One of the things that we talk about with postconsumers is learning to slow yourself, your mind and your brain down in order to be more diligent about experiencing the satisfaction of enough in any given moment. We’ve given tips before on ways to accomplish this, but it’s incredibly challenging to learn to go from a constantly “on” and driving forward state to a state of being able to stop and appreciate moments of satisfaction. One way that we think is very important is to learn to set time during that day that is entirely “you” time. Time when you’re free from the expectations of everybody around you and you can just reflect on you, your life, your emotions and your thoughts.
Active Time or Passive Time: This “you” time can be active time or passive time, depending on how your brain works. By “active” time, we mean that you set aside time to workout, do crafts, read a book, or anything that is relaxing, important and productive to you. For the record, we don’t think that watching television or surfing the internet counts unless you are one of the rare souls who finds those activities actually relaxing as opposed to just opportunities to “tune out.” We’re not looking for “you” time to be tune-out time. We’re looking for you time to be time when you enjoy moments of satisfaction. By “passive” time, we mean time when you simply sit and perhaps drink a cup of tea and think or mediate (perhaps there’s even a relaxing bubble bath in that mix).
Enforce Your “You” Time: The key to “you” time though is that you MUST enforce it with your friends and family (as well as your employer, to the degree that you can). It’s always tempting to say that you’re going to take time for yourself and then bail on the idea as soon as a cool event with your friends comes up, or your kids need to be driven somewhere, or your spouse needs to work late. However, your time to learn to enjoy the satisfaction of enough and to stop getting caught up in the ever faster, ever farther way of life is just as important as anything else that’s going on. Unfortunately, there’s nobody there to enforce that idea but you, so you need to be your own “you time cop.”
If we don’t all learn to slow down and pause, then gaining the satisfaction of enough will be incredibly challenging. Set time at least once a week (at best once a day) to slow down and help teach yourself to get satisfied. Eventually, being able to identify a moment of satisfaction and enjoy it will be second nature!
