You can’t make more hours in each day. Yet you can put more purpose and focus and meaning in each hour.
Blaming a lack of time is like blaming the sun for rising. There’s nothing you can do about it, so it’s not a factor to concern yourself with.
What you can do, is make the commitment to yourself to make each moment count for something meaningful and valuable. What you can do, is allow your authentic purpose to guide your focus, your actions and your use of the time that’s at hand.
Instead of worrying or being distracted about things that really don’t even matter, give your energy to what you truly care about. Instead of letting the time slip away, allow the best of your dreams to more fully unfold with each passing moment.
Remember constantly who you really are and why you have chosen to go in the direction you’re going. Every thought, word and action that comes from your true purpose will draw great value from the moment you’re in.
Whatever your age or situation, there’s plenty of time to live richly. And that time is here right now.
Ralph Marston, greatday.com
The Importance of Intentional Relaxation.
by Mandi on April 19, 2011
A couple of weeks ago, I shared a quick tip for being more productive: just don’t sit down.
In the comments, a couple of people were concerned that I was heaping mom guilt on busy moms who already don’t take enough time to relax or enjoy their kids.
That’s not what I was saying at all, believe me!
The post was intended for people who struggle with motivation and end up wasting time and feeling guilty and depressed about it later. If, like me, you’ve done this before, you know exactly what I’m talking about!
And in those cases, the best way to keep moving is to just keep moving!
What Is Intentional Relaxation?
Downtime and relaxation are important as well, of course, but not any ol’ downtime will do.
You could get distracted by Facebook in the middle of the day and end up wasting an hour on Facebook — while feeling guilty because you’re neglecting your to-do list, job or kids — and walk away less relaxed than when you started.
However, take that same activity — surfing on Facebook — and do it intentionally, at a set time of day or in between tasks for a short amount of time, and suddenly it is relaxing.
The same could be said for reading, watching TV, working on a craft project or whatever your choice of relaxation may be.
It’s always more relaxing and refreshing when you do it intentionally rather than out of laziness or because you’re procrastinating!
How Do I Make Time for Relaxing?
If we all agree that having downtime is important, the question, then, is to how to be intentional about that downtime so it truly leaves you feeling refreshed and not more stressed out.
1. Understand your motivation. When you feel like it’s time to take a break, ask yourself: “Am I just trying to procrastinate or avoid an important task that I’m dreading? Or have I been working really hard, and I’m starting to feel burnt out and exhausted?”
2. Choose things that actually leave you feeling refreshed. The TV is the default relaxation method for many homes in America, and for some people — like my husband — watching TV really does leave them feeling refreshed. But personally, I find that sometimes what I really need is to curl up with a good book and just unplug for a little bit.
3. Make time for it ahead of time. Rather than just flopping down because you can’t keep going any longer, plan for relaxation before you reach that point.
For example, I rarely do much work on the computers on Saturdays because I know I’m going to need all of my energy on Sunday afternoon to work on posts for Life…Your Way for the week, so I take time to recharge ahead of time.
Plan times of relaxation into your everyday routines and schedules and make a habit of relaxing intentionally so that you’ll have the energy and motivation to get things done the rest of the time!
To be sure, mindfulness is a concept most of us like: to improve our lives with special contemplative consideration, a method for making saner choices and assuring better outcomes. To actually transform ourselves with the wisdom of mindfulness, we have to start with the lives we're living from the moment we wake each day. We have to bring mindfulness out of our heads and into our homes. That's where ideas become harder to handle.
Here are 10 simple and powerful ways to bring a day of mindful moments into your home.
Wake with the sun - There is no purer light than what we see when we open our eyes first thing in the morning. Resisting the morning's first waking moment instantly adds stress to your day. Avoiding the sun, you commence a chase that lasts all day long: running short of time, balance, peace and productivity.
Sit - Mindfulness without meditation is just a word. The search for mindful living is always grounded in a meditation practice. Seated meditation is the easiest and fastest way to clear your mind of anxious, fearful and stressful thoughts. Meditation puts your overactive brain on a diet, so you have more attention to bring to the real life that appears before you. You will be far more productive in the ensuing hours if you begin the day by spending five minutes actively engaged in doing nothing at all.
Make your bed - The state of your bed is the state of your head. Enfold your day in dignity. The five minutes you spend making your bed slows you down from your frantic, morning scrambling and creates a calm retreat to welcome you home at night. Plus, making your bed means you've already achieved an even more challenging feat: getting out of it.
Empty the hampers - Do the laundry without resentment or commentary and have an intimate encounter with the very fabric of life. Doing laundry is a supreme act of personal responsibility. It requires maturity, attention and discipline, and it engenders happiness. Don't believe me? See how you feel every time you reach the bottom of an empty hamper.
Wash your bowl - Rinse away self-importance and clean up your own kitchen mess. If you leave it undone, it will get sticky. An empty sink can be the single most gratifying sight of a long and tiring day.
Set a timer - If you're distracted by the weight of what's undone, set a kitchen timer and, like a monk in a monastery, devote yourself wholeheartedly to the task at hand before the bell rings. The time you'll find hidden in a kitchen timer unleashes more of your attention to the things that matter most.
Rake the leaves - Take yourself outside to rake, weed or sweep. You'll never finish for good, but you'll learn the point of pointlessness. The repetitive motion is meditative; the fresh air is enlivening. Lose yourself in doing what needs to be done, without a thought of permanent outcome or gain. You'll immediately alter your worldview.
Eat when hungry - Align your inexhaustible desires with the one true appetite. Coming clean about our food addictions and aversions is powerful and lasting medicine. Eating is so central to family life and culture that we can pass on our habits for generations to come. Mindless overeating feeds our sickness; mindful eating feeds the body's intuitive, intelligent wisdom and nourishes life well past tonight's empty plates.
Let the darkness come - Set a curfew on the Internet and TV and discover the natural balance between daylight and darkness, work and rest. Your taste for the quiet will naturally increase. When you end your day in accord with the earth's perfect rhythm, you grant the whole world a moment of pure peace.
Sleep when tired - Nothing more to it.
Karen Maezer Miller, Wife, mother, Zen priest and author of Hand Wash Cold and Momma Zen. Posted: May 22, 2010 05:10 PM
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