Do you hide behind being busy?
You may have noticed I've been a little quiet since I've been in Costa Rica and now that I'm in a more settled place I can take the time to be all yours and share what I have been working through, experiencing, and learning.
I found this amazing, very special yoga studio right in my town, Puerto Viejo, that has had a beautiful and profound effect on my experience here. But before I go there,
let me back up a bit.
We landed in Costa Rica August 5th and headed right to the horse ranch on the Caribbean coast where we are
living out the Costa Rica version of the Real World.
Our mornings are spent caring for, feeding, and riding the horses, while our afternoons are open to relax in beachside coffee shops, delve into our online work on our computers, visit the local movie rental store (where we are now regulars), lazily sip almond milk cappuccinos at our favorite Italian bakery, do yoga, drink coconut smoothies and eat raw food platters on the beach, ride miles upon miles on our bikes, lay in the hammocks on our porch watching the daily rain nourish all the nature around us, read, write, and create.
Sounds glorious, right?
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Well, after a couple weeks, all the free time started to get to me. I was thinking, creating, and manifesting but not in a positive way. I was feeling bored and restless, and instead of relishing in the beauty and serenity around me, I was creating a hell within my mind.
All the time and space to think (instead of cross items off my "to-do" list, like I was used to) made me want to run.
I wanted to go anywhere I could move, be busy, and not have all this time alone with my mind.
The funny thing about this is that prior to this trip, that was all I asked for - time & space. And now that I had received it, I was seriously rethinking my request.
Prior to booking the next one-way flight out of Costa Rica, I took some time to reflect on what exactly was going on for me. In all my previous travels I had been backpacking, which meant I was moving to a new city every 3 or 4 days with constant change, stimulation, and new experiences.
I was busy.
The travel we are doing here in Costa Rica is more of a temporary move than backpacking adventures, so first I had to stop and realize that THIS is what I had created.
I picked the horse ranch. I bought the flight. I packed my bag. I committed to staying here for 3-months. I handpicked this entire reality myself.
"I just want to do something, anything,"
I would say to
.
"I'm restless and bored. I want to be busy again."
Today, we wear the term busy like a badge of honor. We can crawl up inside of it and hide from the reality of all the other things in our life we should be looking at.
"How are you today?"
your friend asks you.
"Oh, I'm great! I'm really busy - lots happening today,"
you reply. As if being busy proves that you are up to important things.
When did slowing down, relaxing, sitting still, and just being, start to get such a bad reputation?
I decided not to run.
I chose to stay right where I am, and turned inward to begin a new journey of mindfulness and simplicity to ease some of the chaos I had created.
I visited the local yoga studio and during my first class (taught by my friend
Camille, a talented yogi & travel blogger
) I felt my body shift. With each pose my body lengthened, my heart expanded, my mind quieted, my energy increased, and peace surrounded me.
I felt myself in tears several times throughout the class as I had a physical release of all the crap I had just created in my mind in my desire to be "busy."
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It's peace we are all looking for. And unfortunately, the natural inclination is to look outside of ourselves.
We are looking to the job, the relationship, the vacation, the money, the adventures, the body, or the perfect diet. And in the search for that peace, we are BUSY.
The thing is, we have a great gift - the peace always has been, always will be, and currently is in our possession.
It's simply a choice as to whether or not I am going to slow down enough to tap into it.
That's what Costa Rica has provided for me - a place to learn how to slow down and connect back to the peace I possess within.
When you begin to simplify your life, you provide the space and time for inner peace to be revealed. This is exactly what I had done and where I had run headfirst into a huge stumbling block and one of my greatest learning opportunities.
Right now, I am in the practice of
enjoying the simplicity of life; the smell of rain, the smile of a new friend, the first bite of my favorite meal, a full nights sleep, waking up next to my love, clean socks, a
warm shower, and a loving hug.
And when the real stuff, the hard stuff, the emotional stuff, creeps in due to the space I have created, I deal with it, right then, right there. I allow it all to be "all good" and it releases my desire and need to hide behind being busy.
Suddenly,
the simple life truly is beautiful.
The growth opportunity I have been presented with now is to continue to include this kind of space, time, and simplicity even when I return back home, even with the demands of life, relationships, jobs, family, finances, and day-to-day life.
I am not always going to be living in a tropical paradise but I can create a paradise within myself - anywhere, anytime.
This is my journey to do just that.
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How do you create simplicity in your life?
What practices do you have in place to release the busyness of life and reconnect with your body and spirit?
I would love to know!