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What is your belief
about time? In truth, time is the raw material
you sculpt into life. Do you believe that or do
you feel that others dictate how you spend your
time? Does time feel out of your control? It's
time to redefine your time priorities. Here's
what you need to begin to do to take back control
of YOUR TIME.
The Time-Is-Life
List
Get a piece of paper
and make three categories across the top:
LIKE ....................DISLIKE .................AMBIVALENT
ABOUT
Think of a typical week in
your life. Under the proper category, list
all the activities you did during this week. For
example, you might write:
|
LIKE
|
DISLIKE
|
AMBIVALENT
ABOUT
|
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Making
love
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Cleaning
the bathtub
|
Watching TV
|
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Yoga
class
|
Doing
Homework
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Making
Dinner Every Night
|
|
Reading
a good book
|
Paying
the mortgage
|
Talking
on the phone to mom
|
What to Do About the
Items You Dislike:
Examine the activities you
listed under Dislike.
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Go down the list and ask yourself,
"Must
I do this? And if I must, how can I
change this to make it more satisfying
or agreeable?" |
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Realize it is impossible to get
rid of all the disliked items on your
list, but do
eliminate or transform as many as you
can. Be creative. |
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Brainstorm
about how to rid yourself of these activities.
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Set a timer for ten minutes and
list every
idea you can think of. |
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Try
to keep your hand moving. Repeat
items if you need to. |
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Now take one action to eliminate or change
a disliked activity.
For example,
you could get someone else to physically write
the mortgage check; you could move; you could
write the check while enjoying a massage or
eating lobster in the nude; you could write
an entire year of mortgage checks, address
and stamp the envelopes, and have your secretary
or reliable friend mail them each month.
. . . See? Some of the ideas are
silly, some worth exploring. |
But
what about the activities you wrote under Ambivalent
About?
These are probably your time devourers, simply
because you are ambivalent about them, You might
want to replace some of these with activities
you like more. Read on to find out how.
Recognizing
Your Peak Times as Times to Self-Nurture
Spend a few
days checking in with yourself and determining when
you are full of energy and when you're not. Learn
to protect and build on these zips of energy.
When you begin to feel energetic and creative,
nurture that feeling! Strive to give yourself
some uninterrupted, valuable time to do something
YOU WANT to do. If the phone rings, let
the machine pick it up. Tell your kids and spouse
you need an houror two alone. (Hey, I'm a
parent too, and I know how hard this is!) It takes
practice and it is not always possible to succeed.
But the important idea here is to recognize
that these bursts of energy are valuable times
to give to yourself.
After You Freed
Up Your Time, Now What?
Freeing the
time and then making sure you use it for self-nurturing are
two different challenges. There is a well-known
rule that work expands to fill the time available.
Once you make the time, you need to be sure you
fill it with comforting things. This is especially
true when you are trying to replace Ambivalent
activities with more nurturing ones.
Follow Up Activities
Create
A Comfort and Pleasure List
Ways
to Create Extra Time Around the House
Blessings
and love,
Sheri
(Adapted
From "The
Woman’s Comfort Book A Self Nurturing Guide
for Restoring Balance in Your Life "
by Jennifer Louden) MORE
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