Taking Time

I have a sign next to my bed: “Joy—Love—Peace.” It’s three words, each on their own chain, hanging down from my nightstand lamp. I bought them at Pottery Barn after the holidays—they’re meant to hang around the necks of wine bottles, I think. But I liked them and repurposed them to hang next to my bed as a reminder of the important things in life: joy, love and peace.

Unfortunately, even with a sign staring me straight in the face every night and every morning, it’s too easy to forget these three little words. Running to the dry cleaners, stopping to get a tea or bottle of water, writing a blog, calling clients, visiting with family and friends—these are all daily things that I get caught up doing and forget my little sign. Worse are the big things that I get caught up in, that I should instead let go of: taking other people’s inventory, trying to control situations that aren’t my own, trying to fix others, making decisions for others, doing anything FOR others. It’s these kinds of actions that not only allow me to forget my little sign, but they actually make me blind to it.

I don’t see it, I don’t remember it — and I don’t experience it.