A NEW DAY AND A FRESH START ON STILL MOUNTAIN
I am realizing life is a marathon, not a race and that I need to stop “burning the candle at both ends” and create a much more balanced life.
THE DAWNING LIGHT Volume 7, Issue Number 485
Still Mountain Chronicles Section Number 33
Monday, September 25, 2023
Photo Credit: Pixabay “Seeking blissful balance in life everyday”
I am realizing that life is a marathon, not a race, and that I need to stop “burning the candle at both ends”and create a much more balanced life.
I HAVE BEEN “BURNING THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS”
I am up and in my seat in my writing studio this morning as the new day dawns in all its glory.
This is thrilling to me because for nearly every night since launching “The Dawning Light” nine months ago, I have been going to bed as dawn was arriving, after working all night every night to produce and publish the next day’s edition.
Then, I would pass out in my sweet bed and sleep for a few hours, get up in severe grogginess, wake myself up with a steaming cup of espresso and get ready to do whatever other work that needed to be done during the day.
I know you are probably thinking I must be crazy to keep such an insane schedule…and normally I would agree with you.
But here’s the deal…
This little labor of love of a newsletter is very important to me.
Though I have been writing every day for sixty years, filling 100-page workbooks with poetry, stories, articles, aphorisms and journaling every month… not one thing was ever published.
I was always knee deep in many other things which seemed, and probably were, important at the time, such as making a living, building our retreat center, raising my children…and making big mistakes that have taken years to recover from.
Photo Credit: “I have been writing lovingly everyday for sixty years…”
I KEPT PROMISING MYSELF “SOMEDAY, SOMEDAY, SOMEDAY”…
All that writing was done with the promise to myself that “one day I will focus on publishing and building the infrastructure to get my work out into the world…”
And so this “someday, someday, someday” promise was made to myself across all those years as the decades and piles of workbooks built up.
But the inner call to publish and the gravitational pull to move the promised someday to today constantly got stronger and louder.
Yes, I made attempts and did publish the first versions of this newsletter much more seriously beginning seven years ago.
These attempts were like seeds sprouting and starting to grow for a few years into the mighty trees I intended, only to be waylaid by various causes…and put back onto the shelf of “someday” possibilities…
Photo Credit: Pixabay “It is a new day in every way!”
BUT THEN WE CONSCIOUSLY CHOSE TO SIMPLIFY AND REFOCUS OUR LIVES
But then, three years ago, we consciously chose to simplify our lives and re focus on the truly important things …
that process, is still underway and being refined constantly, for the more we simplify our lives, the more we are able to see how to simplify even further…and further yet.
Each step on this journey of simplifying unlocks more and more of our personal freedoms, including the all important time freedom, and makes it possible to see and refocus on what is truly important.
Photo Credit: Pixabay “Sailing the ship of our lives out of the fog”
TAKING THE SHIP OF OUR LIVES OUT OF THE FOG
It is like bringing the ship of our lives out of a fog bank we’ve been lost in for years—all the time sailing in circles, crashing into rocks, completely lost without realizing how lost we actually were…
until we took a clear direction that brought us out of the fog into the placid waters and sunlight.
Life, for us, is a process of constant growth, reevaluation and spiritual evolution that we are absolutely committed to.
We have never been nor ever will be folks who are just drifting downstream in our precious life time, singing “merrily merrily merrily—life is but a dream.”
Life is a precious opportunity which is in our hands for this moment, and we are ever aware that the sands of our lives will run out at some point unknown to us.
The older I get, the more deeply I understand that this wonderful opportunity does have an expiration date.
This knowledge has spurred me to train myself to always and only live in this very present moment . I no longer put off the important things to “someday” because my some days could run out at any time.
Photo Credit: Pixabay “It is later than you think”
“AT MY BACK I ALWAYS HEAR TIME’S WINGED CHARIOT HURRYING NEAR”
Like Andrew Marvell sings in his wonderful poem “To His Coy Mistress” …” At my back I always hear/Time’s winged chariot hurrying near.”
