I have had an amazing evening, and such a reminder on how important language is in shaping my experience. I was working with my mom on hoop biz all afternoon, and by the time I drove her back to SF I was feeling "really overwhelmed." It was 5:30 and I wanted to make it to Berkeley in time for Karri Wynn's last NIA class at Studio Rasa, which is closing this week. Had this been a normal class, I would have fore gone it in lieu of staying at home and coping with the "massive amount of work to do at home." But given that this was the last NIA class at Rasa, and that Karri had invited me personally, it was important that I be there in gratitude and support of the space, teachers, and owner. For at the least the past week, I've been in a state of identifying with "overwhelm," and as I began to move and dance in class, I found myself loosening up with an upwelling of emotion. I started to feel really alive and vibrant again. And really sad. "Wow...I didn't realize how much this community means to me," I thought as I felt tears welling up. I danced through circles and patterns with about 25 other people, and had a deep emotional movement that left me uplifted and joyful.

At the end of class, there was a beautiful gratitude ritual. A lovely woman with a sweet voice set up a devotional space in the center of our circle and spoke on gratitude. One of the first things that she said is that gratitude and grief are bedfellows. When she said that, my heart sunk to think that this was my last time at Rasa. Bittersweet tears slipped from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks, as they did for several people, particularly the teachers who were present. She continued in saying that grief is the doorway for gratitude, as we see how much something has meant to us, and how much we have valued it.

After class I said my, "See you later..."s and headed out to my car where I had a call with Jason McClain. I'm taking his program Coaching the Life Coach, which is a profoundly savvy program for improving my business. I am learning so much through it. Tonight we had a short support call for me to basically utilize Jason's skills in whatever way served me best then. I was still emotional from the class, and told Jason that. We spent the remainder of the call doing an exercise that really helped me to put the "overwhelm" into perspective. Jason shared with me that overwhelm is typically not caused by having too many tasks to do, but rather by not making the time to do the things that nourish our souls. Excellent food for thought. After we hung up, I decided that I wouldn't work tonight, that I would go to Gratitude for some dinner, write this blog entry, and spend time with Ken reading before bed time. I also made these commitments to myself: to move more each day through walking our dogs, dancing, or stretching; to take the time to eat and nourish my body with good food; to organize my schedule so that I am not working until 3 a.m., but am rather in bed at a decent hour and up earlier in the morning.

In just 15 minutes, Jason helped me to completely shift my relationship to my life in this moment. I have also agreed to return to my awareness and sensitivity toward negative-association words such as "overwhelm", particularly when I am talking about my own experience. I can now look at the pile of papers on my desk, and say, "Ok, I'm going to spend 45 minutes tomorrow organizing that, as well as 30 minutes walking the dogs." And then suddenly, everything in my life is much more manageable, as I know that there is time enough for everything to *eventually* get done.