Tasks and Leisure

Tasks and Leisure

So, what do you like to do when you aren’t doing what you have to do? There is an old saw that I love, “To have leisure is to live as the gods.”

I like to joke that I will spend my free time lying on the floor staring at the ceiling. I always imagine it with my arms spread wide and a stupid grin on my face, a posture I spent time in as a kid on lovely summer days, cloud gazing.

Ahhhh.

But I digress.

I think about my ancestors, and how their lives were compared to the way I get to live. I think about how hard the women worked to keep their homes, how hard the men worked, and how uncomfy stuff was. I mean, I love central climate control. I love vacuums and other machines that make stuff so fast and easy. They worked their patooties off so that now I can enjoy some free time pretty much every day. Thank you, ancestors!

Why do I take time off? What makes me relax? Why do I enjoy my hobby?

Leisure time is priceless. I was fascinated to learn that our word “school” comes from the ancient Greek word for leisure. Many of us have stuff to do to keep our lives, and the lives of our loved ones, running smoothly. We have to wash stuff, and sweep stuff, and wipe stuff down, and change stuff, and buy stuff and put stuff away. We have to do a lot of that every day. And then we have to acquire and consume food and drink, clean ourselves, dress ourselves, move ourselves around, rest ourselves. Whew!

When we have down time, we have time to make choices that can enhance our lives. We can choose from a wide assortment of activities that will make stuff better, give us joy, and be fun. When we stay on top of our stuff, we don’t need to run away from our feelings, and so we can use our leisure enjoying ourselves rather than distracting ourselves. I like that so much more.

As we get better at using our leisure time, we may discover a hobby or hobbies that we love. Some of us decide that we will make a living from our hobby, and do that. Some of us decide that we love the change of scenery that we get from our hobby. Some of us like to learn stuff in our leisure time. Some of us like to travel, or see shows, or be in shows. Choices abound for wonderful, fun, interesting, challenging, delightful ways to spend our time.

How do I enjoy my free time? Why do I value my leisure? What makes me take down time?

When we have balance between our work and play, we feel good. We feel satisfied and productive in our labors, and satisfied and productive in our off-time. When we let that balance go off-kilter, we may feel like a drudge, or taken advantage of at our work, or we may feel bored or at loose ends in our free time. Being able to pick up on this right away is another advantage of being self-aware. Once we notice it, we can modify what we are doing to that we regain our balance. One of the activities that helps me keep that sense of balance is my meditative time on my porch between the end of my work day and the beginning of my evening activities.

How have I changed from being out of balance to enjoying both my task time and leisure time?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 03122014

What are your favorite leisure activities?

The Power of Soft

The Power of Soft

One of the most interesting experiments I tried last year was based on the assumption that I can.

It was a little more complicated than that. Back in the dark ages, I would agree to all sorts of stuff trying to be a people pleaser. What an exhausting waste of time. Not to mention that I couldn’t follow through on half the stuff that was asked of me. And me was the last person on my list of folks to take care of.

What I did this year was say yes to the challenging stuff.

Now, don’t get me wrong. If I figured I truly wouldn’t have the time or resources, I said no, but I wanted to see if I could stretch myself, to grow into the challenging tasks.

Yay, me!

Why am I capable? What makes me competent? How am I strong? Why do I choose to be vulnerable?

Wait, what? What’s that last one? That’s the one that inspired me to take some better care of me.

There is a huge difference between being soft and being fragile, being vulnerable and worn thin.

Now, I have been one of those people who got 5 or 6 hours of sleep each night for most of my life. I remember being wide awake in the middle of the night when my sister was a baby, so I was about a year and a half.

So one of the things I’ve started doing this year is going to bed early enough to get 8 hours, allowing for being awake a bit during the night.

What makes me take good care? Why do I treat my body with joy and respect?

I make sure that I meditate, do my qigong practice, eat wholesome food most of the time, and move my body a lot. I schedule activities that feed my soul, my mind, social time with my besties, and alone time with me. I pay attention to food cravings from my body, and do my best to put off the cravings of my feelings. Mostly, that’s a commitment of about two hours a day. The days when I see my pals, it may be a bit longer.

How do I feed my spirit?

Each of us has the same number of hours in a day. How we spend them is our choice. That is an annoying thing, I know, but there you go. How am I going to spend my hours?

I gained a bag full of hours when I decided to cut back on my TV time. I gained another bag full of hours when I cut back on my procrastination. Nuthin’ like a little behavior modification to wreck a good procrastinate. What makes me choose how to spend my time?

I publish these contemplations every single day. I publish a little Appreciations every day. These come from practicing my purpose.  Why do I have a purpose?

I came out of this year with more of myself than I’ve ever had; more life, more love, more family, more time, more success, more health. By owning that I am capable of more, and of taking good care of me, I am living a life I love more than ever before.

How have I changed from living small and tight to living my own rich, full, glorious life?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 01012014