Posts Tagged ‘Self-Care’
Relax! The Importance of Down Time
Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
As someone who works full time and also runs a healing arts business, I fully understand the importance of down time. I work full time overseeing a city-wide mentoring program. My evenings and weekends include seeing clients for life coaching or shamanic healing sessions and I am also taking classes at NYU. I actually schedule down time!
I made the decision this past weekend not to work, make plans, or go anywhere – my goal was “to relax.” After enjoying a cup of coffee and reading the New York Times on Saturday, I found myself doing things around the house – cleaning shelves, changing curtains, organizing clothes, throwing away papers, and going to the dry cleaners. I then sat down and wrote a newsletter and some meditations for an upcoming course. I couldn’t sit still or slow my mind down. I couldn’t relax. I even text my close friend to tell her to text me back and tell me to stop working and to rest.
Every time I sat down to be quiet, read an article, or take a slow walk, I was convinced I was being lazy. Yet, it is this down time that is so important for self care (part of my Happiness Project). Slowing down allows the body, mind, and spirit to regenerate. It allows for harmony of energy and stimulates creative flow. Without down time, it is so easy to burn out.
Give yourself a break and take some down time. Some ideas:
Do Nothing – clear your schedule for a whole day. Ignore your to-do list and live the day from a to-be place.
Rest – take a nap. I am not sure why we had to stop napping after kindergarten, but napping, laying in the grass or in a hammock just feels good.
Play – what amuses you? Schedule time to go and do something playful – something that makes you laugh.
Indulge – surrender to a mindless activity. Give yourself permission to read a magazine, go to the movies, or treat yourself to something. Treat yourself as if you are the most important person in the world – because you are.
Schedule down time – block off time in your calendar as “you” time and choose how you want to relax and pause. This is all about self-care. Don’t wait until your body forces you to rest because you are burnt out or sick. By taking down time, you will be refreshed and energized.
Here is to slowing down ~
Mary Anne
Monthly OM Meditations – January
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
In my last post, I shared about my Happiness Project and offered some ideas on how to start your own. One of my happiness project themes included “self-care” and that meant setting aside time daily to meditate, even if it is for 10 minutes. These meditations have been so powerful and sweet that I have decided that every month I will post some of the questions and thoughts that have flowed from these contemplations.
As an invitation, feel free to close your eyes, sit with your spine straight, and take a few soft breaths. Then inhale a little deeper through your nose, and on the exhale, repeat the mantra OM (AUM). Do this three times. Allow yourself to really feel everything and become the observer of your thoughts. Feel free to focus on one question or statement below and just allow your experience to unfold.
What is your love poem to God/Spirit? Speak it, share it, sing it.
What is the spring from which everything flows?
Supplies of the heart are abundant.
Be love. The rest is just details.
I will wait for you – always. In your time, I am here.
Go with what is and the rest will take care of itself.
I am aware of what my breath is teaching me in this moment.
I am present to my breath.
There is a sunburst of light waiting to glow in the sky of each heart.
Each person will have their own experience so the invitation is to be open for whatever thoughts flow through you. Allow your mind and body to expand into the meditation (without judgment). Feel free to start with a mantra that calls to you.
My experience of the mantra OM is beyond language–it’s a powerful vibration–the sound before sound.
See what makes you feel happy and follow that rhythm. I would love to hear about your meditation experiences – drop me a line anytime!
OM Shanti, Shanti, Shanti,
Mary Anne