1000 ways for reflecting

There are so many ways of reflecting, praying, meditating….why a 1000 ways. Well because in one of my K drama, the main character had to climb a mountain 1000 times and pray for forgiveness for the sins she did in a previous life.

That number stays with me because we are talking years here of going to a place for praying to ask for forgiveness for something she is not directly responsible for.

And I believe that I personally is wasting an opportunity for such reflection.

Opportunities or missed opportunities

As a Catholic I try to go to Church regularly. So let’s say that I manage to go to Church 3 times a month.

There are 12 months on the year so that 36 times a year that I am going to mass.

So it would take me almost 28 years to ask for forgiveness in order to reset my life.

Because I have a goal I would probably try to go more often in order to reach my goal, that is motivation.

Is this what we are missing in life, a special goal with our spirituality?

Are we going to mass out of habits missing the opportunity to actually get back from the power of praying together?

What I mean is that do we miss the opportunity to reflect, use the time to really pray and reflect or are we just taking without actually gaining?

Are we putting our reflection in a golden cage that should be open…..

New trends….being in the moment

As mentioned people have been going to mass, temples, mosques….regularly to listen to the word of Gods.

They are being fed with reflections suggestion (Homily for example) but how many people actually reflect on what is being said to them during those hours?

I was personally getting sick a few years ago when I was hearing people saying “you need to be in the moment” and seeing all those new Mindfulness trends.

Every where was that you need to slow down, and take the time to be mindful.

When you eat, be sure to think about the food you are chewing….and my head would explode with confusion.

I was wondering why we needed to be reminded to stop and think of what we were doing.

I was rushing everything and trying to keep up with everything and someone was telling me to stop and slow down and think of what I was doing in the moment….but I could not understand.

Then Covid hit and we had to stop all activities and stay home. And all the sudden I realised what it meant to be in the moment.

I did not have to run all the time and I promised myself I would not return to this madness life I had before covid.

Why the madness?

When I was in the madness I could not see the problem. I had friends and colleagues having burn out.

Let me side track a tiny bit here I am not talking about work burn out here as this is a different topic which I touched on in the past in a different blog.

What I am talking about here is the modern burn out because we are trying too hard to do everything and being superwoman.

We want to be social, we want a family, we want romance, we want a career, we want the unforgettable holidays, we want to be pillar in our community, we want a clean house….but all at the same time, we do not want to compromise, we can do it all, after all our ancestors were doing it!

But it is so false first of all, there were no internet and mobile phone to suck up our brains and life was not at all the same.

In the past….

In the past, women might not have worked, so could handle all domestic matters.

In the past, there was no social media to make us believe that the only good holidays are far away in the sun, you could have a lovely time a few hours drive down the country.

In the past, you did not have to keep fit past 50 years old and being judged.

In the past, you did not date using dating app.

In the past, you could ignore people, close the door or go for a walk without being contactable and not stress about it, or have the new decease which is Fear to Miss out.

In the past, you only could watch TV shows planned on TV at a specific time, or watch a recording of it, not being tempted to binge watch a series of 20 hours in one day.

In the past, when travelling people only had books to keep company.

In the past, people waiting for the bus used to talk to one another.

And the list can go on, I do not want you to think that I want to live in the past, I am just mentioning why we are now different and burning ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally.

And it also explains why we need to be taught again how to slow down and think of the food we are chewing.

Slowing down or just living life?

So is our modern life not allowing us to slow down? Or do we choose the madness to try to do it all at the same time? Or as I have decided to live my life, one moment at a time.

Some weeks I have a clean house, some weeks I work late, some evenings I meet friends and not cook dinner, some days I write a blog but I do not exercise….and I make choices. I realise that you cannot be every where and do everything properly anyway.

Multi-tasking is a myth, what you do is switch from one task to another and probably not complete either of those tasks properly.

So just accept that you can accomplish one thing at a time, and see what is your priority, this moment, this hour, this day, this week, this month, this year….and this life.

So that you do not have to pray 1000 times climbing a mountain in your next life to be happy in your current life.

Until then have a good week.