Chair Talk: Thursday's Reflection

I am not surprised, for this happens at this time every year.

Temptation. 

I am tempted by new notebooks and pens--and the classes where I could use them. Catalogs arrive and I want to register for "Seeds and Roots: Growing Sacred Activism" at Wisdom Ways Center for Spirituality, and I want to take a writing class at The Loft. I also want to attend a session called "Votes for Minnesota Women" (http://www.mnhs.org) at the State Capitol and go on a walking tour in the former mill area of Minneapolis.

How about the stack of brochures I've collected over the months for fall art fairs and antique shows? Can I combine those with stops at   apple orchards and meandering down country roads to enjoy the soon to be here fall colors?

At the same time I am bursting with ideas for classes I could teach and ways I could companion others on their spiritual journey. Writing ideas are sprouting out of my fingertips, and I sense a new direction for the chapter I am revising in my spiritual memoir. 

And then there is the house and my desire to nest, to move into the next season. Pumpkins, galore! 

I am tempted by it all. What to do? 

I am reading a book called Wise Aging, Living with Joy, Resilience, and Spirit by Rabbi Rachel Cowan and Dr. Linda Thal, and as often happens, just what I needed appeared. 

First, Rabbi Rachel wrote about a time when she had trouble balancing several areas of her life, and her life coach set up two chairs facing each other and asked her to have a conversation between the two conflicting aspects of herself. Her first response was how corny that idea seemed, but she trusted her coach and dialogued with herself, moving from chair to chair. In that process she clarified priorities and discovered more about who she is and what she most needed to do. 

I think this idea, whether you actually set up the chairs and move from place to place or do this in your head or in your journal, can be extremely helpful. 

Are you feeling muddled or unbalanced or unsure of a next step? Do you feel pulled in many directions? Talk to yourself, yes, but do more than that: Listen to yourself, your inner voice. What is calling you right now? 

I love this story in Wise Aging:

           ...when Rabbi Zusya lay dying on his bed, his
           students gathered around. They were astonished 
           and dismayed when they found him weeping. They
           asked their beloved teacher why he was crying. Could
           it be that he was afraid of meeting God at the entrance
           of heaven? Was he worried that God would ask him
           why he had not been a visionary pioneer like Abraham?
           Rabbi Rusya answered that he has no such worry, for
           after all, God had not made him like Abraham. Then
           perhaps God would criticize him for not being like
           Moses, the most humble of leaders? "Heavens no, the
           rabbi replied. "If God had wanted me to be like Moses,
           God would have made me like Moses. No," he told them.
           "I am weeping because I fear that the Holy One will ask
           me why I was not Zusya."

Who have you been created to be? And how will you reach towards the fulfillment of that creation? 

You might be surprised by what the chair whispers to you.

An Invitation
What possibilities tempt you now? I would love to know.