My weekdays are incredibly busy – so much moving, thinking, and schedule-busting I must sometimes look like a bumble bee going from flower to flower. And, frankly, I couldn’t be more grateful. One of the greatest blessings of my life is being able to watch three grandbabies when their parents are at work.
I might mention the fact that they’re currently 1, 2, and 4.
Buzzzzzzzzzzz from flower to flower…
I’m also an avid cook, voracious old movie fan, love flower gardening, am an avid reader, and web publisher with a food blog, old Hollywood blog, cat blog, Kentucky travel blog, and (obliviously) a self help blog! Obviously, my grandbabies always come first, but suffice to say I stay busy on weekends, before and after they arrive, and when they’re napping.
After cooking and eating supper, cleaning up the kitchen, taking my shower, and putting on so much girly smelling lotion that I smell like the flowers I bounce around, I glide into my favorite den chair and…. ahhhhhhhhhh! Two things can be true – you can be completely in love with what you do from 8:00 to 6:00 AND be completely in love with the stillness from 6:00 to bedtime.
“It is nice finding that place where you can just go and relax.” ~Moises Arias
My den chair represents relaxation to me and, after reading the wonderful quote above by Moises Arias, I’ve begun calling it my relaxing place. The mind stays active (most of the time anyway) when I’m in my relaxing place but the body takes the opportunity to simply relax and unwind. I sip hot tea, watch tv with my husband, catch up on Twitter (my old Hollywood Twitter page is so fun I always love seeing what people have to say!).
I find that this period of time to be fun, enjoyable, relaxing, and in many ways healing. The body can go through a lot during a busy day, I’m convinced relaxing times such as this give your body time to catch its breath, unwind, and kind of get in touch with life.
Sounds as flowery as I smell after a shower, but sometimes flowery words can also do a body good!
Carving out a period of relaxation in your relaxing place each evening also helps with sleep. If you try to go instantly from busy mode to sleep mode, your body and mind are going to be too stunned to cooperate! You have to give them time to rewind… to change the pace from day to night. Trust me, it works miracles.
An extra benefit of having your own special relaxing place and relaxing time is that it gives you something to look forward to. A few days ago, even though (unfortunately!) none of my precious grandbabies were here, I stayed busy from around 9:00 to 4:00 – packing up Christmas, boxing, cleaning, doing maintenance on my blogs, catching up on e-mail, etc. Several times throughout the day, I’d think about my relaxing place, my hot tea, tv and conversation with my husband, and every single glorious ahhhhhhh that comes with the evening. It gave me something to look forward to through all the business and it was glorious.
I often sign my Self Help Daily posts with the words, “Make each moment count double,” but today, I have a different sign off in mind….
Make each relaxing moment count triple! ~ Joi