Relaxation Tip of the Week
Don't Forget to Have Fun

Smile and laugh more. Remember to stop and smell the flowers.

(from Ten Strategies for Mastering Stress, by Joel Levey and Michelle Levey)

The Value of Doing Nothing
by Bryan Brewer, Producer, Self-Guided.com

I have just returned from a vacation of several weeks, and I am gradually getting back into the swing of things in my normal routine.

But what a pleasant interlude it was to take time off and to do some different things -- participate in a family wedding, take long walks on the beach, camp in the redwoods of northern California, enjoy leisurely bed-and-breakfast overnights, and be totally surprised by unseasonably late snowfall in the mountains.

In fact, it was the snow that really got my inner attention. When you're holed up in a mountain lodge for several days with "nothing to do" (except eat and read and sleep), you really start to slow down.

As I slowed down for those two days, I began to notice the contrast between "doing nothing" and my normal routine of busy activity. I smiled inwardly as I appreciated the lesson in balance that I was learning.

Joel and Michelle Levey speak of learning these lessons in balance in their book Living in Balance: A Dynamic Approach for Creating Harmony and Wholeness in a Chaotic World:

"As you approach this inquiry into the theme of balance in your life, you may discover, as we did, that everything will become a teacher for you. You will find lessons on balance in the rhythms of your breath and pulse, in the rising and the setting of the sun, in the turning of the seasons, in the cycles of change that weave birth and death, activity and rest, work and play, alone time and time with others into the wholeness of your existence. Viewed in this way your whole life will become a wonder land in which the ongoing inquiry into the nature of balance unfolds."

"By learning to be more fully present and aware of this process, your learning will increase and you will recognize many more possibilities and choices. As your insight deepens, you will see more clearly what paths in your life lead you toward and away from the balance you yearn for."

Bryan Brewer
Producer
Self-Guided.com
bryanb@self-guided.com

Quote of the Week

"There is one piece of advice, in a life of study, which I think no one will object to; and that is, every now and then to be completely idle - to do nothing at all."

Sydney Smith (1771 - 1845)

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