How often do you push through the feeling that it is time for a break?
How often do you put other things as more important than taking care of yourself, which, by the way, will allow you to continue to take care of the things in your life?
How often do you forget that there is continuous life, endings, death, rebirth here so therefore there is always time for tea and snacks?
How often do you forget that tomorrow is a concept? That future plans or exciting fairy tale/idealistic ideas placed in your future point mind-concept will keep you trudging on forgetting that right NOW is the essence of all things?
How often do you feel fun, pleasure, self-care, and enjoyment are for another time and not right now?
Lately, the concept of taking a pause has deepened inside me. If you want to ride this concept with me continue to read, this is part 1 of 2.
I was reading a book with my daughter and the book was about unicorns who were trying to help some goblins out. They were searching for a goblin who was lost. It was part of their “schooling”, a project on using their imagination to solve problems. In the midst of the problem solving and searching, they went back home to sleep at night when it got dark. They also paused for a lunch break amidst the search. I honestly had a moment where I said to myself “Wow they didn’t search all night they went home and slept. That’s awesome self-care.”
The energetics I felt from reading this were simple, something I knew and practiced already but made me stop and take it in on a deeper level.
There is always time for tea and snacks no matter how intense, dramatic, or crazy life is. Obviously, take this as a literal or metaphorical statement and apply it in the way that best suits you.
You might be thinking…Um, So what? This isn’t a new concept.
Here is the thing. There are times where we just need to step completely away from what we are doing knowing we need to recharge. But it goes deeper. Sometimes we have to fully stop, choose ourselves no matter what is going on around us, and recharge. Take a lunch break, a nap, a playful time, etc.
Wait, there’s more. Amongst the intensity of what appears is going on globally, there is an absolute necessity in turning within, recharging, and compartmentalizing your self-care like it is equally as important as fighting the battles. EQUALLY.
Fighting the battles can also mean taking care of others, doing your work, tending to your physical things like your home, etc.
Yet here’s more. You are eternal, so there is always time for lunch. There is always time to stop. To regroup. To recharge. Yes, time does actually run out linearly, but then there is time for the next leg of the journey. Yet there is also NOW which is timeless and felt that way if you tap right into NOW.
When you step away from something and allow yourself the space to BE without attachment to that thing, you recharge and reset on a level that can’t be accessed if you paused and ate your sandwich while obsessing over the thing you have to get back to. Meaning letting go is part of the tea and snack concept. You have to do it and be it. Eat that snack, drink that tea, that’s it.
This happens all the time in real-life moments for me. At home, with my kid, we are doing something awesome, or experimenting, or being challenged by something and we are starting to fade. We both need a snack or a meal and it is ok to leave it all entirely where it is and come back to it in a half-hour, an hour, or longer.
It is completely ok to stop and acknowledge that we have a choice to either continue with what we are doing, like needing to clean up or complete a project while continuing to fade, get hangry, cranky and uninspired…
OR
We can take a break. Recharge. Sit in the simplicity of a meal and then return to what we were doing later recharged with inspiration and newfound energy. This makes the cleanup process easier and more fluid because we have more to give to that experience, more to fuel us IN that moment.
There will always be another mess to clean up. Another problem or crisis to solve. Another adventure to have. There is endless life unfolding.
The end or goal is not where the magical climax is, it is in every moment of the entire thing. TRULY.
Therefore, there is always time for meals. And for play. And fun. Because it’s endless. There is never going to be a better time in a conceptual future point to invite more fun, play, and self-care into your life. There is only now and there is always a way to invite it into your life in a very real imperfect way.
Meals lately have felt like this beautiful simplicity more and more for me. I adore picnics. Packing snacks, and meals with my family or friends. I feel it in my bones, this grand pause. It is almost like how this is an eternal playground where we experience the full spectrum of experiences together yet we all take these meal breaks. It is essential. And we know that we are here to play these roles with and for each other on this playground and yet continually return to this cosmic dining hall and chat about it. “That was a wild ride wasn’t it?” One might say to the other while drinking juice and noshing on a big hoagie, while the other sips tea and eats a chocolate croissant in agreement.
So my deepest inspired message is to remember that you are the only one who can take your own pause.
You have to choose to stop in the midst of it all and say “I need some tea and a snack.” Own it. Do it. And know you will FEEL and BE more centered and filled up on the other side of that break. However long that moment needs to be. Go ALL IN with it.