I reserved today for myself. I ate a simple breakfast, listened to some music and read a few chapters of a book I'm currently absorbed in, then around lunch time I ate lunch as one often does.
Later I set aside my current book and selected one of my favourites from my library called, The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and randomly read passages some familiar and others less so, but I found a certain comfort there...and through ignoring virtually everything and everyone else on the planet. It was time I needed to find.
Later, I found myself thinking about my day and how deliciously decadently I'd spent it.
I'd ignored almost everything else figuring it would be there later on and if not I didn't really care. I let my phone ring unanswered, left messages unchecked and put effort into nothing other than being me for a moment. Unproductive? No.
My life can be demanding; it's stressful; yours may be too. We're often time-poor but I believe one of the most important things we can do with time is find the time to stop.
Sit still and in silence.
Quieten the mind.
Switch off.
Retreat inside...look inside...watch yourself.
There's a lot to be found there; I mean peace, solace, comfort and usually the ability to re-energise the mind, body and soul.
I believe it's important to detach from daily life, find a gap in which to slot oneself where life-things can't reach, even for just a short time.
Ideally, it would happen daily but that's not always possible however first thing in the morning is a good time to find a moment to watch yourself, to see clearly and free from the layers of life, feel grateful for what you have and to focus on your plan to live your best day, that day. Fortunately I get the opportunity to have days like today and whilst I don't always spend it in the way I did today, reading Longfellow, I always find value in stilling my mind.
I'm pretty sure that if you had the ability to step outside of yourself and watch yourself you'd find aspects that could be improved upon; I know I would in myself, and *that's exactly what days like today are all about. Resting the mind, body and soul is important and I've usually found that through detaching, sitting still, clearing the mind of the daily grind, and doing a little self-reflection one sees ways to improve more clearly. How about you?
If you've got any thoughts on this topic feel free to comment below.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own
They will make it against the law to switch off soon. You must be connected at all times!
I get it...this is why I have a pitchfork and flaming torch ready to make a stand like the French used to do, you know, burn down the lords manor house.
Seriously though, I do.
Ok, seriously now...you're right. We're so fucken plugged into work, the machine that is society, the media and government propaganda, credit debt...slaves mostly you know? Unplugging is a difficult thing, but try we must.
Now, get your bloody pitchfork out of storage, we're going to need it!
If you only knew how much it helped me to read this today... I've had some exhausting days, especially mentally, and this very thing you express made me take a deep breath and think.
I need to stop, and just not think about anything at all and I know where I get that very thing.
In a little while I will pack my backpack and go out to listen to the most beautiful and totally relaxing sound, the sea. I will have lunch there and spend some time away from the phone, away from people, away from everything.
Today your words resonated more than usual. Thank you.
I'm glad it helped, the time helped me too, I needed some detachment and found it.
The skill of stopping and stilling the mind is something many cannot do; it's taken me a long time to learn it and I get value from the practice of doing so.
I hope you're well.
I'll be fine, I'll just find some time for myself and my blank mind. Thank you!🙂
It's great that you treated yourself to such a day. When I have done it myself I have sometimes felt a little guilty about not doing or getting ahead on tasks I have pending. I think that's one of the things that I would see from the outside of me and I need to improve on, because in the end the reality is that the tasks never end.
Speaking of another topic (well, writing) I wanted to ask if you would allow me to post in your Weekend experience community through Liketu 😊
We're always going to have tasks to attend to, work or personal, and they're important and shouldn't be ignored, but ignoring our our own personal needs could make us less effective at those tasks; if we are not ok in ourselves, we can't be ok for others, I mean physically, emotionally or mentally, so taking some time to get right doesn't slow us down, it improves our efficiency.
You can post in my community using any front end you wish, the important aspect is following the community theme and guidelines.
Exactly 🤗 Thank you very much 😊
I know I've said this before, but that is part of the reason my wife and I go camping in the summer. A lot of the places we go have little or no cell service, so it is the perfect way to just disconnect. We run pretty hard through the school year, so having that time to re-center ourselves is nice.
