Ever found yourself at the end of your day wondering what you had gotten done and what you hadn’t? Lately, I seem to find myself wondering what I am doing and what I am doing it for? Traveling through the distraction district is like having my navigator constantly repeating “recalculating…recalculating,,,recalculating.”
My first hand-held GPS was named by friends, Nigel the Navigator. I programed him to have an Australian man’s voice. Imagine making the choice to turn right into the gas station and hear Nigel’s gorgeous voice begin “recalculating…” And again when you leave the parking lot and decide to go across the street and get a burger. Still on the same highway, headed in the right direction, just going in a bit of a circle while getting gas and food. Poor Nigel, recalculating., recalculating.
That’s how I have been feeling a lot, lately. Headed down one path, veering off ever so slightly only to hear that “recalculating” voice in my head questioning the turn I made and searching for the way back to the path it thinks I should be on. Sometimes it can all happen in the space of five or ten minutes or take a week, even more away from your life and purpose. There are those distractions that just take you off course for a while and then there are those that change the course of the entire journey, perhaps forever.
I had lunch this week with a dear friend Juanda, celebrating the completion of her PhD (I want to be her when I grow up – she is unstoppable and nearly an octogenarian. Her humor always has me laughing to tears. We were talking about distractions and how they can take us so far out of the moment we thought we were heading for.
She told me about her early morning shenanigans, how she was headed to the necessary room first thing that morning. After drinking a cup of warm water a couple of hours earlier then going back to sleep, mother nature got her up. Awake now and in a bit of a hurry, she headed towards the bathroom but noticed a single red shoe in the hallway. Stopping, she looked around for the other shoe and abandoned her trip to the bathroom, recalculating…
“The other shoe is in the living room,” she thought to herself, “Why is this red shoe here? Oh, look at that blouse, I better fold it so it doesn’t wrinkle.” Setting the folded blouse aside, Juanda makes her way into the living room for the second shoe and returns to pick up the first and take the pair to the bedroom, (the opposite direction of the bathroom, recalculating) reminding herself that she must hurry back to the bathroom as soon as she puts her shoes away.
“There’s that cup of collagen I was supposed to drink yesterday,” she says aloud to the empty room. I’ll just drink it now ‘cause I know I’m gonna fill the cup with hot water and take more collagen when I get to the bathroom.”
Then she remembers the collagen is in the kitchen not on the dresser with the cup (recalculating), She hurries to the kitchen looking for the square container she is sure the stuff is in, but it isn’t there. Now that trip to the restroom is seeming like a more important task than the search for the collagen, but wait (recalculating), there it is in the round jar on the shelf.
It’s been ten minutes since she got up, now hurriedly heading back towards the bathroom, Juanda remembers she needs a knife to cut the block of collagen because it’s old and doesn’t break off right anymore. Turning around (recalculating), she grabs the scissors off the living room chest, her need to make the restroom stop now urging her on at a faster pace.
Finally arriving at the intended destination, her wake up need has subsided. “Ha, put me off and I’ll just wait for another day,” her body chimes in with an ominous laugh. There she sits, drinking more hot water and wondering what the heck the red shoes had to do with her morning anyway. Recalculating…
Are you laughing yet? Distractions can certainly change the course of our day and even delay the necessary tasks that should be a priority. I’m still giggling as I picture my friend scurrying about her house turning around from room to room, recalculating, and eventually ending up where she thought she was going without completing the task she had planned to accomplish.
Sound familiar?
- What distractions throw you off course?
- Are they the same or are you blessed with an abundance of delays and different turns that lead you in circles to a destination that’s even better?
- When you find yourself back on track, is your purpose the same or has the end destination changed the dream along the way?
- What lessons have those incessant distractions gifted you, or have you grumbled your way on down the road thinking about all the ways you could have passed them up and made a direct beeline for the intended objective?
Here’s to giggles and grins, lunch with friends, and the gifts of recalculating when the journey goes off track.
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Vicki Dobbs is a bold and adventurous warrior walking a path of heart to manifest spirituality in everyday lives. She opens existential gateways for individuals to face their challenges and embrace these tests as the great teachers that they are.
Her goal is to see everyone walk in beauty and balance every day of their lives empowered by the voice of their own authentic truth.
Through Wisdom Evolution and Sacred Wisdom Workshops, Vicki creates opportunities for others to make deep personal changes through experiential classes, ceremony, sacred art and story. She endeavors to inspire others to create their lives intentionally. Vicki is an Inspirator of everyday awareness, an Instigator of spontaneous stories and a Connoisseur of Creativity. Gratitude and grace sprinkled with humility and humor are the medicine she brings to the world.
As an Elder, Teacher and Entrepreneur, Spiritual Coach, Ordained Minister and Crafter of Sacred Art and Tools, Vicki perceives life’s journey as an ever-upward spiraling ascension of the human spirit leading her to wisdom, wholeness and authenticity.
Her experience includes being trained in the Harner Method of Shamanic Counseling and the Pachakuti Mesa Tradition of Cross Cultural Shamanism. She is a Graduate Teacher and Mentor with the Lynn Andrews Center For Sacred Arts and Training and has been the Administrator and Writers Guide for Writing Spirit, the School.
Vicki is also an Artist of the Spirit Certified Spiritual and Energetic Life Coach, a Graduate Mentor in the AoS program and a founding member of HeatherAsh Amara’s Warrior Goddess Leadership Team and Facilitator of the Warrior Heart Practice.
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