A friend recently told me that we all
need to learn to be able to (metaphorically speaking here) put some things away in a drawer for a while to be able to best focus
on what is right in front of us...the things that are most important
in that moment...in the Now. I have never been very good at this. I
am beginning to understand how much this may be negatively affecting
my ability to have peace in the things that I do. Not that I don't
have peace ever or that I can't focus on what's important but rather,
that I sometimes find myself while working on “A” also thinking
about “B, C, D....”. I think my friend is correct. I am working
on this.
Also, I think sometimes, if we are
totally honest with ourselves, we find that we have some drawers open
that we really should not focus on. Some should never be opened for
at least a season of our life and others should be left shut forever.
There are responsibilities we shouldn't take on. Some we take on
consciously while others are accepted without us even knowing that we
have done so. These obligations keep us from focusing on those people
and tasks that are at the core of who we are and what we are to be
about. As I heard one man put it, “You've got to pick important
stuff because you've only got a limited amount of time.” To
paraphrase: I've got to know which draws are the important ones and
which one I should totally focus on at any given moment.
I have another friend who is a slob.
I'm not judging but objectively...she is a slob. I have never seen
her clothes dresser with all of it's drawers completely closed. There
are clothes hanging out, things hanging off the top of the dresser
and any sort of major disarray you can imagine. Big deal...right?
Frankly, I don't care one way of the other how she keeps her dresser
drawers but I have noticed this - she gets frustrated because she
can't find things quickly and easily. She has to close one drawer to
be able to get something out of the drawer below it (and amazingly,
she then just leaves open the drawer she just accessed creating the
same problem the next time she needs something). Maybe this is the
way I should view my life sometimes. I have to move around task A to
deal with task B so that things will be in order for when task C
arises. Then later, I have to remember to move task B out of the way
to get to task A again and on and on and on it goes...and don't even
get me started on tasks D through Z!
So, I am working
on two skills:
- Focus on that/who is in front of me at any given moment. Trust that what is before me is what is important in that moment.
- Be able to discern quickly which drawers I should open, which I should open at a later time and which I should never visit again.
Your life will be
full of people who will try to get you to focus on the drawers
(tasks, responsibilities, etc.) that they think you should make a
priority. You're going to upset some people if you do this. However,
this is your set of dresser drawers...this is your life...”You've
got to pick important stuff because you've only got a limited amount
of time”...and energy and ability and...
Right now, answer
this question: What are the 3 to 5 main drawers I need to focus
on?
For me, they are:
For me, they are:
- Take care of my own personal development intellectually and spiritually. Without doing this, everything else will not receive my best efforts and energies.
- Take care of my health. Eat healthy and be active.
- Take care of developing my talents and strengths in my career and personal interests and try to have these two dove-tail as much as possible.
- Take care of my children but only in the ways that are appropriate. Do not do things for them that they can and should do for themselves. Do not “make up the slack” that others leave in their lives except when it would be detrimental to not do so (and this should be the exception).
- Be a good friend. Give when I can but know when I can't. Also do this with those who I may not know and from time to time, to my “enemies”...but only because I know the time is right, that I am the person put there to do it and that it will not get in the way of the other “drawers” I've just listed.
Now excuse me...I
have some drawers to close.
