As the Holiday nears and we are immersed in getting everything ready, from gifts, holiday cards, decorating our homes, preparing for possible gatherings, to other Holiday related items, we begin to realize that time is running out.
Days pass by, and our never-ending tasks are filling our hours and days before we know it. How can we stop time? How can we add days to our week? When will our days be longer? When will we be able to finish our chores? I am sorry to say it probably will never happen.
Time can't be changed or adjusted, chores will always exist, work will never be done, and the days, months, and years come and go. No matter what we try to do, those things will never change. One thing that can consistently change is how we think, experience them, and cope with our time constraints.
What if we can accept that our to-do list will stay long? What if we cherish all the seasons for their beauty? What if we embrace all our emotions that show up during times of distress and pain? Being aware and present in what arises has helped me through the pandemic, through the ups-and-downs of my, my son's, and my husband's moods. None of us are perfect and probably also never be. We all have these expectations of ourselves and others. We judge ourselves and others for their flaws and not living up to our expectations. When we allow time, even as precious as it is, to understand the underlying needs and wants, we will be able to have more time to enjoy each other.
In the past few days, I had the privilege to talk about our time limitations with different people and how we feel about them. What I witnessed is that when we live in the present moment more, allowing ourselves and others not to be perfect, and practice how giving our full attention to what we are doing, we have more time for the things we care about and dedicate our time more wisely. The greatest challenge is to say no to things that sound great but zap our energy.
In my last post, I shared how my social media attendance has taken away time and energy. By shifting my attention, I spent more deliberate time and focus on the people who want to spend time with me. It transformed not only my private life but also how I see my professional life evolve. When we use the available time in a day as the guideline on how we want live this precious time of life, we will be much happier with less.
Happy Holidays to all of you, and may you be whole with the valuable people you spend it with, on- and offline.
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