I do the same, it forces a disconnect to some degree, although I don't need to forced if I'm honest, I'm good at detachment.
Camping is good in many ways really: Relaxing, disconnection, scenery and nature, often away from others, fun activities, cooking on fire...it all adds up to valuable time.
It used to be away from others, but ever since Covid the state parks have been packed. I miss the days when the campgrounds were only busy from July 4th to Labor day.
Yes, I agree with your proposal. Although outdoors and secluded places are good, I think that even at home we can manage to have those moments, in a place and time that helps us, either in the morning or at night, or whichever one the person can. It is extremely helpful. I have one, but as you say, some days we get caught up in the hustle and bustle and forget to go there to take some time. Good reminder to make it happen today. Regards @galenkp
Detachment can happen anywhere, one doesn't have to make a special trip somewhere to obtain it. A lot of the time I'm at my desk working, driving my car, in a cafe, walking somewhere or sitting in my house among many other places. It happens in one's head really.
It's easy to get caught up in the grind if life, finding a gap to slot into and some space to think and be ourselves is valuable time.
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Maybe I should call you #quickdraw, fastest
gunmouse-click finger in the world!You love for gun...😜 never goes away...
Guns have been a large part of my life. It is what it is.
Time-poor. It's an apt description for even me, and my time management inabilities. Although, for me, it's more a problem of not enough to do than being too busy. Time management should be a course of study in schools, if it isn't already.
One can be as "free" as I am and still not step outside of themselves to appreciate all of it, I hope I can "find" the time to take your advice.
One appreciate what one has, life in general and other things...Gratitude is a powerful emotion.
It's like that!?????
I spend a couple of hours on this every day. My job is to teach others how to achieve it. It's hard for most people, but it's so good that it's worth doing to teach everyone to take a moment for themselves. 🙏 And yes, in the early morning it is much better 💚💚💚
One day I'll tell you my full yoga story...but the short version is I tried the pretzel pose and managed to tie myself into a knot. I couldn't get out of it...stayed tied up for three fairly painful days until someone called the fire department and they got me untangled.
🤭😂😂😂😂😂 The good news is that you don't need make the pretzel just sit and breathe. Ayyyyy I'm dying of laughter imagining the firefighters untangling you !!!😂🥨
I'm glad you got a laugh, I'm ok with that. At the time though, I wasn't laughing. There's a YouTube video you know.
Search: Man does yoga and gets tied up in a pretzel for days
😂😂😂🥂
In university garden I sit for sometimes to think about my day where my mind gets loaded with thoughts and past also pops up in my mind. That think which bothers me the most is the thoughts related to people. Infront of people I will be happy but in solitude I am quite quiet. There is calm in that solitude.
That's a nice place to find a calm moment, and even better if you're able to release those thoughts that pop into your mind...it takes practice and focus.
This is a really good thing. Peace of mind, a must needed thing for all.
I have seen many with a lot of money but no peace of mind. I often sit on the chair in the morning, stare towards the sky and take some long breaths which really helps me to relax for a time.
The morning is a good time to find mindfulness as it's often much quieter. Get up before the sun does, find a spot and spend some time looking within yourself, finding gratitude and doing some positive affirmations. Get into that habit and life will be transformed for the better.
Yup. This also helps bring some positivity into life.
Hi Galen, greetings. Mirror, mirror, I'm tired of doing my hair and wondering when I should do it, tell me if I'm myself, because no one changes, everything I see in me, is what you see outside.
This is my daily reflective spell of self-recognition, Galen.
Mirrors...Some put them on the ceiling over the bed you know. Just saying. Lol.
I knew you'd have some thoughts on reflecting and I imagine you've also got some methods of ensuring you have time for mindfulness too.
hahahaha Galen, here thinking out loud, even with that mirror on the ceiling with full attention on the reflection makes us doubt our inner essence and we think "nice to meet you", to live better and observe ourselves lovingly.
Time is precious indeed. I have learned to value what i have, while i still have it. The other day, one of my office mates said that everything is temporary. Like now we are talkinh and spending time together but time will come when everyone will move on with their lives and who knows when we will see each other again.
