Who's Driving the Bus?

I don't know about you, but from time to time I realize that my life is driving me, that I am not in the driver's seat. When I start feeling overwhelmed with too many things to do and I don't feel like doing any of them, when I can't get "enough" done each day and feel tired most of the time, I know it is time to pay attention.

We were talking about this in the MBSR class the other night. One of the students said she was having a hard time practicing meditation because she didn't have any time. Her "To Do" list had her running all day long and when she got home from work, there was more to do. She looked and sounded exhausted. Practicing was just another thing she "had to do."

As we talked, I suggested she bring mindful awareness to the things on her list each day. Asking questions like: Did each of the tasks need to be done that day? Did it need to be done at all? According to who? What would happen if it wasn't done?

I then suggested that she consider the model used by Franklin Covey Co. as a basis for their planner systems:
Discover what is most important in your life, plan to do the things that support those values, and then let those values drive your actions.

I know from my own experience that if I'm not paying attention, my planner can get filled up with all the things that others want me to do, from work to friends and family. If I am not aware, I overschedule myself and underestimate how long things take to do. The result is that there is no time left for what I want to do, let alone time to relax and rejuvenate.

My advice to her was the advice I give myself. If you take the time to meditate each day, you will bring greater awareness to what is truly important to you and how you spend your time each day. You will make more conscious choices that can lead to greater balance between doing and non-doing, working and playing, between the obligations you accept and taking the time to follow your heart's desire.

So if you ask yourself each day, "Who's driving the bus?" and the answer isn't you, it's time to put yourself back in the driver's seat of your life.