So it was my Sabaath, my day of rest. I watched TV program after TV program. The day before I had all sorts of plans for reading, walks, listening to music, playing with the jigsaw puzzle with the kids. Much of my day was gone before I was shaken from my zoning out by my stomach growling.
I had two choices. The first was what I used to do – GUILT. "I can’t believe you wasted the whole day. You are so lazy. That is time you can never get back. Wow, you are pathetic." I know, lovely isn’t it? All that does is make my energy go down even further. And make me want to zone out more.
The second was what I try to do more often – SELF-KINDNESS. "You must have really needed to rest and zone out. Don’t we feel much better? And we even have some more hours in the day to play."
So I got to take a walk with my daughter, read my novel, write some friends, do yoga and some visual journaling. Without the guilt.
I wasn’t the only one that needed a rest – my cat Thomas did too
This is such an astute post Beth. We are so scripted in the need to be productive and to always have something to show for our time. Last week my husband went for a day-long motorcycle ride with my step-son and I had great plans for the writing I was going to do for my blog. But I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and spent most of the day pottering, tidying, doing a bit of baking, watching TV, and reading other people’s blogs. However thoughts and ideas were churning around in my mind, and as a result I am much clearer about what I want to write about. Sometimes we just have to go with how we are feeling on the day, and as you say, practice self-kindness.
I love this Jo! I am glad you had a restful time.