>It is not very often that I wake up these days that I do not find myself actually voicing thanks for something that has occurred in my life. One day last week, I even found myself giving audible thanks for having hit a freak dip in the road which caused $426.29 (at least) damage to my car. I am trying to work my appreciation muscle in an effort to somehow always see the bright side. While I do not really consider it my nature to always see the dark side, I do know that I am prone to equate being realistic with being negative. My actual thanks went a little something like this, “Thank you, God, for this little setback since the technicians might find something else wrong with my car while they are in there that can be repaired while my car is still under warranty for a few thousand more miles.” That oration did not feel all that ridiculous upon reflection.

Yesterday, I attended a Brain Gym workshop, and it was quite enjoyable and informative. It is a bit like yoga for the classroom. So of course, I liked it. Speaking of yoga, I have inadvertently misplaced the two yoga DVD’s that I used to own before packing and moving. Of course, that means that they could be in any number of the places that I stopped over the summer. Hopefully, they will turn up soon. I have been kind of craving a little downward dog.

Am poaching an egg whilst I write. Have just finished first cup of English Breakfast Tea. Am contemplating how/when I want to go pick up my car at the VW place. I also have a few birthdays to decide how to accommodate. I had a great idea for one of them, but life got in the way. Will it seem like an afterthought if I pull it together after the actual birthday date? Even though I have been thinking about it and planning for it for weeks but just could not pull it together?

I do believe that I have nothing else to say right now.

Never mind. Yes I do. What is happening to our sense of relationship in this world? I was in a book study group the other day, and person after person was reflecting about how they never take time to stay in contact with their friends. How they do not email them or call them or try to see them. I suppose I am that way a little bit. But conversely, I find myself frustrated because I want to sit around and talk to friends and share and reflect and pontificate, and no one else seems to have the time or energy. Not that I have bountiful reserves of either, but I do wish more people in our world would make genuine efforts to stay connected. I think that our relationships are what feed us and teach us. Maybe therein lies the problem: we do not want to be taught. In order to to crave teaching, do we have to admit that there is something we do not know? Is that too much of a stretching of the humility muscle? Have we become so involved in “reality” programming on our televisions that we are forsaking our own reality and then wondering why we are left wanting more? Is the encouragement of our society to claim rights to everyone else’s lives causing us to let our own lives slip silently from our grasp? Something to think about?

When did it stop being acceptable for a parent to have an hour to themselves? To read a book, take a quiet walk, listen to a favorite album? Taking time for one’s self does not inherently mean that one is stealing that time from someone else. And so what if he/she is taking that time from someone else? A deposit of one hour’s time in an emotional tank can yield hours, days, perhaps even months of benefit for everyone in that person’s midst, simply because their spirit has been renewed and they have remembered that they, too, are human.

I believe that the sooner that we allow each other to have a bad day, to need some time alone, the sooner we will see our relationships flourish in unimaginable ways. Because no matter how much you love somebody, you always need to take time to love yourself.