  Spiritual
This week: The Importance of "Me" Time Edited by: Kit of House Lannister  
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Everyone needs some time to simply be. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find that time...
This week's Spiritual Newsletter, then, is all about juggling, prioritizing and the power of negotiation.
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What does your day look like? For many people it goes something like this – get up early, prepare for work, commute, work, get home from work, cook/tidy the house/spend time with the kids and pets, have dinner, try to relax, sleep. It's the same the next day, and the next, and it carries on for most of a person's adult life. If you're lucky, you have a job you enjoy. If you're unlucky, you don't. It's usually exhausting, and it doesn't leave a whole lot of room for anything else.
Other people are stay-at-home parents, and that role isn't any easier. Or they might be incapable of work due to health problems or disabilities, and that isn't any easier, either. Whether you're busy and tired, or in pain, or ill, often all you can do is to get through the day and look forward to what will hopefully be a good night's rest (but sometimes isn't).
What isn't easy, then, is to find time to be creative, or pursue activities that you're passionate about, or to simply be. If you're in a relationship and have children, you spend time with your children until they go to bed, and then you tend to spend time with your partner until you go to bed. One of my friends once told me that the only time she gets to herself is when she's in the bath, and even then, it's not uncommon for the cat to be complaining that he can't get in.
Our daily life with all its stresses and pressures can occupy our thoughts from morning until night. Work-related thoughts, thoughts about our families, our friends, our finances, and the million and one things we need to do and deal with can push out the things we want to think about, and in some cases, that can include our spiritual thoughts. I doubt that I am the only one who's fallen asleep before I could say my prayers.
It's easy to recommend creating some “me” time. It's akin to a doctor telling a person to avoid stress, or to not lift anything for several weeks. Stuff still needs to be done, the baby still needs to be picked up and held, and, considering the dishes remain in the sink until I do them, it looks like the household faeries are deliberately avoiding my house.
I'm a part-time student, with a 2000-word essay due by the 6th of November, and I haven't yet written a single word of it. Partly, this is because the paradox of painful art isn't as interesting as I thought it would be, and partly this is because whenever I'm trying to study, something or someone will be needing my attention.
What, then, is the solution? As you can no doubt tell, I haven't got a perfect answer to that question. My thoughts are that it's a case of juggling, prioritizing and the power of negotiation. In a relationship, each partner can arrange for the other to have some time to themselves. Yes, that means less time to spend together, but the time spent together can be improved if both have the opportunity to recharge their batteries. Grandparents might be willing to babysit. Friends might be willing to look after the kids for an hour or two if, at some point in the future, you return the favour.
Unless you're expecting an important call, there's no harm in unplugging or switching off your phone for a while. Unless you're expecting a visit, there's no harm in not answering the doorbell for an hour or so. Unless you're expecting an important email, any mail will still be there after you do whatever you want to do. We live in an age of constant, instant communication, but there's no need to be available 24/7.
When your mind is busy with things that need to be done, ask yourself what's urgent and what can wait. I'm a big fan of lists, because they help me organise what needs to be done and when by. There is a sense of satisfaction when I place a little check-mark after a task, and once I've written everything down, I find that I'm not constantly reminding myself of it.
You also have a decision to make. How important is (for example) your writing to you? How important is it to you to attend to your spiritual journey? If it is important, don't keep on pushing it down the list. Let people know that you need to write, and that that is what you are going to do, and ask them to please refrain from interrupting you unless an interruption is absolutely necessary.
Not that I am any good at it, but I'll have to learn how to be, because we all need some space to simply be, to develop ourselves, and to indulge in beloved activities. Life shouldn't be all duty. It flies by all too fast. We need to enjoy it whilst it lasts.
Good luck, and if you have any tips, I would love to hear them!
kittiara
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The Spiritual Newsletter Team welcomes any and all questions, suggestions, thoughts and feedback, so please don't hesitate to write in! 
ANN Counselor, Lesbian & Happy  - I love the theme of this newsletter. For me I call it "re-inventing myself" and I've done that more than once in my life; after divorce I had to learn and be a single mom, then years later be a grandmother, then truly re-invented my life "Out at Sixty" and at 69 took a writing course and started writing, got some hope and desire of holding my writings in a book so now published twelve, and this month another re-invention here on WDC taking first among many Courses with Cissy's "Native American Writing School" which will be my focus for a long while. I applaud you for recognizing how to make your life better than your grandmother's; that you compared her isolation with your preferred way of being; and now that you are stepping out "reinventing yourself".........How wonderful; truly a spiritual journey. ANN
Thank you, Ann  . You're so kind. I hope I can weather my reinvention with as much success and grace as you have yours!
~~~
katesthename - We are here to change from one glory to the next. Thank you for your obedience in stepping into the next glory. May we all continue to change because this is how we trust and grow into and take on Jesus' Nature and Character.
Thank you .
~~~
Joy  - Great NL, Kitty.
Not so much movies, but books and fiction do inspire me. The earliest book that profoundly inspired me is St. Exupery's Little Prince. I was probably seven to nine years old. The book wasn't even mine, I had borrowed it from my cousin. It still keeps inspiring me, among many others.
Thank you, Joy! It's lovely when a story can inspire us throughout all the stages of our lives, isn't it?
~~~
Quick-Quill  - this is so true. I have never past the procrastination phase. I miss paying bills and now have a planner I hope will help. I had them before but never used them because nothing happened to write down. I rarely looked at it so I missed things I wrote down or didn't write at all. At 62 I will have a book published. I'm working on another but what started out as a history lesson I realize isn't a story. I have to backtrack and re-evaluate what I really want to write for the Nano. I too believe its not too late, but you have to move to improve.
I am pretty similar to you. Every year I buy a diary, and it remains empty, or only contains a few notes early on. I'm quite disorganized, and am excellent at procrastination. As you say, we have to move to improve. I wish you all the best with your novels!
~~~
Joto-Kai  - I'm sure fiction does that, too, albeit invisibly. My writing process, however, opens up a lot of new material for meditation.
I was going to say a lot more in this, then realized it might be a bit embarrassing. Well, then again, the character I'm struggling with is all about "never let them see the real you." Even her confidants don't get the straight scoop. So, you can see the issue? Thanks.
Next I'm going to try Googling, "Infiltrator Archetype." Wish me luck!
Good luck! You have me all curious now, though.
~~~
Wishing you a week filled with inspiration,
The Spiritual Newsletter Team
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Spiritual: November 05, 2014 Issue [#6645]
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