at the starting gate…

joyluck

Polaroid, Oakland Chinatown. December 2009.

I feel in this moment very much the way I remember feeling in school, right before the teacher said “You may now pick up your pencils and begin the exam,” or in gym class when the teacher was lining us up for a race: “Ready…set…go!”

Also, very much the way I have felt before leaving for international trips; time seems stretchy and weird and I feel wired even without the help of caffeine (which I have been successfully avoiding in the past week, by the way–finally feeling that my latte habit was going into overdrive).

The first level of The Courageous Year begins officially on Monday, but the participants will start using the site this weekend. I am trying to really s-l-o-w down and savor this moment right before something I’ve been working on for months begins. Ever notice how easy it is to work towards something and then when it arrives, it’s just done and over and then your mind is off to “What’s the next thing?” I am a do-er, a mover, a shaker, a project person, and without some due consciousness, I can totally be off to “What’s the next thing?” in a split second.

So I’m trying to really just be in the split seconds, in the moments in-between. I’m trying to really just sink into my life more. Be there when I’m there. No rush anything to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

What about you? What do you do/where do you go when, in life, you want to slow down and be completely awake to whatever is right before you?

P.S. I can tell when comparing the number of registrants I have recorded versus how many people I see signed up for the Participants only mailing list that some Participants are not signed up for that announcement list–which is what I’ll use to help you log in to the site! If you are doing The Courageous Year and haven’t already signed up for the Participants-only mailing list (a separate list than the announcement list used in general here on Your Courageous Life), please check your Welcome Packet for information on how to get on that Participants mailing list and get the info you need!