“The degree to which you do not believe you have time to spend ten minutes sitting quietly is the degree to which you desperately need to spend ten minutes sitting quietly.”
— Donna Farhi, in Bringing Yoga to Life
It’s so tempting to tell yourself that you’re too busy to do anything quiet and contemplative. It seems to make so much sense—there are only so many hours in a day. And you already have so many things you need to do on any given day. So every minute you spend not getting things done would be a waste.
I get the logic there, I really do. It’s what got me to quit a 10-year mind-body practice cold turkey after I had my second child in two years. I thought it was the responsible thing to do. I thought I would be able to get so much more done! (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.)
But if you never slow down, you burn out. And when you’re spent, you can’t do anything. And anything you do manage to get done just doesn’t get you very far.
All it takes it two minutes. Maybe less. Maybe more—once you shut your office door and put your head down on your desk, you may feel so good that you decide to do some meditating or more stretching. But it really doesn’t matter how long you do something that makes you feel quieter, more connected, clearer. It only matters that you do it on the regular.
When it comes to self-care, consistency is more important than duration. (Click to Tweet!)
I have a client who has recently started journaling in a coffeeshop for the length of one coffee between school drop-off and the start of the workday. And it has made all the difference. It helps him take a moment to reflect before he responds at work and later on, at home, with the kids. It’s a small amount of time but its effects last all day.
The paradox that’s hard to wrap your brain around until you give yourself the experience is this: When you take the time to take care of yourself, everything else you do works better. You do less, but you get more done. You slow down, but in all the meaningful ways, you speed up.
So, what will you do in the next 24 hours to take care of your mind, your body, and the connection between the two? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below or on the MsMindbody Facebook page.
Wishing you many moments of serenity in the days ahead.
