PAUSE – 13.22 – Who Needs A Mental Wealth Break?
Reflection: I’d had a busy couple of weeks with projects, commitments and deadlines on every front. When the calendar cleared last Wednesday, I decided to pause and step away for a mental wealth day. That’s the kind of day when you focus on making a few sizeable deposits in the sanity bank account.
I spent ten minutes in the office, cleared a few urgent messages, put an away message on my phone, and settled in to enjoy the open space.
As the day unfolded, I puttered in the garden, visited on the street with several of the neighbors, lunched in the sun on the back deck, napped in the hammock, chatted by phone with several family members, and simply enjoyed the fish in the pond, the birds in the trees, and the tulips in the flowerbeds.
A greeting card from my sister arrived in the mail that morning and set the tone for the day. The front cover featured a figure reclining in a hammock under the palm trees with these words: “Nowhere to go and all day to get there….” That became my mantra for the day!
I love that sentiment, it’s such a contrast to what we are more likely to experience in our everyday lives: “Everywhere to go and no time to get there!”
Action: Life doesn’t always lend itself to a mental wealth day. But, it may be possible to create a mental wealth moment or hour. And as you step into that openness of time, try breathing in the possibility that just for now, you have: ‘Nowhere to go and all day to get there!”
PS – BTW, today, June 5 is the Festival of Popular Delusions Day. It’s worth considering that one of today’s most popular delusions is the belief that we cannot step away from our responsibilities – that without our constant vigilance the world will come to a grinding halt. It just ain’t so! So go ahead, step away from the world from time to time and see what happens! You will be surprised – and just possibly relieved!
Quotes Of The Week: The greatest wealth is health. – Virgil
My own prescription for health is less paperwork and more running barefoot through the grass. – Terri Guillemets
Resource Of The Week:
IZ, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, is (was) a most beloved Hawaiian musician. If you’re not familiar with his music, check out his rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow. It’s the music that was featured in the greeting card that prompted this message. The IZ rendition of this classic is sure to lift your heart. So pour yourself a cup of coffee, invite your colleagues in the next cubicle over, sit back and enjoy his music and the fantastic Hawaiian scenery.
Readers Write: In response to last week’s message, Antidotes For Overload, Pause reader JG writes: This was a great message for me to read since I’ve been spending far too much time doing exactly what you described in the first paragraph. It’s bizarre that my workday often starts between 6:00 and 7:00. I stop for supper then work another two to four hours in evenings.
Tags: attitude, burnout, health, overload, overwhelm, Pat Katz, Patricia Katz, pause, perspective, Saskatoon, speaker, stress, time, time out, wellness, workload