Vacation

Whether we go on a long trip, or only have a brief sojourn - all vacations have one thing in common… we step away from our day to day activities in order to have some fun, to take a rest, and in a way to recharge ourselves.

Yet the word in itself has a lot to say about what vacation is all about, It seems to have a lot to do with the verb ‘to vacate’ - meaning to leave or to make empty.

The question then becomes what we are leaving behind; what are we making ourselves empty of.

When you see some spring break video’s on YouTube, it seems that in some instances what some vacationers leave behind is their good old common sense...

Something else most leave behind while vacationing is our day to day schedules - the times we wake up, the routine to get to work, coming home, doing chores. All those things we leave behind as they are part of our ‘regular lives’ rather than our vacation.

And finally, the thing every vacationer really really wants to leave behind, or even vacate themselves from, is stress. At least the stress that is associated with our busy day to day lives, as research suggests that vacation in itself can be a source of stress all its own.

In a sense, looking at the word vacation form its most literal perspective, taking some time to ‘vacate ourselves’ from those things that burden us is a good thing. It allows us to take a step back, to see what is really happening in our lives, to decide what is truly important to us. And then, what we take back from vacation is the knowing of exactly that: what is and what isn’t important to us. Coming home to our regular lives we then have a choice to act upon that knowledge.

Another benefit from stepping out of our every day environments in order to vacate ourselves - to release the things we no longer need - is that this in and of itself not only relieves us from our burdens, it also creates a new space. And this space, all new and clear, provides us with openings to start doing new things. To explore new avenues. Embark upon new adventures - not just during our vacations, but perhaps especially in our day to day lives...

And it is these new avenues and adventures that can bring a sparkle into our lives even long after we came home from our vacation…

First published 6/8/2013

A new life

What if your life — the way you have always lived it — stopped? Nothing as dramatic as passing over; not even as traumatic as losing your job or home... But just the realization that the things you have always been doing are not gaining the same result anymore — and that this change has come suddenly...

Would you jump at the chance to reinvent your life; to reinvent yourself?

Or would you keep trying to make it work the way it has always worked before?

It seems that this is the very question many people find themselves faced with at this point in time. 

It may have started with a couple of little things. Things that all of a sudden can fluster you where before they would have never upset you at all. Or the realization that just watching the news on TV can absolutely leave you drained of all energy. Perhaps even a sense that friends you have known for a long time just don’t understand you anymore...

When you feel like this is happening in your life, it is probably time to take a break — to take a moment to evaluate whether these are just isolated incidents, or if this change is also going on inside of you; in your energy. To see if maybe you are too busy. If you are taking time to take care of yourself instead of just making everybody around you happy. To explore what your priorities truly are at this point in time.

In all likelihood something like this happens to us several times in our lifetime. Those moments that come up and present us with the opportunity to change directions; to change our lives; to change ourselves...

As such, these are special moments. 

Upsetting, yes — but also very precious.

Each of these occasions brings with it the possibility of creating a new life for ourselves; a new energy — inside and out. 

The difficulty is that when a situation like that knocks on our door — we hardly ever have any idea as to what we want to do different. Where we want to change directions. How we want to turn out in our new energy; our new life.

It is hard to take positive, productive steps if you have no clue where you want them to lead you. And yet, it is often the only thing you can do; to take it step by step, and having the faith that each of these steps will bring you to the new life — which on some level you have been yearning for, for some time...

First published  1/31/2013

Breathing

We all do it — breathing… And most of us don’t even give it a second thought. It just happens. We breathe in and we breathe out. And when there is something exciting happening, we may hold your breath for a couple of moments. To then release it when we decide everything is okay, and we are safe.

Breathing in… and breathing out.

Have you ever thought about what is happening as you are breathing? Apart from staying alive? But apart from oxygenating the body, a lot more is going on…

As we are breathing in, we are expanding our space. And in doing so, we are giving ourselves the opportunity to permit new information, new experiences, or even new energy to enter our space. Having breathed in, we then evaluate the new experience or energy. We decide if that, that we have permitted to enter on our breath, is actually beneficial or useful to us. If it inspires us. If it has the potential to make our life experience richer…

And as we breathe out, we release everything we have decided is not going to bring us forward on our path. Whether that is that new experience that is not living up to its promise, or if it is old information, or energy we no longer need. Like stress, for instance. Having breathed out, then, we are from some perspective a clean slate, and ready to do the same process all over again…

Can we really do this in just the time it takes us to breathe in and to breathe out?

Well, the answer is yes! Even when we are not conscious of this process with every breath we take (which is a good thing, by the way), this is truly what we are doing as we are breathing.

As we are becoming more aware of this process, we may find that in the world today the emphasis is placed upon the in-breath. On the expansion. On the assimilation of new energy and new things. And while there is nothing wrong with that, it may lead us in direction where we have a sense of fullness that doesn’t light up. Often even a feeling of being stressed about all the things that are coming our way.

When that happens, it is time to breathe out… To let go of everything that, while it may be interesting, is not helping us on our path through life. To let go of diversions, but also of patterns that were once useful to us, yet have no longer a purpose in our lives.

When observing our breathing from this perspective, there is a huge value in breathing out… In letting go… In relieving ourselves from the burdens we no longer need to carry.

So whenever life is “getting to you” a little bit, take a moment to consciously breathe it all out…