Remember the film “The Wizard of Oz” and the scene where Dorothy, the lion, the tin man and the scarecrow look up to see the Wicked Witch of the West skywriting with her broom? “Surrender Dorothy”, she writes in lurid green smoke. Of course, Dorothy doesn’t surrender, and everything works out well at the end. For those of us who are constantly busy, with work, family, or just life in general, we tend to surrender to the constant demands that are made of us without thinking twice. We find ourselves constantly having that one more thing we have to do right now, or we tell ourselves that we have to keep going because people are counting on us. That may be true much of the time, but surrendering only to those pressures and demands sets us up for a fall later on. We need to remember to surrender occasionally to our inner voice that is telling us to take a break.
Our minds seem to take the brunt of the stress, more often than not, and we don’t always realize that we need to give our minds a rest too. What if there were a way to decompress and de-stress yourself on a regular basis that involves no physical exercise (although that’s a good thing to do on a consistent basis as well)? The next time you feel that burnout feeling coming on (and we all know who we are), try a short inner-space vacation. Find a quiet, dimly lit room with a door that closes and a fairly comfortable chair. Schedule a time each day to go there and sit quietly. Once you are comfortable, close your eyes and remember a time and place in which you felt the most relaxed. Bring up the image in your mind and try to remember the sounds and sights and how you felt then. Feel that sand between your toes, or that mountain breeze blowing through your hair. Feel that sun on your face. Sink into the relaxation of that moment. Even if you only manage a few minutes of your “inner vacation” the first time, you might find that you begin to look forward to that time of the day. It will help to relax the tension in your body and you will find that you’ll be able to think more clearly and concentrate better.
See you at the beach!
Peace @-)-)----
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