Feeling Stale?

Time Out

“A few years back, when I was in the process of making some career changes, a counselor I was seeing strongly urged me to take a year off and do nothing...That possibility and the changes it would bring about in my life were beyond my imagination.”

                                Elaine St. James ( Inner Simplicity)

Do you ever watch the television show Castle? It's about a mystery writer who works with a homicide detective in order to get “inspiration” to write his books. Now and then, when he's stuck in his writing, he gets together with other New York writers to play poker and discuss plots and characters. When he feels he knows one of his characters too well, and is getting predictable and stale in his writing, he kills that character off in order to force himself to move on. It's a drastic move that kick-starts a process of change.

We, too, can get stale. We can get so good at what we do that it holds no challenge for us any more—no challenge and no juice, either. We can get stuck in outmoded ways of operating, in the same old ruts. Even when those ways work, we feel as though we are sleepwalking while engaged in them. When we get to that point, it may be good to step back and reassess.

One of the downsides to living life predictably, is that we stop learning new things. We put ourselves on auto-pilot, and just cruise. It's always tempting to do this; we get used to not having to think too much. We can be lazy and still do our jobs. But not being challenged to learn new things is also mind dulling. It stunts us in other ways. We lose our spark, our interest in life around us, and sometimes, even our interest in other people. We become bored and boring.

Sometimes, when you feel yourself getting stuck or stale, just taking a trip will stimulate new ideas. Sometimes, getting involved in something new will give us the jolt we need to recreate interest in our lives. And sometimes, we really do need to take time out of our routine to sit with ourselves and think about how we might do things differently. Not many of us can take a year off, as St. James did, but we could take a week or two, and seek out solitude for “inner research.” We can ask “what's next for me?” and “what is it I really want to do with the next ten years of my life?”

Inner restlessness comes when change is needed; when our spiritual growth requires that we get off auto-pilot. It's message is clear; there is something more that life is calling us to do. It is always good to listen to that guidance even when it's inconvenient. Being open to change in ourselves is both invigorating and recreating. Spirit will lead us to new life if we allow it.

                                            In the spirit,

                                              Jane