Namaste readers!

 

What a blessing it is to be alive.

Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I sat outside for an hour. Uninterrupted. No devices. No distractions.

I always find it overwhelming to just sit and be conscious of my surroundings at a deeper level. Maybe it’s just the fact that the year is drawing to a close that I’m especially sentimental but, it got me thinking. Why don’t we do this more often?

I know what you’re thinking.

“Well, not all of us can just sit around aimlessly!”

I hear you, I do; but if that is the response, why do you sit and watch TV for an hour aimlessly?

I apologise if that affected you on a deeper level, but we have made a mistake as a society.

We have decided that “taking a break” means scrolling on social media for an hour, bingeing a TV show or going out with friends and drinking excessively.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good night out and when my favourite TV show is released, I love to cuddle up and watch it for hours just as much as the next person. My thought process is simple – if we can create time for those kinds of activities, we can find time to be conscious of the beauty that surrounds us daily. The beauty we don’t have to pay for and more often than not, we have to slow down for.

Back to my story.

So, I was sitting outside and enjoying the afternoon sun. In that moment, I decided I was going to meditate for a few minutes. I hadn’t planned to meditate but it just felt right in the moment. I began to meditate and slowed my brain down for a bit. Suddenly, I became aware of how gracefully the sun was dancing on my skin. It felt like a beautiful ballet – waltzing and spinning on my skin. Then I heard the wind, gently moving through the trees, birds singing softly and the creaking of the wood as the tree swayed in the breeze. It was something so simple but so complicated at the same time because it felt out of the ordinary. It felt unusual to just sit there and be present in the moment.

As a child, I used to love sitting under a tree we had in our backyard. I remember rushing through my homework after school just so I could sit there, most of the time with my dog but sometimes on my own. It was a simpler time of course and a time without smart devices. Nevertheless, this thought made me realise something.

As adults, we stray away from what made us happy as children. Truthfully, we just don’t have the time most of the days. There are countless responsibilities and tasks to be accomplished. By the time the day is over, we don’t usually find the energy to do anything besides sit on the couch and “switch off” our brains for an hour or two. 

It’s understandable; but sometimes we have to slow down, this is especially true for the end of the year. In a few days, many of us will be wrapping up the work year and finally having the time to slow down a bit. Time to reconnect with friends, family and ourselves. Time to reflect and plan for 2023. Which is why I’m writing this journal, to help to realise how your inner child is yearning for joy and fulfilment. We never shed the skin of our childhood self – we simply transform, hiding the child within us to met the needs of our adult life. If we take the time to reconnect with ourselves and slow down, being conscious in our environment, finding joy outside of devices and even other people, we may be able to experience something we haven’t in a long time.

Peace.

My love letter to you is simple – make time. Make time for people, joy and slowing down. Make time for being conscious in your environment and for living in this perfect moment right now. You will never have this time of your life again. You will never be this young again and truthfully, you may not even have this season again because life comes and goes. But you can choose to appreciate the exact moment in life you are in right now. You can reconnect with your inner child and do more of what makes him/her/them happy. You can find beauty in simple moments and in ordinary places. You can live in a beautiful place, even if it doesn’t look beautiful to others.

Please slow down this time of year. I know it’s busy and overwhelming – but make time for peace in your life and it will help you rediscover things in yourself you have lost.

My final words to you are be conscious. There are beautiful things all around you, you just have to take the time to notice them.

Sending you love, light and good energy for the remainder of your year.

Till next time,

Hella