Category Archives: Aliveness

My office door is closed.  No clients for an hour and my phone is turned off.  I even shut down my email.  I’m siting on a wonderful comfy purple couch with my feet up typing on my new 13 inch MacBook Pro.  Feels like a guilty pleasure.  No calories – I’m leading a workshop on Women Food and God so I have become much more conscious of what I am putting into my mouth.  Taking time for me is beginning to feel less and less like a guilty pleasure as I realize how much I need it.

A guilty pleasure.  Taking time for me.  Putting myself first for one hour per day.  Doing something that totally pleases me and doesn’t require me to be accountable to anyone else.  I love to write.  I have always wanted to write a book but have put it off as being self indulgent.  Writing has felt like taking that much time just for me. In the past, I put myself last.  This left little time to take care of me.   There was work to be done, clients to see, laundry and paperwork.  It has been so easy to let the duties and responsibilities of daily living take over my time.

With clients, I find so often that to suggest they take time to play for a least a few minutes each day or take even a four hour break free from work at least once a week is met with both a look of astonishment and a definite no.

I know better,  research has shown we all function better with rest and play breaks.  We come up with our best ideas during or after a break in our work and responsibilities.  Burn out is high among all jobs and professions:  Budget cuts, people expected to do more with less, sales quotas set higher.  Most of us feel some sort of pressure to do more.

I am encouraging you to play more.  What good does it do to have millions of dollars if you are miserable.  How can you enjoy your family if you are always working or maintaining your home?  Take time to talk with and enjoy the company of family and friends.

As I write this I am also thinking of the three day weekend coming up.  My first thought goes to this is what I need to accomplish.  I’m driven by work and getting things done.  Balance is so important.  To balance both work and play is key.  So I shift my thoughts.  What can I do to play, to totally enjoy myself this weekend?

My writing feels restful peaceful.  A time just for me.  I’ve learned to make my writing either a first thing in the morning or as soon as I have a chunk of time without meetings.  Sometime I blog,  sometimes I vent and let off steam and sometimes I dream.   I’ve learned that taking time for me allows me to be more present more available the rest of the day.  I feel more grounded and alive.  I even like myself better.

For many of you writing would prove much more stressful than helpful.  I encourage you to think of what you could do each day to feel more present, clearer and more alive.

After all this is your life.  It’s up to you how you choose to spend it.   It’s also up to you how you choose to feel.

Until next time,

Amy Barnes, Life and Relationship Coach