Lighten Up! There’s No Reason Not To.
Lighten Up!
Lighten up! Take that seriously and with several grains of the certainty that it’ll be good for you if you do!
The reasons for lightening up are many. They include less stress and greater peace of mind. When you make the effort to remove the “weight of the world” from your very strong shoulders, you can refresh your muscles. That means your physical, emotional, and mental muscles!
The title suggests there is no reason not to lighten your load. Yet, I’ll bet there are some ready-responses along the lines of
- “I can’t ease up. Too much to do.”
- “I’ll slow down when this job’s done. Not til then.”
- “Lighten up? Making it means keeping my shoulder to the wheel.”
Consider that a 5 minute break from whatever task you’re carrying is proven to give you an energy boost. That boost increases your effectiveness following the break. And the break can feel really, really good.
So. I offer you 15 how-to-lighten-up ideas. Please, please keep this qualification in mind. These 15 are meant to stimulate other ideas from your thinking as much as they are meant to be carried out by you. Your ideas will work best for you. Sure thing.
- Do some yoga.
- Take a walk.
- Laugh at yourself.
- Watch a bird.
- Enjoy a cookie.
- Mismatch your socks.
- Recall a joyful time.
- Relax your facial muscles.
- Count 10 slow, deep breaths.
- Mismatch your earrings.
- Gaze at a flower.
- Watch a child.
- Enjoy coffee or tea.
- Say a tongue twister.
- Sing a sweet song. (Tim Bays’ Lighten Up)
Seem too simple? Too meaningless? Up to you to make them work. Consider “Really…” before each one. Think about reflecting on what you saw, heard, did….and felt while doing it. The real key to lightening up is more than merely doing any of these 15 or any of your own ideas. The real key is letting go of everything else for the few moments you’re doing.
A Prayer for Me to Lighten Up (and Maybe You, too!)
Living, loving Spirit,
we know you are the source of our joy,
our lightness, and our peace.
As we know we source our heaviness;
we put the load on our backs, the tension in our minds,
the sorrow in our moods.
Thank you that we know–and have the power to practice–
letting go of the burdens and the distractions,
the tensions and the worry.
We have the ability to release our luggage and to savor,
truly savor the lightness of being.
Thank you, God, that we can lighten up.
And so it is. And so we let it go!
Amen.
Love and blessings,
27 June 2017
PS Here are one, two, and three earlier posts that might help you with some self-lightening.
In: Energy, Happiness, Healing, Inner Peace, Joy, Peacefulness, Prayer, Praying · Tagged with: Energy, Joy, Peace, spiritual simplicity
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