Have you ever struggled to take care of others and still find time to nurture yourself? I have. I don’t know what it is about these past few weeks, or maybe it is the new decade, but I have been reflecting a lot on a few principles to help in managing the harmony of time between productivity and self-care. By harmony, I mean holding the tension just right to generate the best energy for creativity, beauty, music that is pleasing, etc.
How do we show up throughout the day that is nurturing, life-giving, sustaining, and empowering for both the self and for others? How do we fully live with intention and purpose? These questions are the underlying basis of three guiding principles on managing the harmony of time.
Managing the Harmony of Time Throughout Your Day
- Equity of time. The amount and distribution of time are the same for everyone. There are no exceptions. We all encounter time in the same 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds of measurement each day. We cannot change or control this chronological metric.
- Mindset. What we do with our time each day is up to us. Mindset is about perspective, attitude, and the intent of the choices we make. Mindset drives everything in our actions and how we fully live the day. This area is totally in our control.
- Time optimization. Optimization is about incremental improvements in how we make the best use of our time. Time management is more about time optimization of ourselves than anything else. Some days we do better than others. How do you allow more soul time for self-care of mind, body, and spirit? What can you shift in the day? Change? Let go/re-prioritize with the time you have in the day?
A Word About Self-Care vs. Being Selfish
There is a big difference between self-care and being selfish. To be selfish means that I only care about what I do, what happens to me, and how I take care of only me. At its most extreme, being selfish means I don’t give a shit about anyone else. That is selfishness.
Self-nurturance and self-care mean to take care of yourself in a manner that refreshes, renews, and re-charges your spirit so that you can relate and interact with others as your best self. Self-care is essential in caring for others.
Seeking Harmony of Time
We all have an equal amount of time in the day. How do we live it as our most authentic self?
How do we live with purpose? Enjoy life along the way? Become strengthened in gratitude? How do we act with productivity that energizes us? I mean less productivity of doing and more productivity of being. The actions of being include mindset, heart-set, and soul-set with intentionality
Your Turn
What helps you fully live the day as your authentic self? I welcome your comments.
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