I took a yoga class yesterday, and at the start of class the instructor reflected on the fact that it soon would be November 1st, and we officially had two months left of the year. Exactly 1/6 of the year still remains. She mused about the fact that this was the time of year that class sizes started fluctuating drastically because a lot of people started, "checking out". The prevailing attitude as holidays move forward like a freight train is, "there's no time, I'll just wait until the new year." The comments the instructor made resonated with me because I do know how crazy the last part of the year inevitably is, and there's always a point where you are simply holding on for dear life, and your luxuries like time for yoga, or time for personal peace and quiet, goes to the wayside. All your "norms" go out the door, suddenly sugar and alcohol are part of the mandatory food pyramid (near the bottom.) I almost always have a moment where I'm looking forward to January and, "things get back to normal." Talk about wishing away the present and not being in the moment. The only question is how early do I have that thought...if I'm honest it's been known to happen pretty early on.
It all got me thinking and reflecting on how to make the most of these last two months of the year. 1/6 of the year, and when I put it like that, it seems like a sizable enough portion to really try to slow it down a little, and not let my sanity slip (do I really want to be insane for. a full 1/6 of the year?)
So the thought is to take a moment to stop and reflect each day on at least a few good things that pop up and deserve attention, and to really make the most of every day. This ties into my newest obsession...my journal/calendar which I bought at www.bestselfco.com.
You've really got to check it out for yourself to understand its greatness (if you are the sort of person who gets into this type of journaling/calendar system--it's a fluid 13 week goal setting system.) What I will highlight is that I've been using mine for about 2 months now, and one aspect that I LOVE is that every day you write three things you are grateful for in the morning, and then again at night. The idea being that you start your day and end your day from a standpoint of gratitude. I love that and the fact that it forces you to slow down and be mindful for a moment. I also love that the calendar really highlights the fact that you have the power to make every minute count toward your goals. Obvious, I know, but sometimes we forget that there are a lot of minutes that we let slip away by default, and then we use the excuse that we "don't have time" for whatever it is that we want, but really what we mean is that our time wasn't well managed and something else got in the way of what we really wanted. It's especially easy to give away time these last two months because we feel like we have to say yes to everything.
The month of November is one that tends to fly by, the flurry of Thanksgiving prep, and the start of Christmas shopping...one event after another, and the endless string of holiday obligations. All fun things (or at least mostly fun) which we all want to fully enjoy, but that won't happen unless we find the time to slow down, and to be purposeful about time and mindset. So my hope for all of us here at Melange is that we start and end each day with moments of gratitude and that our days are filled with little reflections of things we love, people we love, words we love, clothes we love...you get the idea. For my part, I'm going to put some words down in this blog every day to highlight some of our reflections and some of our deep gratitudes (and no doubt some other random stuff too.)
Happy first day of November.....let our month of gratitude begin!
Signed, ME {lv}
Comments