it's a hard rain this morning. that beautiful cool rain that makes me wish i was in the north carolina mountains with a fire in the fireplace. it makes me miss these people. so. much.
a rainy day is for me a God given, grown up 'time out'. on a rainy day i allow myself to slow down, to be inside, to not feel the need to do everything. the rain sets limits that i sometimes have a hard time setting for myself- my options are limited- i have natural boundaries. i am also free from my bizarre guilt of being inside when it's sunny out.
i was thinking the other day about our hours. that people often say- there just aren't enough hours in the day. i think there are enough to get done what needs to get done- but not enough to get done what i want to get done. often by 8pm the tasks are finished- kids in bed- kitchen cleaned- house somewhat straightened. but then i know i need to be in bed in two hours and i want to read a book, watch a movie, make brownies, hang out with mike, write, send some emails, skype with a friend, take a bath, get my life slightly more organized, make a mix of music, read the news online and check the 'people' magazine website. there are so many fun things to do.
maybe our hours are like the rain. they help us slow down a little. they enforce the boundaries. they make us have to prioritize. they demand us to choose how we spend our time. to differentiate between what is urgent and not-urgent, what is important and not important. mike has been listening to the book on tape 'first things first' by stephen covey. it's a follow up to his other book 'the seven habits of highly effective people'. basically he says that we are ruled by urgency above importance. we are good at urgent and important, and urgent and unimportant, when the things that are important but not urgent- get shelved.
it's hard isn't it. we answer the phone, check our email, respond to the emails instead of reading a book with our kids. we turn on the TV for them so we can do a little more work. we clean up our house instead of building a fort with them. but it isn't just about kids. we prioritize most things above self-care. what urgent things was i doing in my day that were so important that i couldn't make brownies, or take a bath, or even read a book for 20 minutes? i think we all suffer from sort of guilt theme- whether it's the notorious jewish or catholic guilt or protestant work ethic guilt or some 'you-must-enjoy-all-sunny-weather-days-outside' guilt- it keeps us away from the important but non-urgent stuff that only becomes urgent when we are so worn down we can't function in other quadrants. and this is sad.
we should live more gently. more balanced. in less of a hurry. in a way that helps us to breath and have less headaches. what if we allowed ourselves to put yoga and baths and running and reading to our kids or ourselves into the urgent catagory? what if we urgently cared for ourselves? would our world fall apart? would nothing get done? would life as we know it, stop?
it actually might, but that could be a very good thing. because when life is suddenly shortened, when we have a loss or a potential loss, we stop and look and we regret and we want those hours back. then we see that we've missed the main point, we've been duped, we've wasted the hours we were given.
so lets breath and be kind to ourselves and each other and allow time to stop and listen to that still small voice. lets live our hours today in places that build us, grow our relationships and bring joy- whether it's rainy or sunny.
a rainy day is for me a God given, grown up 'time out'. on a rainy day i allow myself to slow down, to be inside, to not feel the need to do everything. the rain sets limits that i sometimes have a hard time setting for myself- my options are limited- i have natural boundaries. i am also free from my bizarre guilt of being inside when it's sunny out.
i was thinking the other day about our hours. that people often say- there just aren't enough hours in the day. i think there are enough to get done what needs to get done- but not enough to get done what i want to get done. often by 8pm the tasks are finished- kids in bed- kitchen cleaned- house somewhat straightened. but then i know i need to be in bed in two hours and i want to read a book, watch a movie, make brownies, hang out with mike, write, send some emails, skype with a friend, take a bath, get my life slightly more organized, make a mix of music, read the news online and check the 'people' magazine website. there are so many fun things to do.
maybe our hours are like the rain. they help us slow down a little. they enforce the boundaries. they make us have to prioritize. they demand us to choose how we spend our time. to differentiate between what is urgent and not-urgent, what is important and not important. mike has been listening to the book on tape 'first things first' by stephen covey. it's a follow up to his other book 'the seven habits of highly effective people'. basically he says that we are ruled by urgency above importance. we are good at urgent and important, and urgent and unimportant, when the things that are important but not urgent- get shelved.
it's hard isn't it. we answer the phone, check our email, respond to the emails instead of reading a book with our kids. we turn on the TV for them so we can do a little more work. we clean up our house instead of building a fort with them. but it isn't just about kids. we prioritize most things above self-care. what urgent things was i doing in my day that were so important that i couldn't make brownies, or take a bath, or even read a book for 20 minutes? i think we all suffer from sort of guilt theme- whether it's the notorious jewish or catholic guilt or protestant work ethic guilt or some 'you-must-enjoy-all-sunny-weather-days-outside' guilt- it keeps us away from the important but non-urgent stuff that only becomes urgent when we are so worn down we can't function in other quadrants. and this is sad.
we should live more gently. more balanced. in less of a hurry. in a way that helps us to breath and have less headaches. what if we allowed ourselves to put yoga and baths and running and reading to our kids or ourselves into the urgent catagory? what if we urgently cared for ourselves? would our world fall apart? would nothing get done? would life as we know it, stop?
it actually might, but that could be a very good thing. because when life is suddenly shortened, when we have a loss or a potential loss, we stop and look and we regret and we want those hours back. then we see that we've missed the main point, we've been duped, we've wasted the hours we were given.
so lets breath and be kind to ourselves and each other and allow time to stop and listen to that still small voice. lets live our hours today in places that build us, grow our relationships and bring joy- whether it's rainy or sunny.
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