Time Management

Tonight is the first night in a while that I will be going to ballroom dance class.  In January I started this blog about the same time that I started taking Zumba and strength training classes at the Cortez Rec Center.  There was an incident at dance class about that time that caused me to go looking for other ways to increase my fitness levels and satisfaction with my extracurricular activities.  I did go to some dance classes in the mean time, but it has been sporadic since the beginning of December.  Now, I sense that the time is coming for another evaluation of how much I choose to pack into a week’s time.

           

This is probably a familiar scenario for a lot of you.  With the acceleration of energies that we have been experiencing on this planet for some time now, there is also the push to continue to keep up with the level of activities that we had been doing, or doing even more.  How many balls are you willing to juggle?  Our society so much values the “doer” that it may be hard to cut back and simplify.

We also seem to be faced with more distractions nowadays.  One big one is engagement with the “Technosphere”.  I saw a statistic the other day that said that more adults are texting while driving than younger people are, thus causing more auto accidents proportionately.  Makes you want to stay home and off of the roads more!  When did we become obligated to answer a message as soon as we receive it, no matter what we happen to be doing at the time.  I personally do not text, and have no intention of picking up that little habit, but for others, it can become a compulsion.  I do understand the occasional need to give a quick answer to a question, but this has become such a common way of communicating that in-depth conversations may become a thing of the past.  When I have something important to say to a friend, even an e-mail seems too perfunctory to me. 

There may be other reasons why we overload ourselves with our daily activities.  I recently worked with a client who not only has spread herself pretty thin, but because of some genetic and past life patterns, has given chunks of herself away to those she has felt obligated to assist in a variety of ways. This is a pattern that started for her in the womb. The result is that she is frequently fatigued, she has a pattern of starting projects that get delayed or not finished at all, and feels an over responsibility for those to whom she is attached in this way.  Of course, the situation is more complex than this, but you get the idea.  

Now is the time to do some self examination if you find yourself resonating with what I have written here.  Do you have enough time for self reflection and doing your inner work?  Are you able to engage on more than a shallow level with life’s events?  Can you finish every endeavor completely and to your satisfaction?  Have you communicated in a meaningful manner with those around you?  Are you just as energized at the end of the day as you were at the start? Do you feel good with what you have accomplished at the end of each and every day, no matter how much or how little? 

After re-starting my “dance career” tonight, I will be asking myself these same questions.  Undoubtedly, some adjustments will have to be made according to how much free time I have and how much passion I have about what I am currently doing with that time. Hiking season is starting, too.  More choices!!!!!!!!