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balance, beauty, daily habits, family, friends, God's garden, Gratitude, Health, life balance, relaxing, soul, sunshine, time out, tranquility, wellness, work pressure
Why does it take nearly fifty years of living to work out that time to yourself is soooooo important?
The pressure of workplaces these days is quite astonishing. My workplace is a great example of that. Last week one of our colleagues had a heart attack. Now, this may not strike you as odd but she is only 28! This time last year I collapsed from an anxiety attack. Obviously when such extremities occur there is inbalance in our lives. So when are we going to say – enough is enough!
I spend a part of my day off each Wednesday answering work emails to which there is no respite – why? Because I cannot find time during the rest of the work week to get them done, they just keep coming. So the stresses are always there, even on days off I am thinking of work emails. I know… its time for a new job and the only way to get there is to change my thinking…
One of my favourite authors and coaches, Cheryl Richardson reminded me of this with a story on her blog recently. She was busy working one afternoon and stopped to notice sunrays shining in at her window, pulling her towards the comfort of her bed. She ignored the feeling, as we all do but then gave in to the call and realised that by taking the time to lie down with the sun streaming on her face was far more beneficial to her mind body and soul than whatever ‘busy task’ she was doing at that moment on the computer…
How often do we do this each week, how many magical moments of divine grace do we ignore as we go about our daily lives? Nature is Gods garden, a gift to us all that we should spend more time admiring or sitting in silence and appreciating our surroundings if we weren’t so busy. What was that famous John Lennon quote, ” Life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans”
Sadly, more than often we continue to miss life, to rush and ignore the calls, ignore the feeling that there is something better if only we would stop every once in a while to listen to what our souls are telling us.
Today I did not ignore, I chose to just ‘be’ and had a blissful & relaxing day just hanging around in my newly cleaned bedroom which I finally did manage to find the time to do last Wednesday on my day off and have spent most of today in bed, cat on lap, listening to music on my computer, meditating and writing…all of which made my heart happy. Society may look upon this day as a waste, but when I stop to examine how it made me feel its contentment, well rested and happy so that makes it right.
I dont believe we are put on this planet to work so hard that we are collapsing or having heart attacks at 28. Tragically my own brother did not see his 41st birthday due to an early departure from this realm. If I am blessed to be staying on here for a while longer, I need to work out how to make it work for me.
I have made the first move, buying our beautiful beach retreat and I know I am blessed to be here. But the story is far from finished, the picture is not complete yet and I have been struggling as to why its taking so long to change?
Until I read something recently which said:
So it got me thinking ….What could I change, that I do every day to make my life different, then it dawned on me. Each and every morning at 5am I get up, not happily looking forward to my long commute and typically grizzle my way into the shower thinking how hard this is and why have I not found a new job yet. This usually goes on for the first 10 minutes of my day. I realised that in order for my story to change then its me who needs to reprogram my thinking so I set the day in a better vibration. The most profound change I could help myself with is to stop this dialogue in my head each day.
Instead,
begin each day with gratitude,
express thanks that I am alive and well,
thanks that I have a job as so many others do not,
thanks that I live in this beautiful part of the world,
where I see God’s beauty before me everywhere
and thanks
that I have amazing family and friends
to share my life with
who I love
and am loved in return.
So I think that quote I found, or which found me…was indeed a gift…sent to me for me to precipitate change by taking time to listen, always be grateful and to remember to look for the sunrays in my life…
I’ll let you know how my new way of thinking pans out…