Keeping My Soul Awake

I think that it is a challenge to keep the soul awake. The first few weeks of work have been packed and heavy with many tasks. The beginning of the year can be exciting, but also exhausting and overwhelming at times. Today, I actually started reading again. I began a book called The Kite Runner and it felt so wonderful to be entrenched in a story again. My soul started waking up a bit.

Also, I listened to my ipod tonight for the first time in a while. Such joy filled me! I listened to Bob Dylan's Buckets of Rain, Joni Mitchell's Circle, Modest Mouse's Float On, Bill Mallonee's Chameleon, a bit of Tori Amos and some classical piano. I could feel the layers of air that had been covering me begin to lift and waves of peace came on me as I felt myself remembering my true self. Emotions also come along with this as I realize if I'm not careful, precious days of my life can slip by unnoticed. Time is so priceless and limited for all of us.

The beginnings of fall crept into Michigan this weekend and oh, how I love it here! The trail at Yate's cider mill is a path I have been walking for over ten years and I never get tired of it as I revisit each autumn the first chance I get and continue to go as often as I can until the mill closes after Thanksgiving. Walking the trail was refreshing and awakening as well. The sunny, crisp, clear blue skies fill me with gratitude for life.

I feel a bit of a sore throat coming on, a bit of familiar exhaustion from day to day living creeping in and I've only been back with students for two weeks! Somehow I hope to keep capturing moments of rest in the midst of the working. A balance is possible and is necessary in order to live well.