Pay off

It was a very busy work week. Thursday night was the big event that I had been planning at work for a couple of months. We had a New York times best selling author come and speak for Autism Awareness month. There was much excitement in our community about this event and we had a good turn out of over 200 people. Parents, grandparents, college students, educators, and adolescents on the autism spectrum.

I had to practice being "in the now" quite a bit last week. My anxiety goes up pretty high when I have to coordinate big events. Contracts, accomadations, sound equipment, lighting, tickets, publicity, parking, set up, etc. etc. etc. I usually torture myself obsessing over eveything. I was trying very hard to do what Eckhart Tolle talks about in his book, The New Earth. I would set aside a time for planning and do as much as I could. Then I would try not to think about it and stay in the now and not let negative thoughts take over. It was hard. I am always amazed by how negative my thoughts can be. I sit around and think about everything damn think that could go wrong. This time I was trying to be aware of my thoughts and tell myself that they were not helpful, and that in the present moment everything was just fine. So it was a good spiritual practice for me this week.

I purposely did not blog because I thought I would be tempted to write all about my anxiety and I didn't want to do that. I just kept working through it and when the day of the event arrived I was actually excited. Everything turned out very well and my higher ups were pleased with it all. I love the aftermath of a successful event, how everyone sits around and talks about how great it was and how it made an impact on them.

That is the pay off for all of the hard work.