Dear friend,
As we approach the final stretch of 2024, I want to ask you something important:
Are you focusing on what truly matters?
The world feels faster than ever, and it’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of daily tasks, distractions, and obligations. But what if I told you that now is the perfect time to pause, reflect, and realign your priorities so you can enter 2025 with clarity, purpose, and a heart full of what’s most important?
This brings me to a story that has always grounded me during times of overwhelm...
First, imagine a large, clear jar. Next to it, imagine a bowl of rocks (each a few inches in diameter), a bowl of small pebbles, and a bowl of fine sand.
If you poured all the sand into the jar first; it would fill up a large portion of the jar. And if you poured the pebbles in next, the jar would fill up even more – leaving very little room leftover, if any, for the bigger rocks.
Now, imagine a different scenario: if you poured the big rocks in first?
And after that, the pebbles – shaking the jar so that they could settle into the open spaces created around the rocks. And then lastly, the sand – which would sift its way through the rocks and pebbles, settling into the remaining free space?
Now, consider that this jar can represent our life, and the time and space we have available to fill. The rocks are the most important things in our lives, and the things that are most critical and valuable to us – such as family, health, relationships, and other key values.
The pebbles represent things that matter to us, and that we use our time on – like work or school – but that are less essential than the rocks. And finally, the sand is the remaining “small stuff” and material possessions that are of lowest importance.
The Lesson of this story: If we take care of the sand first – the small, less important stuff – we will never have enough room for all the rocks and the pebbles, too. We will always run out of time and energy for the things in our life that are most important.
But if we take care of the rocks first, and pay attention to the things that are critical to living a meaningful life, then we can really make the most of our time, energy, and efforts – and we can ensure that what needs to be tended to most, is.
Take time to reflect on these questions:
What does your jar look like?
How have you been filling it?
What’s one thing you can do today to shift your priorities, tending to what is most important first, so that there is room for what is truly valuable and meaningful?
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Until next time,
Barbara