We have just enjoyed a glorious four day weekend here in Sydney. The weather was absolutely stunning and the days were lazy and mostly unplanned for our family.
It’s days like these that allow your mind and body to enter into a flow state which brings reflection on what really matters, what’s working and what’s not.
This a snippet of my thoughts:
1. Slow down: Most of us are living life in the fast lane, too much. We go through the motions, and feel like there isn’t any other way. What if you didn’t do that extra activity with the kids after school one day? What if you set your alarm 30 minutes earlier so that you could take your time a little more? Slowing down may be unnatural to most, but you may be surprised at what you see when you’re going slower.
2. Relationships are a reflection of other people and yourself: I once listened to a wise woman who said that a relationship is the space between two people. We are therefore different beings in every relationship that we have. We are products of how we interact with the other person - and vice versa. How do you affect your relationships? What version of yourself are you, and are your own words and actions bringing out the best versions of others?
3. Movement doesn’t always have to be intense: I am an intense person, and there is no way around that. I love challenges, working under pressure and I’m competitive. My natural inclination is to bust out high intensity moves to work up insane sweat levels because that’s what makes me feel good. But my body doesn’t always love me for it. Over the long weekend, I moved slower for longer, and it was different, but I was happy. The lower intensity also allowed my mind to wander, giving me lots of uninterrupted pondering space.
4. Eat as well as you can afford, and don’t cheat your body of whole foods: this one is a no brainer for me, but I am always so surprises to see people overeating and overindulging just because it’s a “long weekend”. This time it may have been the chocolate excuse. I am all about enjoying food but I definitely am not going to kid myself that my body is going to feel better on junk. Slower days are a great reason to cook more, and to take the time to find the freshest and best produce that you can afford. You will see this in the clarify of your mind, quality of your skin, reactions of your gut and performance of your body. Try it!
5. Practise gratitude: When you slow down and look around, you will realise how much you have to be thankful for. It’s easy to get caught up in how much work you have, how much the kids are irritating you and how much your partner doesn’t do. Take some time to look around and you’ll see that not everything is as bad as it seems, particularly because not everything matters as much as you thought it did. You have a lot to be grateful for - for me it was my thoughtful and happy kids, my very patient and supporting husband, my health and my body and our village of friends here in Sydney that means the world when we don’t have family around.
On that note, I hope you all have had a restful and invigorating Easter break!
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