sunday snapshot # 18
I am very busy these days... too busy. I'm doing things that are important to me (teaching, listening, encouraging, lending a helping hand, creating art and curating gallery shows.... and in grad school again) and yet I feel like I am missing something.
I still feel like I am not doing enough.
I constantly question if I am doing what I am suppose to do.
I know that what I am doing as a teacher, an artist, a friend is important stuff but yet I feel like I am suppose to be doing more. On one side of the coin, I always feel like I should be doing more and that is what keeps me searching and that is what keeps me growing. On the other side of the coin, I feel like I am always failing because I am not doing more. That's life as a Gemini -- dual vision :)
We all have to define for ourselves what is success and what is our purpose. When I feel overwhelmed with the stresses of life, these words by Ralph Waldo Emerson have always been a great reminder of what I ultimately want to accomplish:
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Fall is a time of reflection.... the changing of the season, the moving through the life cycle and soon the ending of another year.
So this is the thought that came to me this week when I was feeling so overwhelmed with all I had to do but no time to do it and still feeling like I wasn't doing enough....
Take care of others, and I will take care of you....
love, God