Find peace.

Aspiration #6: Find my internal Buddhist monk.

Ok, I'm halfway through the day and hardly on the path to enlightenment... I'm slowly talking my way out of stress. You see, today we were given the gift of a Snow Day... more accurately an Ice Day that has sorta turned into a melty, drippy day... but, an unexpected break from school nonetheless.
As a rule, Snow Days are a time to NOT think about work, to curl under a blanket with my dog on my lap and a book in my hand and maybe a cup of hot Earl Grey; however, my current stress level meant I did feel the need to finish grading research papers.
To explain, I should have graded them over the Winter Break, but I will never be on my deathbed saying, "Oh, why didn't I grade more papers?" But, I might say, "Why didn't I spend more time with family/friends?" So, I did NOT grade the papers over break. However, I wanted to return them to the students today so they could use my notes to prepare presentations from the research. I didn't quite get them done last night so used the extra time this a.m. so that I can give them back tomorrow. This is a totally self-imposed deadline, but it also helped me get them done. There is nothing more stressful to me than having a pile of ungraded papers in my courier bag.
Anyway, I looked at my school 'to do' list and feel a fraction more relaxed. I'm saying to myself that the rest can wait and can feel my breathing is at a normal pace.
Now, I will go exercise and maybe read a bit. Peace will be mine.