Do You Live Juicy?

Get up, get ready for work, commute to work, work, skip lunch or eat quickly at the desk, commute home, make dinner, eat dinner, watch some tv and collapse.  Maybe you fit in exercise, maybe you have kids or a spouse to add in to the routine.  It's go, go, go but where is the time for you to nuture yourself?  It just sounds dry rather than succulent.

Do you remember what you enjoy doing when you're not rushing around?  Write down a few activities that you enjoy or used to enjoy.  Now think how you can creatively fit that into your day, week or even once a month.  Can you start taking lunch?  A 15 minute walk to get you out of the workplace and outside may be just the breather you need.  A walk before or after dinner with your kids or spouse could be the time you reconnect and catch up on what's happening.  Or you can have a dance off in the living room, put on your favorite music and just go with it. 

I knit, not always wonderfully, but I enjoy it.  I really don't care if the project doesn't always come to fruition (although it's nice when it does).  It's the act of knitting that I enjoy.  It's calming, I'm still and I like the texture and colors of the yarn.  I don't have children but sometimes I color for no other apparent reason than to see the colors on the page.  Some people scrapbook and others do stamp art, it gets the creative juices going.

It could be you just set aside a few minutes for yourself at the end of the day to do some gentle yoga or breathing.  Meditation or prayer are also a good way to close the day.  A few minutes to connect with you and see how you are doing.  We get so busy, especially this time of year, that we don't always take time to see how we actually feel.  It's not until we're exhausted that we realize how much we've been running around.

If you're looking for more inspiration check out works by SARK or read a book by Kris Radish. 

Or contact me and we can brainstorm together.  You can leave a comment here or email me at janinemchale@empoweredplate.com. 

I leave you with this quote taken from the tv show Saving Grace:

Embrace Your Grace

I want to bust the world wide open the way you do when you’re filled with youth
I want to engage with people and lovers and fellow cops
I want to be physical and I also want to ask the big questions
I want to taste the taste and fix the problems
I want to run headlong into chaos and bad guys and darkness and pranks and fun and laugh, laugh, laugh.
I want to be the best friend and I want to be the greatest aunt and complicated daughter
I want to be the mystery in the room
And I want to be known. Embrace your grace.