Every week, we plan what we must do yet we often forget to plan what we love doing.

Last Sunday, I took part in an online retreat called Restival 3.0 . I joined a hand lettering practice, a Pilates class, a self-portrait session and a reflexology lesson. I felt incredibly restored afterwards. I often need to be reminded that true relaxation often comes in the doing, in being present and engaged in something we enjoy, rather than in any passive activity such as vegging in front of the TV or Netflix, sleeping or spending that time on an electronic device. I sometimes forget. 

Have you ever noticed that the less we plan, the more others feel free to take control over our time, energy, attention and money? It can be others in your circle of friends and family, but also big companies through our electronic devices. Without a plan, we allow people we love — or not! —  to take up the bit of time we hoped to keep for ourselves, or we end up on social media, surfing the internet, buying more books and art supplies that we don’t need, clothes or whatever your “thing” is. 

One major reason why we end up doing nothing instead of one of the many things that we could be doing is that, there are so many things we could be doing that we are unable to choose. You want to catch up with an online class but then you feel overwhelmed with all the lessons piled up. Maybe you can’t choose which worshop or membership to catch up on. Maybe you agonise over which book to read next because you have many that you end up reading nothing, or starting one but thinking about another one you also wanted to read now. 

Planning our resting time is just as important as planning our week. The best part is that we get to choose those things we love!

The key to a good relaxing and nourishing day is to be specific. Saying, “I want to paint” — or sew, write, walk, exercise, etc — is too general and will probably not lead to action. Your diary should show for instance, 10:00 Course X lesson 3, 11:00 Pilates warm up and abs workout, 14:00 Clip pictures from this week’s magazines for collage project, 15:00 Read XYZ book. 

When specific things are written in your diary, they take the guesswork and the overthinking away so all you have to do is to implement. I draw little boxes before each item so I can tick them as I go along. I love, love, love ticking them! Even if you only plan two things for yourself, just a few minutes here and there, it will bring contentment and maybe joy. 

Please don’t delay this simple action: take your diary now and schedule your leisure time, not just the weekend but also some evenings if that’s possible. And yes, life often gets in the way but as long as you plan, you will get to do some of the things you love. 

A few hours a week of those activities that delight us can create a sense of balance in our life; time just for ourselves to nourish our mind, our spirit and our bodies. To me, that’s essential planning just as scheduling your appointments is.

Valerie 

http://valeriemarsh.com