May 15, 2006
May 15, 2006 Issue #27
Welcome to the newsletter where playing more and stressing less is taken seriously. It's written with the intention to support you in living a life with more passion and play and less worry and work.
IN THIS ISSUE...
A Slower Pace
New Zealand & A Walk on the Beach
Coming Soon: Life of Play Blog
Giggles & Guffaws
Ways to Play Today:
Build a Fort
Try Out a New Recipe
Something to Ponder:
What's your normal pace?
"For fast-acting relief, try slowing down."
~Lily Tomlin
My Playground
The article, the message, the thing to make you go hmmm...
~A Slower Pace~
It's autumn outside my window. Huh? Yep, just yesterday morning I went for a run in the brisk weather and was enchanted by orange-tinged leaves falling from their perches high atop large chestnut trees. It was a lovely dance of nature, but it certainly was an odd thing to behold this time of year. Since when do leaves make their way to the ground in May? It's a perfectly normal thing to witness if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, but it's quite disconcerting when you're used to seeing flowers in full bloom at this time of year.
I'm in New Zealand right now. By the time you read this, I will have already seen and lived through today. On the other side of the planet, it's already tomorrow. The time zone change hasn't been the only thing I've had to adjust to since I arrived here a little less than a week ago. I'll admit I'm not missing the early morning bird calls, but having less light in the morning and evening has thrown my body off a bit as well. The past few days have had me thinking a lot about the concept of time. Traveling through a half dozen time zones and stepping off a plane into a different season will certainly throw your clock off, but so does slowing down the pace of life that you're normally accustomed to living. Within a matter of days, I've discovered how wound up my usual "speed of life" is. It's not only been revealing, but the change of pace has been downright refreshing.
A spectacular New Zealand sky show at 35,000 feet.
What's your normal pace? Consider how quickly 24 hours goes by and then think about how you spend your 1440 minutes. Do your days begin as a blur with a quick shower, skipped breakfast and a race to beat the clock to get to work on time? Does your calendar scream for someone to spill white out over several entries? Do you secretly wish your Blackberry would suddenly blow up? Is your "To Do" list a never-ending source of anxiety and frustration? Did you just take a vacation and you're already counting the days until your next one? If you answered yes to any or all of the questions, my answer to you is NOT GOOD. No, it's not good at all to be so consumed with doing things that you forget the joy of just being.
For the past few days, I've washed dishes by hand in warm soapy water rather than shoving them carelessly into a dishwasher. I've sat in silence for a long time in the company of others without wanting to fill in the space or worrying who was going to say what next. I have gone to bed when my body is tired and awakened when it's fully rested rather than relying on a clock to tell me when I should sleep and having a 4am wake-up call from my cat telling me my morning has begun. I am appreciating having no agenda for the day and allowing it to unfold on its own and surprise me with what shows up. Of course I realize as soon as I return home to Portland, my pace will change again, but I am now much more aware of the need and importance to slow down in order to really appreciate when I'm just spending time and when I'm spending time well. Here are a few suggestions on how to spend time well.
5 Ways to Reset Your Pace
1) Establish a "Nothing Zone"
This is a place you retreat to, to do literally nothing. It's just a quiet space where you can slow down your head and your heart and get present to which one you're listening to.
2) Carve Out Some Quiet Time
Stillness is becoming a luxury commodity. Books promote it and destination resort spas sell it, but you're the only one who can claim it for yourself. Schedule at least 15 minutes of stillness each and every day.
3) Really Pay Attention to What You're Doing
Our technology-driven, multi-tasking world wants us not only to be able to focus our attention on several things at a time, but to perform at our very best as well. You may fool yourself for a while thinking this is possible, but it's not. Your pace will slow down considerably when you tackle just one thing at a time.
4) Be of Service
Spend a few hours living according to someone else's clock that's slower than yours and you'll soon discover how much you miss when you’re running full speed ahead. Try volunteering with the elderly or disabled and your awareness of time will be heightened in a heartbeat.
5) Notice Your Breath
Consider for a moment if you had to consciously think about each breath you took. It'd be an all-consuming activity given the fact that breathing keeps us alive. Take a time out to feel the air that you inhale and exhale and consider putting breathing on your "To Do" list.
If your days end with a feeling of grace and gratitude for having lived another day as full and big as you can, you're definitely a step ahead of most of the population. If you fall into bed near complete exhaustion and it's only then when you feel a bit of happiness because your day is finally over, it's time you consider resetting your pace. The speed in which so many of us live our lives can be as addicting as...well, as speed. A fast-pace life can certainly be exciting at times, but it can also be downright disappointing because we're likely to miss moments we shouldn't. Time moves fast enough on its own without our messing with it. Slowing down your life a bit doesn't mean you have to give up everything. More often than not, the change of pace will give you more than you could have ever imagined.
Check it Out
Personal Recommendations for books, music, websites and all resources fun!
