I remember being at a Hay House summit several years ago and Reid Tracy, the president of Hay House, made the comment to our group, “It takes 10 years to become an overnight success”. The crowd laughed, because we all knew, although frustrating at times, it was absolutely true. We do not become ourselves and all it entails overnight.
Yesterday I was sitting out on the deck having brunch and spied a mud turtle making its way across our yard. We often see turtles in early summer coming in to lay their eggs in the yard. I love this little connection to nature, and we make sure to mow around their nests in the yard and not over the top of them. An hour or so later, I stepped out on the deck for a break and saw the turtle further across the yard, but still moving. Clearly, she had not found her ideal place yet.
I thought to myself, “an hour and a half and that’s all the further she is? Wow – well, she is a turtle”.
A couple of hours later, I checked on the turtle and she was out on the deck, hunkered down in the dropping position. “Finally”, I thought. Hours later we sat down for dinner and there she was, in the exact same place… “are you kidding me?!” I thought. “Laying eggs can not take that long!” I wasn’t even the one doing the work and I felt impatient. Here’s the deal – she wasn’t in my way. There was nothing I wanted to do that I couldn’t do because she was in the yard. There was zero reason for me to be impatient with her process…and there it was. In an instant I was aware of how much pressure I put on myself to move forward, get more done, create more, write more, teach more, read, meditate, exercise, make meals, do laundry, run a business, and the list goes on and on. I stopped in my own tracks and realized how impatient I am with myself to be “ontrack”. I could blame Instagram and all the super multimillionaire influencers with their teams of people who help them have the life they have, but why would I do that? Because, I often feel like I’m not getting where I should be fast enough. The sad part is, I don’t really even know where I think I’m supposed to be considering those “should, would, could and supposed to’s” are always someone else’s agenda.
A lesson from a Momma turtle. Be patient. Go slow. Be methodical and purposeful. Go at the pace that you can go at. Let the process, because life is a process, take the time that it takes.
When I stop. When I breathe. When I listen inside myself. I know without question I am precisely where I need to be. Where I am meant to be…I am exactly where I am “supposed to” be.
It’s so easy to get distracted from our truth by the lies of the ego: cultural expectations, comparison, competition, in the end, fear in all its forms.
More than ever we are called by Spirit to be mindful; think consciously, act with intention, feel with depth, believe from openness and expansion.
Breathe.
Spirit is asking us to remove our “should’s” to run like the hare in the old tale, and be more like the turtle. Slow and steady still win the race.
Forever the journey,
Anne