Gently, Gently

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. 

One day I ask you to praise yourself and the next I ask you to evaluate your quality time.  What kind of task master am I anyway?  Isn’t the truth simply that this is the way our minds work?  Sometimes we feel as though we are doing everything right and the next minute (day, week) we are giving ourselves a hard time because we don’t think we are living up to our potential, standard, expectations, goals, or whatever.  As ordinary people we are our own worst enemy more often than not.

There are a couple of remedies to start each day that can truly help us keep our balance.  One is having a daily gratitude journal.  I prefer to do this in the early morning because I find that it really helps me start out on a positive note although I know many people do such a journal at the end of the day.  Another valuable tool for staying positive is reading a daily text of some kind, it does not have to be religious.  One of my all time favorites is “Simple Abundance” by Sarah Ban Breathnach which I have read several times but there are dozens of them.  Each of these takes less than 5 minutes, on average and I ask, “isn’t 5 minutes worth taking to give yourself a great day”?  Your day may not end up perfect, but the start will definitely be positive.  If no one gave you a day book for Christmas treat yourself to one, there are always one or two at the Hallmark store or your local drug store.

Another, but harder, step is to give yourself some exercise.  No matter how hard it is to take that walk around the block or ten minutes on the treadmill – make yourself do it.  It truly makes a difference when the blood is circulating and oxygen is getting in there.  I handed my mother the whip and I am supposed to be on the treadmill twice a day when home all day and once each evening after work.  Let’s see how well she will crack the whip.

Gently, gently, let’s encourage each other to start our Quality Life Together.