The scene of my car from my window in the tree house during the blizzaaahd just one week ago.  During which storm we received over two feet of snow.  Today, one week later we get another foot or more of snow.  During all of which I was, gasp, at home being still hunkering down and enjoying the beauty of it all.  I say gasp because last week at my job despite there being a parking ban, a travel ban and the T (subway) or and also my department being closed, I was expected to be at work or I could use earned time to take a day off  Guess you have figured out what my response was to that idea.  All this came as no surprise to me; I have worked in the area of health care for over 12 years now.  I know the drill.  Despite my job being of no importance during a weather emergency, I have always been deemed as essential personnel and thereby required to work or else.  I don’t share all this info with you as a disgruntled employee rant.  I do so from a place of wondering, yet again, how we all got here and where the hell do we think we are going with all this insanity????  As my mom would say (and she swears she has never said this, although my brother and I remember her doing so) “TO HELL IN A HAND BASKET.”  To which you may wonder, “what is a hand basket??”  We don’t know.  We can’t answer.

It is very curious that the health care industry, who supposedly is in the business of caring, simply disregards the art of being still.  I mean, why should that be of a surprise to anyone really?  It has become the motto of Americans.  We define ourselves through our work so much that we often forget or have no idea who we are underneath all of it.  Two income house holds are a requirement these days for most in order to keep up with the bills.  People wear so many hats they forget which one they need as they are approaching the door.  It is even more curious to me that I have become so irate about this.  I mean truly, I am not the one to talk about the art of being still.  It is an art that I work towards better incorporating into my life.  Hence yoga, meditation, now crocheting (jury is still out on that one) and the art of making and drinking teas.  But as I talked with my acupuncturist about all of this last week, I was reminded of what happens during a snow storm.  People get a chance to be still, to be around the ones they love, to marvel at the beauty around them, to catch up on reading, writing, snuggling, drinking hot cocoa, playing with their kids, and so on.  We get to just BE rather than DO.  The type of doing that often happens during storms is the doing that one revels in.  People cook more, bake, send emails, texts, phone calls to those they love.  They get to just enjoy life for that one moment.  They get to be a kid again without all that

It is curious to me what we are so afraid of.  Why is it that the people who worked hard and put their lives at risk to get to their jobs last Monday were featured on the news, front page and pictures splashed around social media.  Why are they the heros?  Where are the pictures of the parents making snow angels and snowmen with their kids, the Mom/Dad/every day person in the kitchen cooking slow cooked meals, the neighbors laughing and joking about the crazy New England weather and the dogs having just as much or more fun than all the kids around?  Why don’t we feature those “heros” of being?  Why is it always the person who risked their lives in the sake of their job that are seen as the ones who are exemplary?  People who are attached to their electronic device are seen as the hardest worker rather than someone who needs to check their priorities.  This is not just a conversation about a snow storm in Boston but is a much larger issue that was simply high lighted by this event. People now adays are so burnt out, exhausted, overworked, over pressured, spread thin, etc.  When it comes time to slow down and enjoy the moment, it is often seen as a waste of time.  For me today was a private practice day that was cancelled across the board.  Money was lost but money is energy.  Time is energy.  My physical and emotional energy is energy.  I feel like in these two Mondays, I have gained far more than I have lost because I was able to be in a way that often I am not.  I love that my house is full of windows that make me feel like I live in a snow globe when it snows.  I love cooking food, reading, writing, and just being.  I have had a long winter full of low energy, emotional shifts like no other, and a lingering cold that hasn’t wanted to go.  Today, for the first time in a while, I felt an increase in creative energy.  I believe that is only because I have truly respected the art of being and allowed by body to do what it needed to do.

Where are we going if we can’t even respect the art of being?  It is no wonder Americans are so sick.  It is a sad place we have gotten ourselves to.  I come from a decade where we played outside during this weather and enjoyed life.  I don’t believe that was just because I was a kid.  I think it was because people knew back then that the moment was all we really had.  What have you been doing lately to increase your respect of being?  How does it make you feel when you allow yourself to just be and do the things that make your soul feel alive?

Cheers to being still and loving it!

My baby beetle last week and she looked no different today:)