Freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew. – Goethe
Day 5 spoke to us about our own individual time profiles and how each of ours encompass different characteristics that make it uniquely ours. To recap how we can identify how our profile looks the following prompts were provided and we were asked to write down which best fit: 1. Fast-paced or slow-paced? 2. Focused or relaxed? 3. Patient or impatient? 4. Sleep comes easily or sleep is problematic? 5. Steady or impulsive? 6. Methodical or spontaneous? 7. Make decisions quickly or need time to ponder? This was a very insightful exercise for me – it showed me truly how I view my relationship with time and my outlook on what descriptions embody my profile. Those shown in bold above are what I chose!
It was explained that in order to stay in life balance we must honor and live according to our time profile, which can dictate our natural pace of life. We were further invited to journal about which qualities we feel are being challenged or opposed by our lifestyles and/or the people around us. In a nutshell, how is our natural pace of life being disrupted? Being that I never looked at time this way it was interesting to see my responses to the prompts above. So, how is my time profile or natural pace of life being disrupted? Well, I realized that while my life is fast-paced my natural time profile is actually disrupted when it’s too fast-paced and there’s a fine line between the two for me. I sometimes tend to overdo the quantity of tasks I set for myself in a week or even a day. When this happens my usual positive outlook is challenged, my desire to do nothing at all is heightened and frequently, my quantity and quality of sleep is negatively affected.
The message of the day drove something significant home for me; I was reminded that “habits that we have formed around time pressure and rushing to meet a deadline take a toll on our psychological and physical health. The effects of low-grade, everyday stress accumulate over years and decades, developing into chronic health disorders.” The early effects from daily tension are largely unrecognizable or don’t appear to be as frequent or persistent as they start to become over an extended period of time. Therefore, we often times attribute our pain, discomfort or dis-ease to other culprits but it’s important that we look at these things from a big picture perspective. We are committing to creating healthful habits for ourselves now so that we can enjoy a more comfortable existence in our older years. Growing old is inevitable, but whether or not we are able to do so with as much ease, grace and peace in mind, body and spirit is definitely something we have full control over!
We really want to continue to hear your thoughts and feedback on the meditation experience as we near the close of week one! This is the last meditation experience of 2017 hosted by Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey via the Chopra Center Meditation organization. It kicked off on October 30th and we’re really excited with the theme: Making Every Moment Matter.
