Tag: #rest

Just Be Sweet

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There’s memes floating around this time of year about, ‘finishing the year strong.’ It’s tiresome being strong all the time and I want to finish the year more gently. I’m taking the rest of the year off from being strong.

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I’ve been told, “You come across a little strong.” Well, that’s what I’ve become, but it doesn’t have to be who I am.

I’ve also been told, “You’re so sweet’, and not solely from my daughter. Even though she tells me, I’m not very accepting of it. It’s like the words won’t sink into my skin, they swerve.

This morning I had a message from SC Lourie waiting for me. She’s so sweet and that is why I started following her so closely. I tend to follow the heart I want to have.

There’s two weeks left in the year. In what way do I want to spend it? I’m going to just be sweet.

When It’s Time

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We learn from our surroundings.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this hibiscus plant at the market. The price was marked way down because it’s at the end of it’s season. It looked so healthy and full of buds that I had to bring it home. It would be the last of the blooms.

The hibiscus displays one bloom a day.

It opens up to reveal it’s beauty all the way to the core and then politely closes at the end of the day. Even closed it’s beautiful, but it knows when it’s done. It doesn’t try to stay in bloom.

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Can you see the closed bloom to the left?

 

I feel as if I’ve bloomed quite a bit this year and maybe that’s why I’m embracing the change in season. I’m ready to not bloom for a while. To take a season of rest.

Not everything I planted in the yard this year bloomed. The cannas and trumpet vine along the fence bloomed once, but they’re happily growing. So maybe that’s it. We have to grow before we can bloom. We have to be fully ready to bloom.

We will bloom, when it’s time.

Happy day Beautiful Souls.

Weekends Are Sacred

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My weekend begins at 5:01 PM on Friday’s. That is when my phone shuts down until Monday.

I have two jobs as a Virtual Assistant and one is on the weekends, but I’ve had that job for 7 years. It began as my way of staying home with my daughter and making a living after leaving my marriage. It’s been reliable in that sense, but I had to set boundaries.

My first thought this morning was, “Life is not hard. Life is what we make it.” I woke up tired. It’s been a busy few weeks. It was ever so pleasing to know it’s Friday.

My daughter walks by my room and tells me, “I love your bedroom.”

I catch her standing in the doorway staring at it. Since the redo beginning with Under the Bed, it has the feeling of a retreat. When you work from home, you need a room like that. When I walk into my room, I leave work behind.

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I’m sitting in the middle of my bed and here’s what my bedside table reveals.

Two out of three Hydrangea blooms that have been with me all week. A small Voluspa candle, because I couldn’t decide what scent I liked best to buy a big one. A large Voluspa candle is a commitment. My favorite ink pen and a water bottle for the weekend.

Someone asked me what I was doing this weekend and I said, “As little as possible.”

My weekends are sacred.

I See Rest

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My daughter has left for the weekend.

The house is still and quiet. The dogs just came in from a full day of playing next door. They come home around the same time each day. I appreciate how they know they’ve had enough for one day.

Watch and learn from the doggos.

rest

Yesterday, I found myself physically tired.

This weekend I’m going to take care of me. This month I’ve been giving away more of myself than usual, but cannot pour from an empty cup.

Yesterday, my daughter noticed I was being quiet and she knew. Mom is tapped out for a bit.

I changed my theme for this site and forgot about it. When I typed in the address to come here and write, I didn’t recognize the site as mine, but thought, ‘Wow. That’s so pretty.’ 🙂

That is what we call dog tired.

Self-care weekend in full pursuit my lovelies. Looking at my dogs in this moment, I see rest.

Quiet is Good

· 6 Comments ·

My life is quiet. I created it that way on purpose.

Some people cannot embrace the quiet. They have to stay busy. The stillness of life is a beautiful thing. Have you practiced just sitting in it?

Sometime last year, I took all the apps off of my phone that made noise. I have an undying love for Google, so the Google family of apps stayed.

My phone may be quiet, but my mind is not.

I’m always thinking, and this was disturbing my sleep. It would take so long for my brain to shut off, I started dreading bedtime. Plus, I would wake up the next day tired from trying to get some sleep!

I tried a lot of things to prepare my mind for bed.

My daughter recommended Melatonin, but that just knocked me out. This is the same daughter that told me, “You look tired.” I longed for a good night’s sleep. That feeling of drifting off to dreamland.

The other night, I laid in bed and listened to my breathing. In my mind, I heard my Yoga instructor say as if to remind me, “It’s all in the breath.”

I’ve been practicing Yoga and meditation all year.

I’ve been doing both of them wrong.

Yoga was a form of exercise for me, but that is not it’s main purpose. That is more like a fringe benefit.

I could never get my mind quiet long enough to meditate. Guess what? I’m not supposed to. It’s okay to be mindful of your thoughts during meditation.

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This is when I tried Headspace for 10 days straight.

My daughter mentioned I was ‘sighing’ a lot, but it wasn’t a sigh. It was controlled breathing. I was sorting through my thoughts with each breath.

Two nights ago, guess how I fell asleep?

By counting my breath. Just being aware of my breath, and counting each inhale and exhale.

I felt myself drifting off to sleep. Quiet is good.