Relaxing is Hard Work...
I'm crap at relaxing. Really I am. Can you relate?
I tell myself I’ll schedule in a massage and sit down when I eat lunch instead of wolfing it down in the car on the way to my next stop! But I don’t usually. Sometimes I do so I tell myself ‘see you can relax.’ But I can’t.
I’m so organised and want to fit as much as I can into a day to see how efficient I can be. I’ll have a cup of tea later. If I just get one more thing done, I’ll be able to stop, but then I need to dash off to pick up a child or pop to the shops. I actually work in there sometimes too and luckily working for myself I can block my time out and I’m the master. But I pack too much in. I’m left with a short lived high of how much I’ve accomplished, but still see what’s left. There is actually always something to do so I’ll never ‘finish’ which is when I’ll stop and read for 20 minutes (it never happens). It’s so refreshing and freeing to admit this.
Now I’m putting it out there. The Universe has spoken – I’m getting messages loud and clear from all over! My yoga teacher today talked about how we have body and mind. One needs to relax and one needs to work. Which goes with which? Of course I said, you need both your body and mind to work and relax. Isn’t that logical (and I have an answer for everything!). No he said. Our body’s get to relax in front of the tv (while we stuff our faces), in the car, sitting at the computer and the mind runs wild. We do this enough. We need to move our bodies and relax our minds. Got that? It’s taken me many variations of this theme to get it so I want to be sure. We need to MOVE our body and RELAX our mind.
During the yoga class my body was sore and impatient, my mind was racing and busy – not relaxing. So I FELT this message loud in my body, literally making me feel it, and it was clear (in case the words weren’t enough!). I surrender and will relax.
Ok, so now what? Firstly I must say now that ‘I used to be sh*#t at relaxing…’ I’ve turned over a new leaf – even in one day… (baby steps). I went for a long walk with my mum and then had a bath – while the kids were at school. The fact I still have a degree of guilt sometimes doing stuff for ‘ME’ is a fact. But I love the re-frame where we need to recharge our batteries. If we don’t, we’re not good to anyone!
So can you relate? Could you use some tips and tricks to relax? First admit it. It feels good and I know now I can shift and really relax. Feel free to share your thoughts so we can all help each other to enter a state of relaxation when required. I’ve got a new app [Insight Timer] helping me with meditation and mindfulness so check it out.
I’m feeling calmer already and need to go book that massage! NAMASTE…