Choosing the Quality of your Present Moment
Have you noticed how the people and situations in our life are sometimes — often!? — sources of stress and disconnection? The demands, the criticisms, the performance pressure. We can feel a lot of undesirable emotion about what others are doing to us.
We call this being “At the Mercy.” We can particularly feel At the Mercy in our time management.
And yet, every so often, something shifts, and we see it all in a different light. We have feelings of connection, creativity, growth, and joy towards these same people and challenges. What happened?! Did they change? Or did we?
We call this state, where we are bringing our highest self to our daily life, being “At Source”. At the source of who you want to be and the life you want to create.
This shift is within each of us. The beauty — and challenge! — is that we choose it, or not, at every moment.
What is your experience of these two states of being? What are your tips to shift from the state of being At The Mercy to the state of being At Source? What are your questions?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Author’s Note: Although I have a husband, a daughter and clients in need, these drawings of course bear no resemblance whatsoever to my life…
Your very beautiful and smart image-story evokes a lot for me. i’m certainly not “at source” much of the time, and your image hits it on the nail. when i’m in this space the world is in either / or; black / white terms. Descartes dualism is an apt and accomodating paradigm.
But for the moments i’ve been “at source” – thank God, thank the goddess, thank all that is divine, thank nature – for there have been SOME moments – nuance, strength and clarity infuse time, turn it inside out and expose us humans to something way bigger than thought.
Your image made me think about the nuance, in particular, because its not always about ME shifting, per se, but about sometimes I shift and others get it; other times I shift and others don’t and thats fine; other times others seem to have shifted out of that tight space…and I SLOWLY follow suit. In other words, as Einstein believed, we really do seem to be connected, for BETTER and WORSE.
Lets raise a glass with the toast that we aim even more for BETTER more of the time.
Carole;
I love this! Such a fun way to show at source and at mercy time management. Ok, I’m going to go sit under a tree and contemplate the greater purpose of my life now – and check my email 🙂
Love your humor, drawings, insight, as always!
This is a great reminder Carole that it is indeed up to me as to which state I choose. Choice is the operative word. Sometimes it does not feel like choice but it is where we put our focus and attention. When we remember we can notice where we are, take a breath, release the negative and focus on what we do appreciate about a situation, person or even ourselves. I also like what Robin says about connection and how we influence each other. On some level perhaps that is a choice too, whether we let another influence us positive or negatively. Thanks for the thoughts.
Carole, I love your drawings! You have such a gift. The biggest thing I have realized lately is that time goes fast when I am at the mercy and never seems like enough. However, I went on a long hike a few weekends ago. And I couldn’t believe how full the day felt and time went by so slow. I realized when I am more present and at source, that time seems to go slower and I feel more effortless with my actions. Thanks for sharing a great post. It is a feeling of abundance!
Carole,
Your drawings are always so funny and witty. The simple lucidity of them all hits me on the head with such power. When I am “at the source”, I feel peace and utmost connection with myself and others (including the tree). Why is it so difficult to maintain?… Thank you for your continued support with your wonderful drawing!