Happiness can be a moving target. Just when you think you have it “figured out,” you realize you are off course. It takes discernment to pay attention when this happens and to make the correction needed to keep up with your happiness. If you don’t pay attention, you will be rewarded by the Mother of All Teachers (drum roll, please)… pain! Pain will manifest in your body, in your mood, in your mind, in your life until you get the message it is trying to send.
That message is simple: “Alert! Alert! Off target! Something is off target!”
Recently I realized I was off target. I stopped and examined the pain I was feeling. I mentally reached for something that felt better. It took a little while to get clear. It got ugly for a little bit. But I think I got the message, which seems to be to get out of the way and let my life continue to grow and expand.
For the past 2 1/2 years now–since the Pandemic began–my routine has remained about the same: lots of running, piano teaching, creativity, writing, lots of solitary activities, many of which are at home. Rinse. Repeat. This worked well for awhile. Recently it’s been challenging. I was starting to feel stagnant. My own habits were working against the changes I needed to make to keep evolving.
Fortunately, I’m moving forward. Last Friday I went to my first musical theater gig since early 2020 (other then the one-night fill-in for “In the Heights”). Today my wife and I went to a gym. Tonight we went to a play. I am appreciating getting to the other side of the resistance. Maybe it was Pandemic-related jitters, maybe it was attachment to the old routine. But now I’m riding the wave of what’s next.
I’m glad to be getting back at it.