Often what I share evolves as a response to my environment, an organic evolution of experience that I sustain among words to recall later for reassurance or redirection. This week I stripped my schedule of outside commitments, determined to recommit myself to small, essential gestures of care that sustain me in times of illness and disharmony. Rest, balanced meals, exercise, meditation, conversation, and creativity. In the busyness of everyday life these essential elements are the first to be compromised for efficiency.
Writing a dear friend this morning I hurriedly stated: I was thinking of how sometimes those acts that nourish us are the small moments that we dismiss as a force of habit – until we fall out of habit and have to force ourselves to make time for the little things.
That singular sentence snaked around my consciousness, holding me tightly to a personal truth. Today I am honoring this awareness by forcing habits that have fallen out of my routine, celebrating the immeasurable little things that nourish me physically, mentally, and emotionally to create greater connectivity to self and the world around me. I am pledging to choose my food more intentionally, create time for movement and stillness, extend myself in friendship to those who enrich my life with their company, and hold tightly to acts of creativity that invite curiosity to my day. In word these promises are beautiful, in practice they are almost invisible for their simplicity. Sleeping rather than squeezing in one more task that will save for another day; eating a meal rather than snacking to silence my body’s pleas for nourishment; exercising to build muscle and endurance for more challenging days; absorbing moments of stillness to clear the noise of superficial distractions; making time to be present in loved ones’ lives to weight relationships with appreciation; setting aside work for play to remember the joy of discovery. Little things, forces of habit created by choice.
Tagged: Musings, Self
scribblechic 
I commented recently, elsewhere, that we get to profoundly and directly affect one life–our own–and we also get to create our own story. One of the principles for the good life, as I see it, is to ensure that the story we write is based on fact and not a collection of little half-truths we have concocted. Living in the moment and consciously choosing, when necessary, is a vital part of that.
After posting this, a circumstance outside my control threatened to undermine the sense of harmony I was carefully crafting. My mind followed the threat of harm and I found myself resisting the temptation to be towed under by its force, white knuckling my hold on the present. It isn’t easy to choose peace in the face of discord any more than it is easy to acknowledge personal challenges in a public forum. It is an imperfect life, more beautiful for the flaws that challenge me to grow.
Thank you for your compassionate comment.
That line that you wrote to your friend is so true. For me, guilt plays a huge role. I am always needed by someone in my family and to take time for myself feels indulgent, yet when I do force myself to honor time for nourishment, I am so much more prepared to handle the challenges that present themselves on a daily basis. I am more present and more energized, and the busy days manifest as simply full, not overwhelming.
Nourishment over indulgence and full in place of overwhelming; perspective is essential to balance. Well said, Lara.