Practicing What We Profess: Haven’t Got Time?

“Why is it that giving myself a break feels like such a big deal!?”  Me

For multiple reasons, it’s been a rough few weeks physically and emotionally for me.  In the midst of that, I asked one of my PeerRx buddies, “Why is it that giving myself a break feels like such a big deal!?”

“Sounds like you need some self-compassion,” they replied with a smile.  “Perhaps you need to go back and read your previous blog on that.”   And then they challenged me, “Why don’t you just take a week off from writing a blog entry?”

While I couldn’t find a good reason, I did find a reason; “That’s just not what Mark does.” 

They laughed, and replied, “Is it too late for Mark to change?” 

My answer is contained in the poem below, written as a “message from my Soul” in response to my recent challenges.  Where might you need to give yourself a break?  If doing so seems like a “big deal,” consider the cost of not doing so.  That’s likely a way bigger deal.  It certainly has been for me.  Here’s to making some regular time for self-compassion, and then remembering …. 

Haven’t Got Time

“I haven’t got time for the pain,” she sang

like the voice on the radio

 from long ago

though the music

     was all in my head …

and as she continued,

I told my pain

neither do I

but the pain

didn’t seem

     to care …

nor did

the

 time.

“Suffering, was the only thing that

made me feel I was alive,”

   she persisted ….

Fortunately a Voice

of self-compassion

interrupted,

encouraging me

yet once again

to recognize that

this background music,

now the soundtrack of

my present suffering,

was simply residual

noise from my past

and was no longer

                                enlivening … if it ever was ….

So I turned down the volume,

hoping this time

 to remember,

until I next

forget

I really haven’t

got

time

.

.

.