Thursday Thirteen # 8

Thirteen Ways to Take Time FOR YOURSELF!!! 1. Procrastinate don't do the errand you know you need too, but just meander around the house and do what strikes your fancy. We spend to much of our day on a schedule. 2. Take a long hot bath, in the middle of the day. Light your favorite candle scent. Put lots of bubbles in the water and forget about all the other stuff you need to do and relax. 3. Take a walk, on the beach, near a pond, around the block. Just meander, don't have a plan, do what comes to mind and enjoy. Walking makes you feel happy and gives you energy to finish whatever it was you were doing before the walk. 4. Whistle!! "You know how to whistle, don't you?" said Bacall to Bogart. "Just purse your lips and blow." You can't help, but to smile, now can you? 5. Lounge!! What's that you say? After you get home from work and before you start the next big thing, kick off your shoes, put on some comfy clothes. Then find a spot to lay down, a couch, the floor with some pillows, a lounging chair. Close your eyes and just breath, big deep breaths, then just imagine you are at your favorite spot. Take five minutes or longer and relax. Then get up and make dinner. 6. Yawn, just the word triggers one. And once you see it, you do it. So when weariness sets in- yawn, it's like a total yoga body stretch. 7. Take a nap. Just a 10 minute nap can revitalize you and help you finish what you thought you were to tired to. 8. Taste your food, your cup of tea or coffee, a chocolate bar, a piece of fruit. Savor it, inhale the smell deeply, eat or sip it slowly. We spend way too much time eating on the run, in the car and standing up. 9. Listen, don't talk, just listen. To the birds, to the purring cat, to the ocean waves, to the sound of total silence. 10. Turn off the TV. Life is not lived and concluded in a hour. All the news and crime dramas is jarring to the mind. 11. Put on your favorite music, turn it up real loud and dance around the room. It doesn't even have to look like dancing. Jump up and down, twist, do whatever comes to you. 12. Pick a song that you think represents who you are and whenever life gets tough or dull or sad or lonely SING IT OUT LOUD if you can and in your head if you can't. (Update: Mom's song is 30,000 Pounds of Bananas, by Harry Chapin) 13. And finally laugh. Laughter is the best medicine and science has proved that it heals. Watch a favorite funny movie, listen to your favorite comic. Aren't somewhere you can do that, then just start laughing, start small, hee hee, then giggle, then look at yourself in the mirror and just let loose. Haven't you ever laughed so hard, you cried, or rolled on the floor. Laugh and the world laughs with you.