My ....what an interesting week I have had...
After a little self scrutiny, I chose to make my meditation class focus for this week , 'the art of embracing joy!' Some might call what I preached self indulgence, but I was all about joy...finding at least a little of it, everyday ( lots of it is of course even more highly recommended).
Truth is, we exercise to look afer our bodies, eat well and so on but don't often take the time to look after our emotional health with such focused attention.
It is important though, very in fact, and we should focus as hard on this exercise for the emotional self as jogging that extra kilometre or eating more fruit! If we don't then our lovely healthy bodies are not being well supported...and we binge...on chocolate ( thats me)...on anger...on tears...on nit picking...on all those disfunctional behaviours that express our stress levels boldly! But if we remember to spend some time on relaxation....a bubble bath or lie on the beach perhaps...a little time in something purely joyous...singing along with our fave CD or sharing a picinic with someone special...and something we just enjoy...a 2,000 piece puzzle or a piece of pie...then we'll be telling ourselves a little truth, that we are really worthwhile beings and that we deserve to be happy!
Avoiding the binge factor ( whatever your favoured binge is), is all about time management, balance and valuing yourself.....my youngest is doing her end of year exams this week and is feeling the pressure...she has been unwell and had Glandular fever this year so is worried about how much study she has missed, ...but I insist she have a routine that includes time for a milkshake with friends or a walk on the beach.....it actually makes better use of her study time because she enters it in a relaxed and receptive state not an anghst ridden pent up one! The same is true of life in general...if we let ourselves get caught up in the hurry and responsibility of it all then we lose our joy and our perspective...it does not help us one bit!
I have given this thought over to my menpausal self with joy and delight....making sure I do some thing once a day thats just for me....and it works...I feel better...but it can be hard to break the 'there must be a useful purpose to it' cycle, where I feel I need to justify my time to the family or hubby or just about anyone really...of course there is a useful purpose...to make me less hideous to live with! To make me care less when you leave your clothes on the bathroom floor....or the toothpast lid off.....or the toilet seat up ....and to make me care more about holding hands, listening attentively and taking pleasure in a smile or a sunset....
I like this new program... and I think the family does too...today I gave my time over to helping Miss nearly Independent find a dress ( no I qualify...THE dress) for her Uni Grad Show Opening....(she studies art and is now nearly done and there is an exhibition of all the grad students work...) it was easy because I felt good, sure I had done some house work and dealt with last minute school dramas and grrrr I had woken up my hard to wake hubby...butI had also sat on the verandah and had coffee with a friend and joked and laughed! I was ready for the expedition...just as well it seems....we did all the shops in Yamba, some twice...no luck...we travelled 20 minutes to Maclean and did those shops too...no more luck....so we travelled 50 minutes to Grafton and did and redid those shops too...still no luck...oh my gosh the feet were beginnning to swell....but I was still smiling ( menopausal, tired, out of routine and smiling...it was a first)...so we came back to Yamba and Miss Nearly Independent decided to do Lismore on Friday morning with only hours to spare...( I wont be with this time...I will be taking a swim joyously) but lets hope she has time for a bath or a massage or something before she sets out because if she doesn't the binge factor might have to set in and it could be nasty!!!
The dictionary describes Joy as a condition of extreme well being and cheerfulness...well being is the key....for total well being we need to embrace joy along with the vitamin supplements and breathing exercises etc. As quoted by St Augustine....
"Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure: where your treasure, there your heart; where your heart, there your happiness."
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