Enjoy Your Down Time

I've been so busy lately with classes, and projects that it is odd for me to have a day where nothing is pressing. There are things to do, and things I've done, but there is nothing I feel I have to do. It is lovely. It is one of the moments we focus too little on. We notice when we have stress, we notice when we have too much going on, we notice when we are overwhelmed and ready to collapse, however we rarely put as much energy into noticing the opposite. When we are upset we talk to everybody about it, we think about it while we are up all night, we rant and feed it and nurture it to some extent. When we are peaceful we take it for granted, or we wait for the shoe to drop, never fully allowing ourselves to enjoy it. We have been conditioned to think we are always supposed to be doing something or something horrible will happen. This is not true. This is a sad lack of faith in the cycles of life. For every up there is a down, a period of rest and restoration. We need to honor them, cherish them even.

Here is my challenge to you, when you notice you are having an easy day EMBRACE it! Smile at everybody, or just spend the day doing something you love indoors. Putter around the house, but don't stress yourself out trying to come up with a to-do list. What you are “to-do” is to get reacquainted with yourself, and what you enjoy. Only do things that really bring you happiness. What do YOU like to eat? Where do YOU want to go? What do YOU want to do? It might be a little difficult at first because we are taught to put others' needs in front of our own. We compromise so frequently many of us are hard pressed when given the opportunity to really choose anything we want. Do it. It feels great!