Still in a food coma and out of town staying with family for the Thanksgiving weekend I need a moment away from everyone to figure out what I need today to fill my cup. Tucked away in the guest room out of sight from the others I seek refuge. The local yoga studio is closed but a walk is a definite possibility and my sister-in-law is game to join me. Contemplating a nap and it’s only 10 in the morning, I would not be missed, so many of us here, I could get some serious shut eye before they even discovered I was missing from the crowd.

And this is what it means to take the time, make the effort, to fill your cup. Move away from others, quiet your mind, do what you need to hear your desires that stir below the surface. As I write this three different people have knocked, or just come in to the guest room, apparently the Black Friday bug has hit half of the group. Four people.  Knock, knock, make it five visits in my place of refuge.

My solitude may have to happen in the bathroom. But I don’t give up. Because it is literally a few moments that I need, just  a long inhale’s worth of time to refill.

If I gave in too early and threw in the towel I would only later erupt from frustration.

So I answer the knock calmly and say, just a few more minutes, then I’ll be ready.  I read a few words, quiet my mind, write, check my online chess games, breathe again, post this, then I am ready to go back and be part of the crowd.

You have to take your time for if you wait for it to happen, it just doesn’t. It will get swept up in the crowd, washed down with the pie and whip cream, blown over, forgotten.  And sometimes the little bit you take is just enough to get you to the next place.

Cheers, Jenny