It makes a lot of sense to appreciate what we have around us, I'm glad you do that. So many people focus on what they don't have thin king that brings them closer and fail to realise their present moments are probably compromised.
Will keep this in mind. Thank youu 😊
Ahhh yes only when you try to be in your headspace, you can see how hard it is. It is ironic how "not thinking" about anything can be hard. Totally agree with you. We are ignoring ourselves too much. And after all, every time I am more and more impressed by how amazing our body and mind is to withstand all this daily ballast.
I suppose our minds keep trying to focus on solving our issues, attending to the daily things life holds; there's a lot to be found through putting that aside and finding some peace of mind though.
I'm glad you got to recharge a bit and just be for a day. I think I need a week of this. Detaching electronically for me the last few days has been easy, you understand the reason no doubt, but to actually stop the world from whirring past and the mind racing a million miles an hour, that would indeed, be idyllic. Hey, it could be worse I guess, my world might have stopped entirely so there's that at least 🤣
If I could stop the world and get off I would...If I was to get back on it would be in an earlier time, you know, caveman days. As you say though, there's always something worse that could be happening and we need to make the most of what we have or it'll fly by, or be taken away, before we know it.
Morning is a good time to with resh mind we can watch us clearly. As a change of practice, I consider to evaluate everything before going to bed and whenni wake up I already get a solution of how to mend things if there are any.
Hey mate, I hope you're well.
I agree with you; in the morning we're more alert and there's no real excuse for taking five or ten minutes to look within oneself...Not time? Just get yup earlier. Simple.
I evaluate at the end of the day too...but actually, something that has been of more value to me is evaluating my day every three hours during the day. If I evaluate at 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm and 9pm I have the ability to change anything that's taken me off course in the previous three hours. I'm not necessarily talking about my weekends here, but it sometimes happens, but certainly throughout my working week it pays to take one or two minutes at those times to evaluate how the last three hours have been and think about any changes that are needed.
But also...taking time to detach completely is necessary.
That is handsome practice...but sometime not feasible...I see early hours are alwsys good..especially when you wake up at 4 and before. You get enough time to evaluate everything easily
I understand it may not be feasible for some, I'll pay that...although I've done it for thirty or so years now and have achieved some amazing success along the way but taking a few minutes for a course correction during my day.
On waking up...the earlier the better, certainly before the sun rises - it's an amazing time of day.
Honestly everything is so fast-paced and our time is so often cluttered that we just tend to everything else, except ourselves of course. So yea, after reading this post, I am reminded of the need to create a 'me' time, excluding every other. Thanks for sharing.
I'm the same, scrambling to get things done, life doesn't wait for us right? But, I also think we're better at life when we have the chance to reflect, recharge and take the time to think about how we can do things better, or even just to focus on the really important things.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Meditation, yes💪. Every week at least once 👍 the feeling of grounding, sensing breath and realizing surrounding events has an amazing impact on mind 🙏
You say it like someone who believes in it and actually does it! Nice work.
There's nothing more I can add here as I think you're well on track; wouldn't it be great if everyone practiced mindfulness? How productive (and happy) they would be.
I don't usually have this, Motherhood takes away my me-time, peace-time even at night. Sometimes I wake up at night, enjoying being alone with kids asleep, reaching to myself but not that deep.
One day, when teh kids are big enough I hope I will have teh time to do that
I hope you manage to find some time for yourself, to recharge and feel ok as you won't be much use to your kids if you have a breakdown. Good luck.
I'm happy you got a nice time to yourself. A good rest and relaxation does the body good. I would have suggested silencing the phone, or moving it away altogether. Having a slow day, reading a book, and just enjoying yourself is wonderful in this fast paced world. I hope you get to do this more often.
As I said in the post, the phone went unanswered and messages unchecked. I never have my phone volume on and always put it face down so I don't see it ringing...I just didn't think I'd need to clarify those precise things in this post as it seemed superfluous to the main theme and topic so didn't bother to mention what I do with my phone and where it is when I'm spending time detaching from everything.
All the best for the rest of your week.
Thanks