I love mornings. But today wasn’t one of my best ones. This morning, I found myself frustrated. I’d woken up in a good mood, meditated for a little while and was set for a good day. However, the moment I ran through my list of things to do, I immediately became annoyed by a few tasks that had stagnated – things that still need fixing, documents I’m waiting on from my bank, a book order that the distributor lost and now has to reorder, a meeting that was cancelled and needs to be rescheduled…and, and, and…Fixated on everything that was stuck, I allowed myself to feel stuck and to become frustrated at the lack of progress.

Recognising that if I continued on this path, I would only continue to find reasons to be frustrated decided to change course. I made a cup of tea as I huffed and puffed, grabbed a random book from my shelf and went to sit – bum flat on the grass – in my garden, to meditate and read a few pages to centre myself.

As soon as I sat on the ground in easy pose, I felt the calming energy of the Mother Nature flow into me. I closed my eyes, focused on my breathing, grounded myself and just felt the cool morning breeze brush against my skin. Nature is my best friend in moments like these. In less than a minute I felt completely connected and in the flow of the Universe.

I smiled to myself when I realised that the book I’d unconsciously grabbed was The Dance by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. A few months ago, when I needed some inspiration, I’d felt drawn to Oriah’s books as well. It was exactly what I needed at the time. I should say that I don’t place my books in exactly the same place every time I’m done with them. I read them and leave them in different spots in the house depending on where I feel like reading, or end up stacking in the nearest basket or shelf when I’m tidying up. Grabbing a book when I need some soul therapy or spirit inspiration is often a spontaneous lucky dip.  It’s my messy way of letting Spirit in.

So I asked Divine Spirit to guide me to the right page as I open the book, I was sure it would be exactly what I needed yet again.  With that I randomly opened the book to this page:

The words stuck a note on the strings of my heart. I had a choice to be completely at peace with the present status of things without being frustrated by them. In giving up my resistance, releasing my dissatisfaction and accepting all as it is I could allow myself to embrace the present. In this chapter of the book, Oriah mentions that often we fear that making peace with an unsatisfactory situation and accepting it in the moment means that we are giving up on it every changing for the better. We may therefore associate our choice to dwell on feelings of frustration and agonising over things that are not going right with some sort of progress.

“When believe that we are by our very nature deeply flawed – self-indulgent, selfish, judgemental, sinful – our efforts to fulfil our soul’s longing to live fully become efforts to control, chatise, reshape, improve, and change ourselves.” ~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer

I realize that this is exactly what I do when I busy myself. My egoic-mind automatically translates any glitch in the road as being partly due to me ‘not being enough’ and not doing enough. So I make myself miserable trying to do more or work harder. I lose myself in doing unproductive activities that don’t yield better results or opportunities. Instead, they just consume my time and add to my frustration. But when I make peace with what is in the present moment and most of all, when I make peace with myself, then things seem to fall into place, flow and progress so much better, easier and faster.

“If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Then having gained some perspective, it was easy to be a peace with the breath that I inhale in the moment. It was easy to be at peace with the calls of the Grey Louries and Weavers in the trees overhead. It was easy be at peace with the bright blue winter sky and the warm morning sun. I was effortlessly at peace with my new feathered-friend, a Robin, who has been visiting me every day. More able to stay in the moment, the remnants of my frustration melted away. I had now accepted my day was it was and ready move on with what needs to be done.

So inspire by my insight today, I invite you to explore these questions that Oriah asked in her book:

“Are you willing to be completely at peace with how things are right now in your life? Are you willing for just one moment to let go of all your dissatisfaction, of all your suffering about how things are? Are you willing to let go of all the worry and tension in your body and simply breathe?”