A Walk on the Beach by Joan Anderson
This lovely book is a good read on its own, but it's actually the third in a sweet series of tales told by a woman who took a year long sabbatical by the sea in order to discover who she really was and what she wanted. During this time away from her husband and normal surroundings, Joan meets a woman forty years her senior who has more zest for life at 90 than Joan does at 50. This older woman (whose name happens to be Joan as well) becomes a mentor of sorts for the younger Joan who is having a heck of a time being comfortable in her own skin. It's likely you'll find answers to some of your own questions as you read the valuable lessons about life and love that are passed along from one woman to the other. Written as a tribute to the older Joan who passed away a few years ago, Joan Anderson's appreciation and adoration of her teacher and friend is a beautiful story. I recommend you also read her two other books in the series, which are "A Year by the Sea" and "An Unfinished Marriage."
New Zealand
The travelling world has been buzzing about New Zealand lately in part because of this award-winning website. Another big reason could have something to do with those Peter Jackson movies that were filmed here. You might have seen one or two of them given the huge box office returns not only in the States, but worldwide. "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "King Kong" may ring a familiar bell. This small country in the South Pacific is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world. If you've never been to New Zealand and you've always wondered what it's like, a thorough jaunt through this website will give you a wonderful glimpse of the Land of the Long White Cloud's beauty, the island's history and friendly Kiwi hospitality at its finest. Once at the site, go to the bottom of the page and click on the travel section. Happy sightseeing!
What's Up at Playful Spirit?
I find it rather ironic that it's taken a trip across the world for me to slow down enough to do what I've wanted to do for months; TACKLE MY INBOX. The number of emails I have amassed since the beginning of this year has reached near insanity and I've been happily reading, deleting and filing away everything I've received online. I have to admit the more I erase, the better I feel. Now, if only I could do the same with all my old magazines. I'm busily crafting the look and feel of my new blog as well as learning all the technological wizardry that goes into making it do what I want it to do which is reach thousands of people. Once I get it up and running, I'd be happy to help you get started with creating your own blog if it's something you've wanted to do. Look for the link to my new blog in this section of my newsletter next month. Life of Play is on its way!
Giggles & Guffaws
An amusing story, joke, anecdote or picture to tickle your funnybone
In the interest of slowing down, I've crafted a few things that will help you determine you're living life way too fast.
You have a palm pilot, a day-timer, a personal secretary and your partner to help you keep track of all your appointments and yet you still don't have a clue where you're supposed to be and at what time.
You eat breakfast standing up, lunch is at your desk and dinner only happens on the weekends.
You received a dozen roses from your sweetie and you forgot to smell them.
The last time you bought flowers for someone was for your high school prom.
Last but not least, you never let any cars pass you while you're on the freeway.
Ways to Play Today
Why not...try out a new recipe?
Cookbooks that come with pictures are good things. It's nice to have an image of what you're about to make and eat. More often than not, the recipes you attempt will end up looking nothing like the picture, but at least you'll have fun trying something new. If you have a Betty Crocker complex like I do (you follow the recipe EXACTLY as it tells you), I strongly encourage you to be a recipe rebel and modify the ingredients. This will help prepare you for those times when you don't have every item a recipe calls for and you have to improvise. There's also the chance that your substitution will be the very thing that helps you create a culinary masterpiece. The worst-case scenario is you won't be able to actually eat what you've made and your new recipe quickly becomes intimate with your garbage can. The best-case scenario is you now feel confident hosting a dinner party and have no qualms about serving your delicious dish to your friends.
Why not...build a fort?
Maybe it'll take a few more blankets, boxes and furniture to build your fort these days (cuz' you're probably much bigger than you were when you last made a mess out of your mother's living room), but indulge your interior decorator and/or construction worker anyway and construct a house of fun for an afternoon. You don't need an architect's degree to build a sturdy fort, but you will need lots of imagination and patience. Grab some snacks, a good book, some paper and a pen and don't forget a flashlight. Remember that burning candles underneath a canopy of cotton material is a big no-no. May your cardboard creation bring back fond memories and establish new ones. And no, it's not a weird thing if you want to spend the night in a sleeping bag in your humble abode.
Something to Ponder
Questions designed to stimulate your thinking AND encourage you to take action towards what you want.
What speed are you running on?
How would your life benefit if you slowed down a bit?
Care to share what these questions stir up in you? Need some support around how to slow down your pace?
Send me an e-mail.
I welcome your thoughts and will respond to all e-mails received.
If you want to find out more about the work I do as a facilitator, writer and coach check out Playful Spirit Make sure you come back and visit every so often as you never know what kind of resources and fun stuff I'll be playing around with and adding to the website.
Thanks for reading this issue of Lighten Up! If you enjoyed it, please pass it along to your friends, your family, your co-workers...You get the idea. Until next month, think about how you could slow your life down a bit and take notice of what happens as a result of a slower pace. Be well, be happy and play more.
See you on June 19th!
Lisa
~Playful Spirit's mission is to empower women and men to acknowledge and express their unique gifts in the world. We help people rediscover their passion, purpose & sense of play.~
lisa@playful-spirit.com www.playful-spirit.com