Just Two Minutes!

Two Minutes

We’re fast approaching the end of another calendar year.  Our families, society, various institutions we attend, our jobs and our schedules for life and living all work on a 12 month period of slotting our lives into 365 days.  Our average day consists of approximately 14 hours or 840 minutes.

My last blog for this year is to suggest something inspiring just for you: something that will nudge you towards putting yourself first in your life, a nudge towards self-care. Yes, I know, it can be difficult.   And if you are a mother with children you often don’t think of yourself and what you need at all!  Until of course you end up with a cold or something similar and then you are forced to rest and take time for yourself.   Don’t you think it’s time to make a small change for you?  It starts with just 2 minutes out of your day.

First:  Upon waking, allow your day to come to you.  Just lie there, do nothing, feel yourself breathe.  Sense that delicious time between being asleep and awake.

Second:  Stretch your limbs, feel your weight on the mattress. Slowly move yourself into a sitting position.  Close your eyes and feel yourself breathing.  This has taken less than 1 minute.

Third: As you sit, bring one thing to mind that you could do just for yourself, for this day.  Think small!  You want this to be achievable and you want your action to be successful.

A few suggestions might be…

·        Ask a friend to help you

·        Commit to seeing a movie

·        Take a longer shower/bath

·        Turn off your cell phone for a period of time so you can have a breather from calls

There is something during your day that you can alter to give you a pause and space.  Be gentle with this, it isn’t something to be worked at, it is to allow something to come to you that brings comfort and support.

When you have that one piece that you know is it, breathe into that idea, wrap it around you in your thoughts, take a deep breath and with intention place your feet on the floor and begin your day.

Tip:  At the end of your day take stock of what you put in place that morning.  Were you able to achieve success?  If not, check to see what prevented you from doing so and try again the next day.  Remember, keep it small.  It takes 2 minutes of intention and then an action to achieve great things. 

Decorations

It is time to bring out the holiday decorations.  Do you know where they are?  Can you find them easily? Are they all in one location?  If you have answered 'no' to these 3 questions, my sense is that you are probably feeling somewhat overwhelmed by it all!  And again this year you are undoubtedly saying to yourself "This is definitely the year to get organized with this."

Familiar language?  Well this year can be different as you have two key items in your tool kit of life and living that you might not have had last year.  You have intent to make a difference AND you have a timer, that small, simple tool that you learned about in the first blog.

First:  Get out your boxes and turn on your time for 1 hour.

Second:  As you take out the items you want to use for this holiday season, put aside anything that hasn't been used in previous seasons or that you don't particularly like.  If there is an emotional attachment to anything put THOSE aside.  Take the rest and recycle them or donate to a charity of your choice.

Third:  Now for the items with an emotional attachment.  Keep 1/2 of them and give the other 1/2 to your children, grandchildren or family member that would love them.  That way they still remain within the family and they'll learn the back-story and history of the item that they may not know.

Times up!  Did you beat the timer?  If not, put the timer on for another hour and see if you can finish the project.

Tip:  Using a timer helps you make a quicker decision, use it often.