EXHAUSTED

So many people I know are exhausted. How about you? Are you one of them? People today seem to be more and more tired, feel more and more overwhelmed and yet can't seem to stop and breathe without feeling like a slackard or worse yet guilty.

How do we get beyond this hamster in the wheel existence? How do we take time to say enough for now -without a major catastrophe or illness stopping us? Who helps us see the damage we are doing to our bodies, to our relationships, to our families and communities through this constant push for doing more and having more? How do we help each other? AND how in God's name do we get rid of the guilt when we do stop?

There are lots of techniques for learning how to say NO, for putting yourself first and for taking some down time. But I find that they don't always take care of the guilt.

This guilt gremlin is an internal issue that drives us to external excess and therefore the solution is internal. And I think it has to do with listening to our inner wisdom. Unfortunately, our inner wisdom isn't a shouter, isn't a nagger, isn't an-in-your face talker. It is a quiet, steady hum in our inner most self that gently and graciously speaks the truth to us. The ego is BIG AND NOISY. Our inner wisdom is SOFT AND SURE. Guess who gets listened to?

You know what I'm saying,don't you? Your inner voice says you need a mental health day and you say, "Oh I can't do that, I've got too much to do at work". So off to work you go and everything you touch that day falls apart, doesn't work, or is a wasted effort. Or your inner wisdom says "I would really love a supper of fresh vegetables and fruit" and your kids say "Can we have pizza?" Not wanting to disappoint the kids and not wanting to cook, you go with pizza. And you go to bed feeling bloated and unsatisfied by your supper choice. Your inner wisdom says forget the laundry tonight and go cuddle with your husband for a while. Your guilt says "but who will finish the laundry and I'll do it after I'm done" only to find that husband is sound asleep when you finish all your household chores. Or guys you feel you don't want to let down your baseball, bowling, golf league by not showing up but your inner wisdom says, "I would love a night just to sit and play wiht my kids". Inner wisdom loses out a lot until faced with a life threatening illness, a divorce, a break down, a job loss and then our inner wisdom brings us to face to face with the choices we made.

Until we make inner wisdom our go to voice, our default mechanism, our primary care voice, we are going to continue to be exhausted. How do you listen to your inner wisdom and what does it say to you?