Part of my personal puzzle is that I’m in the middle of a move with boxes piled so high I was convinced they were multiplying at night and I’d NEVER be able to tackle them all.

Mix that with a number of unexpected glitches and emergencies in the rest of my life and I began to question. Was I reaching the end of my rope? (Of course, in all the chaos, I’m not sure I could actually FIND my rope…….which box did I put it in?)

At one point this week when I was beginning to feel especially frenetic, I suddenly heard a little voice talking to me. (Lack of sleep can do strange things to you.) Fortunately, I quickly realized it was my own voice telling me what I have been saying out loud to my clients and others through the years.

Stop. Take a deep breath. And first look at what IS working in your life. What do you most appreciate?

When things get particularly overwhelming it’s so easy to focus on what’s wrong and all that things that need to be done. The list. The piles. The boxes.

But what if you step back and look at things differently? Even in – especially in – the chaos, what are you most grateful for?

Suddenly I refocused on WHY I was doing what I was doing and tuned in to things that bring joy into my life.

Especially in light of the recent weather and economic disasters, I realized how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to create a beautiful home to share with my family and friends. I imagined a full house loaded with the sights and smells and sounds of the people and things that I love.

Having grown up on the east coast, I love the changing of the seasons. So I grabbed my favorite ceramic pumpkin (which had been unpacked but stuck in a corner earlier) and cleared one table in the living room to display it prominently. Voila! Even in the middle of the boxes and a yard that is still nothing but dirt in hot Austin Texas, I had my fall colors and the hope that the temperature would eventually drop! Ah! I began to breath again!

I had been so busy unpacking and focusing on getting rid of boxes that I didn’t even notice that my little CD player was sitting in the corner of the room with a pile of CDs right next to it. My favorite Yo-Yo Ma CD suddenly provided a relaxing background to rip open boxes and I continued to feel the stress melt away.

The icing on the cake came in the next box I opened. Right on top was a beautiful colorful angel holding a charm that says “Peace” that a dear friend recently gave me. Holding that sign made me feel like I was being embraced by all the people I love and I was overwhelmed with a great sense of peace and calm.

No. The boxes haven’t disappeared on their own. And there’s not really time to slow down because of other obligations around the corner. But I think I may actually be working a little faster now. And I definitely have a smile on my face buoyed with a great sense of gratitude for my many blessings.

How can you create your own oasis of gratitude in the chaos? What are you most grateful for in your life? Where are your reminders? On your desk? Out your window? In a box? In the faces around you?

We can’t always make the chaos go away but even a tiny shift in focus can make a huge difference.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Melody Beatty:

Gratitude
Unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance,
chaos into order, confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast,
a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of our past,
brings peace for today,
and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Sue Cullen, founder of Sue Cullen & Associates in Austin, inspires and empowers individuals and teams to reach their full potential through career, leadership and team development and life/work balance coaching. She also offers "Every Step Matters" (TM) workshops and retreats to help women find meaning, joy and value in every step of life!