Time Out!

As a part of the compassionate leadership program, my friend Saumya Shinde made a presentation on ‘Time Out!’ to which I could instantly relate.

It got me thinking about the last few weeks – sleepless nights and stressed-out days. I overworked myself extensively over the last month. From co-authoring a children’s book, designing and planning a ‘brand’ to studying for my exams; life had been rather interesting. Even when I was on vacation I was constantly thinking about ideas and ways to make them work.

I for the longest time said “I enjoy being busy”, and I do. I really do, but as a normal human being, I am only capable of doing a few things at a time, a fact I tend to ignore.

In the constant run to prove myself to the world, I often find myself feeling guilty when I do take a break. As though I am meant to do better things than just rest.

Yes, I have prioritized taking a break for a while now but a few times, who am I kidding, most of the time it feels like a now or never situation. And even when I do take a break, I take a break for the sake of taking a break. Not to rest, not for my mental health, just for the heck of it.

After listening to Saumya’s presentation, I realized that I had been stuck in this cycle of burning myself out, more often than not.

“Time Out” she said as if it was a kids’ game.

At first, I thought how silly. But eventually, I realized that had it not been for those time-outs, we would have run out of air and our bodies would have been too tired to continue playing, and the game would’ve been given a full stop instead of a comma.

Our bodies work the same way, if we do not take time for restoration our bodies and minds begin to break down – disease, depression, degeneration….etc. According to some of the latest research on the deprivation of rest, this can affect our sense of ‘happiness’ or can cause life-threatening conditions like heart diseases, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

 While rest is a counter-culture for a world that never sleeps, It is essential for our bodies to wake up the next day. The only way that is possible is by resting today. So let me stop here and take my Time Out! 

can we heal ourselves ?

Thank you so much Lellavati aunty ,for gifting me Louise Hay’s YOU CAN HEAL YOUR LIFE around summer last year!

 I was really not a reader back then , so I took sweet three months to complete reading the book and thanks to my Dad who kept pushing me to complete it.

The book is very inspiring and what really hooked me is the chapter that describes the life story of Louise Hay : how her parents  got divorced when she was  eighteen months old and why her mom married her step dad -was it because she actually loved him or just for providing them a home . 

Louis Hay described how she faced constant sexual and physical abuse as a child by predators around her ; she ran away from her family at the age of fifteen. 

Starvedof self esteem and affection she gave her body to anyone who was kind to her , and right after her 16^thbirthday she gave birth to a baby girl. She found her child a good home and left  5 days after the birth of the child. 

 Onovercoming the mental pattern of guilt and shame she went back home and got her mom away from all the abuse there . She left her sister with her step dad as her sister was always daddy’s little girl.

After making her mom comfortable , she left for Chicago for 30 days and didn’t return for over 30 years. She then left for New York and became a fashion model; yet she couldn’t own her beauty and her self esteem stayed the same. 

She met a handsome English man. She travelled the world with him and  married him. They had fourteen years of beautiful marriage till her husband expressed his desire to marry another woman. 

She was devastated , but she moved on with time.  She studied and passed a test and became a counsellor at the church of religious sciences soon . 

And all of a sudden one fine day she was diagnosed with cancer , and yet with all her understanding, she knew that mental healing worked , she knew that getting an operation was not the ultimate cure for her disease.  She knew she had to dissolve the mental pattern that created this disease in her . She negotiated with the doctors for sometime and did everything in her power , from consulting a therapist to getting reflexology. And six months later there was no trace of cancer! 

And in the joy of celebrating she found out that her mother had been blind for years .

And as she began to get back to her normal life , she got a call from her sister , the first call in years , that her mother , blind , almost deaf , has fallen and broken her back . 

She got her mom’s cataract off one eye and got her a hearing aid too.

This one chapter made me read the entire book . The book is about the power of the subconscious mind and the power of self-healing that we all possess ; it is also about the value of self esteem which most of us lack in right proportions. 

More importantly, the book has made me realise how my mom’s true love for me has made me love myself.