Can you feel it? It’s that time of the year again.
Regular swims in the ocean mean that my mane is sporting the ‘Byron Bay’ look. Carefree and free-spirited. Much like I like to think I am.
Fresh resolves and good intentions hang thick in the air. The promise of new hope surpasses the disappointments of last year.
Hello early January – I have missed you my friend. I like how I feel when I’m in your presence. I also like driving in the streets of Sydney that are considerably less traffic congested.
I’ve noticed:
When I practice kundalini yoga, I consciously chant mantras to uplift my spirit during meditations.
When I’m chatting about life, I’m subconsciously creating a battle with myself when I say things like “I don’t have time”
So I’ve reclaimed my power. I’ve decided to make friends with Time.
Being Busy and I are officially over.
Being busy was a blanket response for not wanting to commit to someone/thing.
It’s like the trump card that gave me a get out of jail free card.
It’s the security blanky that covers the ugly truth of “I don’t really want to go / be there”
I love what I do for a living – but sometimes it can be a real double-edged sword in terms of days or time off.
On ‘days off’ when I’m not a celebrant or yoga teacher, I often find myself inspired by an interaction I’ve had with a friend or a loved one.
The inspiration extends to potential material for a blog post and past experience has taught me that going with this flow of inspiration means I can write effortlessly and be finished in about 20 minutes.
Trying to conjure the same inspiration the following day can have me typing listlessly on the keyboard with nothing viable to show after a few hours.
Taking the risk of ‘typing when inspired’ can mean I plug into the energy of ‘time management’ and this can potentially result in me conquering other tasks or emails.
When this happens, I find myself reminiscing about that day off I almost had, a few hours later.
I also know how fortunate I am to have this challenge – in fact, on the surface I consider it to be a first world problem. It only becomes a serious matter when work consumes me to the point where I suffer adrenal burnout.
I’ve realised that knowing what you need to do, coupled with a sense of peace about when it should be completed is a key to living the balanced life you love
In fact, there’s only one thing worse than being too busy, and that’s when not being busy enough threatens your livelihood.
As a yoga teacher that does not teach enough classes to pay the rent, or a counselor that does not see enough clients to pay the bills, ‘being busy’ is something that represents money and the ability to pay expenses.
It’s what we pray for when we start out as a therapist or someone that works for themselves. Money signifies freedom.
Except when your work life has no boundaries.
Then there’s no freedom. Or time. Or a good quality life in this never-ending quest to make a living.
Being busy can represent having an income, but unless we think of abundance more broadly, it won’t necessarily help us feel prosperous.
If anything we are out of balance and alignment if we create a paradigm where we need to be busy just to make a living.
Abundance and Prosperity in their broader terms represent a sense of freedom regarding the quality of life that we are able to live.
Personally, I’ve made room for spaces in between – there’s now a buffer of time when I walk my dog. I can now enjoy bumping into a friend without feeling like I only have 10 seconds of time to spare.
It’s a nice feeling. It helps me set the scene for magical experiences. All I need to do, is remember to create the space for it to come into my life. What about you? How will you set the scene for a spectacular year?
Images by We Heart It & Instagram