Transmission Wire

We rush to and from work or other activities. Appointments and
commitments fill our daily hours and we fall into bed exhausted
but find sleep hard to come. Our nerves are tensed because there
is so much more to do and so little time. Tempers flare and the
news media calls it “road rage” or “domestic violence.” Our
children feel stress at an early age and many of our older adult
population never get to find and enjoy their “golden years.”

Exactly what is happening to our daily lives to cause all this
unprecedented hyperactivity and tenseness? We certainly have
advanced in knowledge and ability from the previous generations,
but we still feel a nagging feeling to find the real truth.
There are enough entertainment toys to fill our homes with
noise, recorded laughter, and music to anesthesize our minds
into a temporary respite from our worries and our fears. We want
to leave our children a legacy of peace around the world, yet we
nit pick each other into a frenzy of hurt feelings and
lashbacks. There is definitely something wrong and even science,
as it progresses forward with new discoveries and insights,
can’t seem to be able to quiet our hearts, and fill our souls
with peace and tranquility.

No, science and technology can’t do it. Your co-workers and
friends can’t achieve it for you. You’re it. Just you - you’re
the only one who can put the brakes on this run-away activity
cycle and the desperate attempt at everyone and everything
around you to pull and tug in different directions and to leave
you frazzled and dazed. Your family can’t even put up your “stop
signs.” You’re definitely it. Only you can halt the super
activity cycle and enjoy quiet moments and refreshing
mini-vacations from the world and all its splendor. You say you
can’t find a moment’s peace, and that there are
responsibilities. Then learn response-ability. There’s a big
difference here. Response-ability is you being able to handle
day to day traffic of family, friends, work and play. It is the
capacity to control the flow of traffic because you are in
control. Constructing stop signs in your life, and enabling the
cool waters of stepping back and stepping out of the frenzy to
ease your fevered brow and calm the tumultuous waters of your
heart. It, in essence, means taking back control of your life.
It is giving yourself permission to stop, look around, enjoy the
scenery, listen to the sound of nothing, and return to the
highway of existence a better person and one who has developed
the innate ability to know when enough is enough. It is
mastering response-ability.

So gather up your tools, and supplies and begin constructing
those stop signs where and when you need them. You’re the
manager, the superintendent of the road of your life. Use your
authority to become aware and to stop before life pushes just a
little too hard. Take your responsibilities and handle them with
response-ability. You would be surprised how much easier traffic
flows and those annoying minor mishaps just don’t happen as
often and they don’t turn into major traffic jams. ENJOY!
©Arleen M. Kaptur 2002 July