I am quite aware that this is it!
Its time to put up or shut up!
Time is up and there is no time to waste.
If I don’t give everything I have to give to doing this work now, it will not get done before it is too late.
As my wise Grandma often said “Son, always remember…it is later than you think!”
This is why I will do whatever I must to keep the publication schedule I have set for myself, even if it means staying up all night every night from now on.
Photo Credit: Pixabay “Life is better lived fully in every sweet moment”
LIFE IS A MARATHON, NOT A RACE
Yet, I am now seeing that to run this marathon for the rest of my life and accomplish all that the divine has repeatedly shown me in prayer as my mission for this birth, that I must pace myself and develop a much more balanced daily schedule that supports this work without burning the candle at both ends.
Last night, I “hit the wall” of being so utterly exhausted that I couldn’t go on and as much as I wanted to keep working through the night, I realized I simply couldn’t.
All those other all nighters were having their toll which I was paying dearly for.
So I chose two issues from among the more than 330 issues already published, polished them up and published them as “reprise editions” with the last dregs of my energy and then went to bed and passed out, giving myself hours of blissful slumber during the night.
When I woke up, the very first edge of dawn was happening, and I felt refreshed and awake and renewed. It felt so so good to start this new day rested and with fresh energy flowing through my body and mind.
I have made myself a new promise…to create a much more balanced schedule so that the writing and editing is all done during the daylight hours and my nights are free to resume nightly meditation, prayer baths and going to bed in time to sleep and be renewed.
After all, I will be doing this work now until my last breath, so I must be wise about it and create a schedule which supports both working, praying, being with Ani and all the truly important things in a balanced, simple and focused lifestyle.
Photo Pixabay “Sailing on calm, clear and serene waters at last..”
Original Revelations Poem and Calligraphy by Chinmayan
Image Credit: Still Mountain Meditation Center
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DEAR DAWNING LIGHT FAMILY—-
I am speaking to all our Dawning Light family from my heart…to all the ones who are getting value, inspiration and support from our daily issues of transformational writing, poetry and stories…there is so much more that I want to do to radically enhance and expand this work…but but I need your help!
I live very simply here at our Still Mountain Retreat, as frugally as possible… so that I can dedicate as much time and focus as I can get to writing and publishing this labor of love.
I believe that this work is important because this newsletter is something rare and unique which truly makes a difference in the lives of our family of readers.
My heart has been touched and I am encouraged to hear that for so many, reading this newsletter each morning helps them start their day inspired with a positive and grateful attitude.
Unfortunately, Still Mountain’s meager income isn’t enough to allow me to be full time, 100% focused on expanding this work.
Please consider helping me become free to do this important work every day.
I am asking you to click on the button below and check out all the benefits and bonuses I am offering as REWARDS for taking the bold step of becoming a “Dawning Light” Inner Circle Member as one of my treasured and greatly appreciated paid subscribers!
If even just a small percentage of the hundreds of our “Dawning Light” folks pledged to send us just $5.00 a month, it would be enough to cover our expenses so that I could fulfill my lifelong dream to be a full time transformational writer and publisher.
I believe and many of you tell me, that the world needs “The Dawning Light” to reach all the people who need it on a daily basis.
Please help me make this happen…
Please consider becoming one of my supporters and Inner Circle today!
Lovingly,
Chinmayan, writer and publisher
“Your greatest service to humanity is to attain your own Self Realization!” Ramana Maharshi
“When you change the way you think about things, and the things you think about change”
—Wayne Dwyer
“I see my life as an unfolding set of opportunities to awaken.” —Ram Das
“When God is the center and focus of my life, everything else falls into its rightful place.”
—Chinmayan
As a reader, I do not mind if you take some time off. I build in regular breaks in my publishing schedule to avoid the burnout. No one has unsubscribed because of that...in fact, they probably enjoy the break as well.