What Matters Most
During the pandemic, sometimes I feel as though I am living the same day over and over again as portrayed in the movie Groundhog Day. As the sun rises, I roll out of bed, enjoy a morning mindfulness sit, listen to a brief mindfulness teaching, shower, breakfast, and walk 15 steps from the kitchen to my home office to start the day.
While these daily teachings often give me a compass and intention to begin the day, today’s talk by Melli O’Brien really resonated and shook me out of my slumber. It was titled “Making a Stand For What Matters.” Melli challenged us to be honest with ourselves to ask the most basic question, “Are the things that matter most getting your time and attention or are you too busy for them? Are you focusing time on what truly makes you happy, healthy, and gives life meaning?”
Are we just doing, doing, doing, crossing the list off and then making a new list of more to do? No doubt, we live in a very busy world, demanding our time and attention. But when we don’t pay attention to what matters most, we shortchange ourselves of the qualities of what can come from living in the domain of being. Love, connection, wisdom, and calm.
She goes on to invite us to engage in inquiry, three questions that will help us regain and remind us of what matters most in our each of our lives.
Here are the three questions:
- What matters most to you today? Is it connecting with the people you love, is it doing something you are passionate about? What matters most?
- What would you like to let go of? Are you are holding onto resentment, regrets, or grudges that are really no longer serving you. Unhealthy habits that you could leave behind?
- Who do you choose to be today? In other words, how do you want to show up? Do you want to be kind, authentic, playful, honest, what values do you want to express?
Engaging in this beautiful inquiry is something that you can choose to take up as a regular practice. By acknowledging what really matters, we give each of ourselves the gift of moving towards greater clarity, purpose, intention, and cultivating inner strength to meet each day. If you would like to share your experience with this inquiry, I would love to hear from you. Be well and take care.
