This Way Up

Like mile markers on the highway, I look to vacations to be a measuring post of where I am and where I'm going.  To see just how far down the highway of progress I am.  Based on that, I have to conclude that I'm going round and round in dizzying circles, feeling like I'm getting nowhere fast.  I came to Sedona, full of expectations, forgetting to focus on the effort and not the results.  Thinking the magic combination of Sedona and vacation would somehow result in magic juju without making effort.  

Effort.  That's what we need to focus on each day.  We've got enough shrapnel coming at us from all directions to knock us off our feet.  Each day, we need to put on the shield of effort, to stay grounded and within ourselves.  Faith is good to have, true, but when it's done in the dark and without effort, it can be blinding. 

I've spent some time wondering about my situation and how to make it better, craving for a simpler existence.  What does that mean, simpler existence?  Time would be better spent just being.  Rest in the space, rather than fill it with anxiety inducing mental applesauce.  Just be.  The simpler existence I've come to befriend these past two years will be right there.  

The question is then, how to catapult myself into the next phase.  It starts with effort.  It starts with today.  Each day, it starts with today.