A Little Inspiration for Mid-Week Madness

Planner and to-do lists...what keeps me sane!

This week = absolutely insane. I'm not sure where August went, but tomorrow is September 1st (eek!). It's also the day that Ben and I leave for our whirlwind week of travel that I like to call "Weddingpalooza 2011." I've known that this day would come all summer long, but somehow I am still completely unprepared. I'd like to blame it on the plethora of natural disasters that we experienced last week, but to do so would be a lie--this week is just the product of a busy life...

Tomorrow we hop in the car and drive 9 hours to Cape Cod. We settle in, get some sleep, and Friday we have the rehearsal dinner for wedding #1; Saturday, the wedding. Sunday marks the bachelor party for wedding #2 (for Ben) and girls' re-coop day at the beach (for me). We've got lots of plans with family and friends Monday-Thursday, and then Friday we start all over again (set-up, rehearsal, and ceremony/reception for wedding #2). We come home for two days, and then I'm off again to Squam Art Workshops in NH for 5 days. PHEW! Now don't get me wrong--I'm super-excited for all of these events (weddings for two of Ben's best and most amazing friends, trip to the beach and to see Ben's family, an amazing weekend of art exploration, etc.), but the past few days of preparation are killing me.

Sounds extreme, yes? I would agree, except for the fact that it's not because I also have about 1,ooo other things to do before leaving down (won't bore you by listing them all!). And packing? Hmm...haven't thought about that yet. So what do I need today? A bit of mid-week inspiration for my mid-week madness. And who do I always turn to for inspiration? The ever-wise and all-knowing Pema Chodron, that's who. Here's one of my favorite quotes from my dear friend (I wish!), Pema:

"Breathing in, breathing out, feeling resentful, feeling happy, being able to drop it, not being able to drop it, eating our food, brushing our teeth, walking, sitting--whatever we're doing could be done with one intention. That intention is that we want to wake up, we want to ripen our compassion, and we want to ripen our ability to let go, we want to realize our connection with all beings. Everything in our lives has the potential to wake us up or put us to sleep. Allowing it to awaken us is up to us."

This passage is a great reminder to stay awake for all of it--to be fully present in anything that we're doing--whether it's feeling stressed, marking things off of a to-do list, rushing from one thing to the next, or just breathing in and out. We can allow the minutiae of everyday life to swallow us up and eat us whole, or we can use it to "ripen our ability to let go."

Ahhhhh, thanks, Pema. You always make everything so simple.

Now off to make the most of this jam-packed last day in town! I vow to try my hardest to stay present and awake for it all :)

Namaste!
Mary Catherine

P.S. I just want to note that Ben is in both of these weddings. He's also in another wedding in early October. The guy is a wedding machine. They should make a movie about him called 27 Tuxes ;)