Achieving Personal Alignment
It’s a busy season. You have a ton of meetings to attend, emails to address, people to call, fires to put out and this doesn’t even really address all the other things you were hired to do at your job that still need to happen! Not to mention, you think about a whole different set of tasks that need to happen on the other side of the spectrum like: family time, thoughts that need formulating, blog posts that need to be written, blogs to visit, relationships that need nurturing, twitter and facebook updates, “personal touches” actions that let people know you were ACTUALLY thinking about them like a phone call or sitting down for coffee. It can all become overwhelming.
Thought Walks
I walk almost every morning for an hour or so to focus on alignment. I try to do this prayerfully but many times it becomes a series of “mentalsodes” that feature yours truly in a myriad of scenes ranging from me rehearsing conversations I need to have, scripting “that document” intended to inspire change like in the movie Jerry McGuire (not a memo, a mission statement) to delivering powerful speeches like in A Few Good Men. Believe it or not, my tendency is to usually come back to the purpose of this time, get grounded and center my thoughts on what is important. Last week there was too much on my mind about too many different things with too full of a schedule ahead of me to really do anything. The realignment process that the Thought Walks provide was being threatened with every step. Then it hit me.
Isaiah 40:31
but those who wait on the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
The progression in this verse broke through the little circus of tangents happening in my mind at that moment. Soar. Run. Walk. In that order. Why is it that those who wait on the Lord soar, run and then walk? Wait a minute, it seemed like that progression should have been the opposite. I would have thought that as we “wait,” we naturally start off slow gradually reaching that point in life where we are “soaring.” This seems like a perfect and much more desirable pace for people or at least for me. Not to get too spiritual about things but at that point I felt like my head slowed down enough for God to come show me what He was trying to do in my heart.
As busy as life is, it is screaming for the pace of the walk. That pace lends itself to deeper relationship, fresh perspective, long term sustainability, insight, wisdom, discernment and of course alignment. It’s a pace of the heart that offers so much stability amidst the busyness. In the grand scheme of things, I know life will always have it’s busy seasons but there is nothing fun about a busy head and a faint heart so pace yourself.
How do you manage your busy schedules? How do you maintain alignment when life gets really busy?
