's MotD Dec 16, 2007

[Guest guest]

's Daily Message SundayDecember 16, 2007UPTIGHT?

Are you uptight and outta sight? Have you been going a hundred miles a minute? Have you been doing the work of three people? Has your Christmas list become longer than Santa`s? You`ve been shopping. You`ve been cooking. You`ve been driving all over town running errands for you and your family. Whew!

You`ve been signing so many Christmas cards and licking all of those tasty stamps and envelopes. You`ve been putting up the holiday decorations and making sure everything looks just perfect. And, I know, with all this hard holiday work comes a little uptightness.

Let me ask you something. Did you ever get one of those little windup toys? You know, you wind it up and watch it just go, go...go! But one day, you wound your little toy too tight and it simply stopped working. Oh no! Well, I think some of you may be wound up a little too tight and you`ve really got to change that.

I want you to let today be your "Gandhi Day." That`s right! I want it to be your day of peace and relaxation. Today is the day you should try to find time to take a little nap. Put a "Do Not Disturb" sign on your door and unplug the phone for an hour or so. Trust me, your world will still be there when you wake up.

Oh, I know, you`ll say to me", I don`t have time to take an hour nap! Are you crazy?" Well then, let me ask if you have just 15 minutes? See, the other day, I was wound up too tight. I had so many thoughts in my mind, I didn`t know which one to think about. So, I lay across the bed and lit a vanilla candle. And then I simply began to meditate.

And I`ve gotta tell you it was a beauty of a meditation. I shut out all of those many thoughts I had in my head as I breathed slowly, in and out. I thought about the beautiful world we live in.

And while my eyes were closed, I saw robin-egg blue skies with small patches of white clouds here and there. I saw the trees swaying in the wind. I saw the flowers popping up from Mother Earth`s garden. I saw children swinging from a tree and heard them laughing as they tried to touch the sky.

I saw my sweet parents and some of the places we had visited together as a family. I saw them laughing and hugging each other. I thought of what a beautiful person my brother is and could see his face so clearly as I looked into his brown eyes.

After the 15 minutes were up, I opened my eyes and I can't tell you how peaceful I felt. It was if all of the stress and uptightness had rolled out of my body. I felt like I was back in control of my mind and my body.

I must tell you, there are times that I have just soaked my body in the tub with my eyes closed, just trying to find a little serenity. And the beauty is that when you make the time to do it...it works!

So, do you have 15 minutes today to clear your mind and just embrace the beauty around you? I think you do. It`s a hectic time of year, for sure. But we all need some "me" time.

And I`ll tell you one more thing I`ve learned to embrace through meditation...and that is that the more peaceful you are about your life, the more determined you become to take better care of you and your life. Find that time today just for you.

Promise?

Love,