CENTER POINT THE CENTER FOR SELF-CHANGE NEWSLETTER
Vol. 2, No. 2 - FEBRUARY, 2008
TIME OUT OR BURN OUT
Can you remember the time when a man could sit down to read a book next to a warm fire, in a big easy chair, with a glass of good whiskey and a fine cigar?
Can you picture a working woman taking a long, soothing, luxurious Saturday afternoon bath with a nice glass of her preferred wine, a small box of cool chocolates, a favorite magazine or best-selling novel, and no one to bother her all day long?
Well, today many of us might choose to go easy on the whiskey and avoid the cigar but - even though I'm not a woman - the book and the bath still sound great to me!
The ancient Romans (at least the upper classes) had indoor hot-water plumbing and understood the mechanics of falling water but they much preferred the pleasures of the bath.
They even built public baths where anyone could take time out every day for health and relaxation.
Like the ancient Romans, I also know that a bath is very different from a shower. There is something special about a good, hot bath. We can linger in its warmth - as it lowers blood pressure, stimulates circulation, eases joints and muscles, hydrates the body, relieves stress, and soothes the psyche. We can add hot water as often as we like. We can even relax so fully we sometimes fall asleep immersed in the deep peace of calm repose.
But wait...
What was that about "take time out every day for health and relaxation"?
How often do any of us do that?
Not often enough. And it's taking a toll on us. Our lives are so "goal directed" that we go to the gym to get "the burn," or run a few miles for the "runner's high." Even golf is often more for business than pleasure. And none of these are anywhere near the same as relaxing just to relax.
We need to do that. We need to take time out for ourselves before we burn ourselves out in the daily round.
If we don't, then before we realize it, we can easily end up like so many people today who are afflicted with free-floating anxiety, general depression, panic attacks, physical and emotional stress, and relationship conflicts with family members and coworkers.
Notice that I have not suggested taking time out to do something. Instead it is a matter of taking time out to be something - to be relaxed, to be ourselves ... to just be ... and nothing more.
It is the making of a return - indeed, if you like, a ritual return to the very core of our being.
It doesn't have to be a bath every day. But we need something - a brief time out today so we don't burn out tomorrow.
When I bring this up in counseling, seminars, or presentations I always hear: "I can't possibly make time for that every day."
That's true. We can't make time for anything. We don't create time. We find ourselves in the midst of it. We see it passing us by even as we are passing through it moment by moment.
All we can do is take time from one thing and use it for another.
And it's not hard at all.
Do you have an appointment book, or a calendar - or just a daily list of things "to do"?
Then write down a time (even ten minutes or so) when you will do nothing. You will just relax for no good reason other than to relax. Be sure to make longer appointments whenever you can.
Take at least one work break alone each day in order to relax by yourself. And then don't think about things. You can always think about things some other time.
If you can't actually take that long, warm, relaxing bath then take a few moments to imagine one!
Trust me. I've been working with the human imagination for almost forty years now. You can get a wonderful time out benefit from letting your imagination take you to richly rewarding places.
And here's a tip for that good book:
Deborah McGuire's Take Time Out for You is a short work that is long on ways you can spend either a little or a lot of quality time with yourself any day just for health and relaxation.
Although it's written mostly for women, real men can get a lot out of it, too. (But we don't need to get carried away with the bubble bath, eh?)
J. Kingston Cowart
JOIN THE CENTER CIRCLE
It's easy. Every Wednesday for a few minutes between 10:00 and Noon sit down and turn inward - through prayer, meditation, self-hypnosis or any modality you choose - and send out good thoughts to everyone else in the circle.
I'll be there. How about you?
J. Kingston Cowart www.self-change.com 619.561.9012 Post Office Box 19005 San Diego CA 92159
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