Thursday, January 7, 2010

Save room for desert !

It's Thursday of the first week back to the routine of life, and things are going well. This is a bit of a sigh of relief, as two weeks ago Bob looked at me a bit perplexed, asking me how I was going to be able to get in everything I already do plus work on this quilt project. In usual fashion I shook my head and said don't worry , I will do it. However , the truth was I was a little concerned. There are days that just getting a shower in is still a trick ! Homeschooling takes time, exercise takes time, my reiki work takes time, my own studying takes time and household management takes time , and no matter how loudly I plead, there are only 24 hours in every day and one of me.

Yesterday afternoon I moved to the point of binding the quilt, and I was tickled with myself. The house was clean, I had gotten in a solid 45 minutes of exercise, a good school day had been accomplished and dinner was cooking in the crock pot- along with planing for the next weeks meals, shopping and school taken care of. How did I do it ? The one that really made me wonder about was the exercise. For 3 weeks now I have been being very good in this department, thanks to the aquisition of two Wii games I really love. It is said that half of the battle with exercise is finding something you love. I think the other half is finding time to do it ! What was different now about how I was operating ?

Then I realized the reason was sitting in my hands, with pins and needles coming out of it. As much as I love every aspect of my life, I love creating things more. And as much as I love creating, putting them into a fabric medium is a passion. I love making crafts, quilts and even doing simple garment repairs. Having this quilt project with a deadline meant I not only had to carve out time for this , but I wanted to . I also had to carve out time for all the other things, so it suddenly made me more efficient. I wake up, take care of some "buisness"( planing, bloging, email, study), do some reiki work, get in my exercise, get school going and while Nick works on self directed things I clean house. Then after school is done, I am free to work my passion in fabric till dinner, and then while watching TV in the evenings. It flows for me ! Knowing this, I think I would be wise to come up with a few other projects to do once this quilt is finished, which should be later today. Pictures tomorrow.

I write about this not because I am an expert at time management, but rather because I think one of the hurdles is to find the right reward or carrot for the journey. We all know what we need to do and we all know the reasons why we do not do it. Perhaps if we think in different terms, saving the thing we love the most for the thing we do last , it can make is all a little more efficient . It can help us to go that extra mile with the process and leave us with results that will make us proud. Each of us leads a life that is like a wonderful buffet of choices, and like a buffet they need a bit of management. If we dive right into the fun deserts, we get stuffed with things that appeal to our taste buds but offer little nutrition. If we ate nothing but tossed salad we would be healthier, but also would feel very deprived and bored. Too much of the meat entrees will make us feel really satiated but give us heart burn from the seasonings. The trick is to select sensible portions from each group and allow ourselves a desert at the end for fun. Quilts, it seems, may be the best desert for me.

6 comments:

Marisa @Loser for Life said...

Dr. Oz had a segment on Reiki yesterday and I thought of you!

Yay for "quilt" desserts :)

Di said...

As a Reiki Master I watched Dr Oz with great excitement ! This is the first time Reiki has been even talked about on a talk show . His explanation of it was very short, simple and very accurate. I was very happy to see the segment, and thought it was interesting that he has used Reiki Masters in surgery and that his wife is a Reiki Master. I have friends who assist in delivery rooms with reiki- I do most of my work as a distance application because it is the most conducive to my life right now , but I have considered working at nursing homes and in hospice situations once life gets a little more of my own.

Gypsy Soul said...

I would love to know what 2 Wii games you have that you love. I am always up for fun exercise! I received the Biggest Loser Wii game for Christmas, but, much to my dismay, haven't even opened it yet. :-(

Di said...

The two Wii games I adore are Pilates with Daisy Fuentes and the canoeing game with Wii Sports Resort. Pilates has some wiggy things about the way the game is designed( constantly have to click the A Button on the remote, no rel instructions for the exercise and weird calibration with the remote), but I really love doing this so I work through it's faults. The canoeing game with Wii sports is a time challenge race , and you use the remote as a paddle. It is exactly the same motion as rowing an actual canoe, minus the weight of the actual water. As a kid my family would take wilderness canoe trips and being the oldest kid, I was often pressed into service as the sterns-man for one of the canoes, and we would cover 12 -20 miles a day rowing. Doing that you kind of remember for life what it feels like to row and this game delivers that exact motion. I really love it !

Diane Fit to the Finish said...

I too have a flow to my day, that when I can keep it on track, really helps me get a lot of things done.

I'm so glad that you are enjoying those games - I wish we had a Wii!

Di said...

Diane, if you buy a Wii, the Wii sports game comes bundled with it, and it is a lot of fun. The unit only comes with one remote though- you can have 4 at a time, plus numchucks and the balance board, and it can get VERY pricy. Another disadvantage is that there is a lot of swinging around with arms and such, and in a small room or one with a lot of people it can get really hazardous. I love mine, but I don't know if I would feel the same way about it with more than on child. We bring ours up when we get together with the cousins and things get very chaotic and borderline dangerous when they really get into the games.