Creative Excursions: The Gift of Time
Welcome February!
How is your Simple Abundance journey going?
Have you purchased your gratitude journal and are you using it? Have you seen mine?
Is it hard to think of five things everyday that you are grateful for? Is it making a difference in your life?
Have you discovered or rediscovered your authentic self yet?
The month my twins will turn four! Where has the time gone and why did it take so long? Yes, I contradict myself on a regular basis. Have you not noticed that yet?
The month of love… Valentines is around the corner.
The month my parents and Lenny’s parents celebrate their wedding anniversaries.
The month of grateful hearts.
‘Now that you’ve met your authentic self, wouldn’t you like to get to know her better? You can when you start going on creative excursions together.
Creative excursions are regular solo rendezvous with your authentic self designed for this purpose. In the beginning of any intimate relationship the best gift you can offer another person is the investment of quality time together. So it is with your authentic self. You have probably been ignoring her for decades; now it’s time to make amends.
What will you do? Celebrate yourself, find pastimes that make your heart light and your spirit sing. Take in a movie (one of those English period dramas you love), have an early breakfast before work at a new French cafe, cruise the aisles at that incredible Italian market, explore a fabulous thrift shop, browse in used-book stores, visit an art supply store and imagine all the wonderful ways in which you can begin expressing yourself. When you embark on creative excursions, your authentic self will lovingly reveal to you the beautiful mystery that is you. This occurs spontaneously as you make the pursuit of personal growth a sacred endeavor.
Having encouraged you, now let me warn you. This is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, for me the hardest part of the Simple Abundance path was creative excursions. I was simply not used to having fun by myself. It seemed too frivolous, too self-indulgent. Be prepared for strong emotional resistance. Excuses will be plentiful: you’re too broke, you’re too busy, who will watch the kids, maybe next week when you’re not so frazzled. Don’t give in. Creative excursions require an investment of time, not money. None of us are too busy to find two hours a week. if we are, we seriously need to reconsider our personal priorities. Hire a babysitter, let your spouse watch the kids, carve out time when you are in school, use your lunch time at work. There are ways to do it, once we realize that nurturing our imaginations and developing a relationship with our authentic selves is an investment we can no longer afford to put off. This week commit to a weekly creative excursion with your authentic self as you follow the Simple Abundance path. Expect nothing less than signs and wonder to follow.’ -Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance A Daybook of Comfort and Joy
We talked about this last week- making time for ourselves. Theta Mom suggest 2 hours a month to ourselves, I think that is more realistic for me.
Either way, if I am not making it happen, Sarah Ban Breathnach has hit the nail on the head. Mommy’s really do need to take a long hard look where we fall on the personal priority list.
Really, I can answer that question for all of us.
I already know what my reason is and what your reason likely is.
Ready for it?
Because Mommy’s are an after thought.
We are.
And you know what? We allow it to be that way.
We do- we allow it to happen.
But isn’t that our nature? To take care of others. Weren’t we truly conditioned to be this way?
Next week I am going to make it happen. I am going to take 2 hours for myself. There is a Dyslexia Meeting I want to attend.
By myself.
No children.
No one saying Mom.
No one asking asking a million questions.
No one climbing all over me.
Just time by myself.
I am going to make it happen!
What are you going to do for yourself this week or this month? I want to hear from you guys!