This is From The Balance Beam
[TheBalanceBeam] - How I Spent My Winter Break
??===========================================================
THE BALANCE BEAM
Ideas and Inspiration for Creating a Life that Works
Vol. 3 No. 1, January 10, 2001
Published by Success Builders, Inc.
http://www.SuccessBuildersInc.com
======================================================================
"He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened."
Lao-tzu
In this issue: HOW I SPENT MY WINTER VACATION
====================================================================== Dear Friends:
I know that by now, most of us are back in the routine, back at work, and busily getting started on the business of the new year. Still, I'm basking in the glow of having had some good time to "chill out" over the holidays, and trying to retain the sense of balance that this time afforded me. In this issue of The Balance Beam, I offer my thoughts on what it means to spend some intentional time being absolutely non-productive!If you want to check out earlier editions of The Balance Beam that you may have missed, you can easily retrieve them by clicking on http://www.successbuildersinc.com/newsletter.html and going to the Archives section. If you are not yet a regular subscriber to The Balance Beam, you can also enter your subscription information at this location.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today's Topic: HOW I SPENT MY WINTER VACATIONOne of the post-holiday things that's always fun for me is finding out how people spent their time off from work. Since returning to my office on January 3rd, I've had conversations and email from numerous clients and colleagues with stories about the exciting things they did over the winter break.
Several of my clients went on skiing vacations and returned with tales of how fabulous the snow was in Aspen and Vail. One friend of mine went to Belgium to visit her daughter and decided to take a side trip to London on the way home. Even the guy who keeps my website updated sent me an email this morning telling me to double-check the latest changes he made, since he was using a French server while sipping drinks with little umbrellas in St. Bart's.
So now I have a confession to make. I did virtually nothing productive and not very much that would qualify as exciting during the eleven days I took off from work. And you want to know what? That's exactly the way I planned it.
I was fortunate to be blessed with a booming business during calendar year 2000. So by the time the holidays rolled around, I was ready for a REAL break - not the kind where you substitute one kind of frenetic pace for another -- but the real McCoy. I recall a conversation I had with a client just prior to taking off where we were comparing notes about our plans. I jokingly told her that I intended to sleep till noon, let my house go to pot, and sit around in curlers watching soap operas and eating bon-bons. And while I didn't quite go that far, I certainly did have my share of real "down time".
My second confession has to do with how I felt while soaking up eleven days of genuine rest and relaxation. For the most part, I loved it. And I kept good on my promise to stay out of the office except to look up an occasional recipe on the SOAR website. But I have to admit that there were a few moments where I felt a little guilty about not getting something "worthwhile" done. It was an attack of the "should's", and while I was able to resist giving into it, I'm willing to admit that it crept into my consciousness a time or two.
Why is it that we have so much difficulty being able to stop and take a break? Despite all the evidence that's been out there for decades on the power of R and R to reduce stress, enhance creativity, increase energy and improve problem solving, we continue to pass judgement on simply stopping to be, and experience the moment. We refer to it as "wasting time", and we worry that if we do too much of it, we'll miss out on something important, or, as one of my old teachers used to say, we'll "turn to mush."
And so the phenomenon continues, and we see people that we work with returning from vacations being worn out, aggravated from the hassles of holiday travel snafus, worried about what they need to catch up on, stressed about being behind in answering email, and incredibly tired just as the new year is getting started. Like the old saying goes, they need a vacation from their vacations.
What would it be like if we all gave ourselves permission to take a bona fide break in the action this year? Although the holidays can be a great time to chill out, you don't have to wait until next December to do this. Pick a week that works for you and your calendar; a week where you can delegate, postpone, or simply walk away from the should's and ought-to's of your life. You would do this to take the kids to Disney World for a week. Why not do it for yourself in order to recharge your batteries?
Here are some ideas that you may want to try to keep you honest when you decide to embark on that precious down-time:
1. Don't plan to go anywhere farther than a day trip will accommodate. Translated: that means sleep in your own bed at night.
2. Take off your watch. Get reacquainted with your body's natural rhythms. Eat when you're hungry, sleep when you're tired, and by all means, turn off your alarm clock.
3. Enjoy some creature comforts. Take afternoon naps and long, luxurious baths. Sit by the fireplace. Listen to music that you love. Eat hot soup and cornbread.
4. Be spontaneous. Do what you feel like doing in the moment. Want to go to the movies? Great. Call and see what's playing. But don't plan your whole day around making sure you can be at the theatre by a certain time.
5. Forget about redeeming value. This is not the time to read "War and Peace". Go ahead, devour some trash novels. Or watch reruns of the Andy Griffith show. I guarantee you won't lose any IQ points by the end of the week.
So, are you ready to take a real vacation next time? It's OK - really. And I promise, you and the quality of your work will be well served by it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words to live by:"Slow me down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amid the confusion of the day,
the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles
with the soothing music of the
singing streams that live in my memory.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations -
of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to smile at a child,
to read a few lines from a good book.
Slow me down, Lord,
and inspire me to send my roots deep
into the soil of life's enduring values,
that I may grow toward my greater destiny.
Remind me each day that the race is not always to the swift;
that there is more to life than increasing its speed.
Let me look upward to the towering oak and know that it grew
great and strong because it grew slowly and well."- Orin L. Crain