SLOWING DOWN

I'm trying to slow down. It hasn't been easy. And I find myself regressing quite often. Take last Tuesday, for instance. Getting morning rituals (like breakfast, making bed, doing dishes) over with, I kept plowing on.
After water aerobics, I decided to go to the local outdoor market and pick up some corn to freeze. While there the apples caught my eye and I thought, why not make apple pie filling today too.  BAM! There went slowing down for the rest of that day. AND while I was making the apple pie filling, the idea of making an apple pie came to me. Why not?  Of course, after doing this sticky kind of canning and freezing, the kitchen floor had to be mopped.  But the house smelled good with the apple pie baking. By the time Boyd and Jon got down from the ranch, I was exhausted and fixing supper was not something I could face. So we went out for a hamburger. Not a good day as an example of slowing down!

But the days I have periods of slowing down have been worth the effort. The interesting thing about this is I have to be fully aware of my effort to slow down in order to make it work!

Yesterday, Saturday, I did a pretty good job of it. I got a few things done without rushing through them. Then Boyd asked if I wanted to ride to the ranch with him to check the cattle. I didn't hesitate. When we got to the house we transferred from the pickup to the John Deere Gater. What a wonderful afternoon: hair blowing in the breeze created by the Gator; dust flying around us; hot sun shining on us. 

We rode around one of the old homesteads, walked around the foundation of the home on that piece of land, and some some of the old rusted tools and equipment left behind. Then we drove around some of the springs in the area - most of them drying up if not dried up because of the lack of rain this past month. 

The fall leaves on the trees were beautiful.  We did see one pine hen, but that was the only wild animal we encountered, but it was the middle of the afternoon when we were riding around. If it had been later in the day we would probably have seen deer and moose.

No, I didn't get everything done I had planned on, but those things can be done another day or just eliminated competely from by my "to do" list.  What I did accomplish was a pleasant afternoon with my husband, spent in an area I love.

Last night I was reading and came upon a sentence that summed up my day: "I'd forgotten that quiet pleasures can be good for the soul."  Yes, yesterday my soul was replenished, my physical being was replenished! I must do this more often!