Allow Yourself Some Peace

Take the Time to Just Be – To Replenish Your Soul and Nurture Others

Think of this in your mind: you have your favorite beverage of wine, tea, latte, whatever. Perhaps a great tune playing somewhere and you are ensconced in your fave corner of your home or any other place you love. Maybe there’s a scented candle or two. This can be you reading a book, taking a leisurely bath, or just simply doing nothing! No interruptions, no claims on your time, just the peaceful feeling of being by yourself, with yourself. Sound good? It should! Because this is something you owe yourself.  You’re worth it and it actually makes you a better person – here’s how.

Why we need to learn to just be.

There is a lot of social conditioning that frowns on self-care and time spent doing nothing. We are a society that celebrates industry and busyness to the extent that we are encouraged to be doing something all of our waking hours. If we make time to just do nothing, we are told that we are being selfish and that we are wasting time. Then we are also told to put others first and to put ourselves last. Somehow this selflessness is supposed to make us better and more worthy humans. It is drilled into us that we have to be gainfully occupied at all times – I disagree!

These mindsets are so ingrained in so many of us that this can take some un-learning, it’s true. We are constantly doing things – either it is work, or home chores or kids’ demands or a meal to be cooked or stuff to be restocked in the home or social media. One after the other, there is always some claim on your time – unless you consciously decide otherwise. Unless you make time to do precisely – nothing!

Self-nurturing is important for others around as well.

When you’re taking a plane, remember what they tell us? They tell us about fixing our own oxygen masks before we fix anyone else’s – even kids and older people around. Why is that? Isn’t that selfish? Shouldn’t you first help those who cannot help themselves? The short answer is No! How can you help someone else if you’re gasping for breath yourself? An incapacitated you is no use to anyone else. And therein lies a life lesson for all of us.

We need to self-nurture and self-care – quite simply because you cannot pour from an empty cup. Unless you take care of yourself, you cannot care for others. When you don’t replenish your own inner reserves, you don’t have enough to give to others. And you need to look after yourself simply because you’re important – in fact, you’re invaluable! You’re precious and worthy and you need to look after yourself. You need to let yourself just be!

I hope I’ve painted a picture about the importance of doing what you enjoy or doing absolutely nothing when you need to. I love doing nothing from time to time. I dedicate time to it, prioritize it and guard that time zealously. Check out this video to know how. You may also want to check out soulmanifesto.com where I help people clear their pathway to success and create their dream life.