Chapter 1: Creating a Time and Space for Ourselves
This first lesson is designed to help us stand
back and take a look at our lives - to evaluate how much time we have
for ourselves and if it is not enough what we can do to change this.
If we don't have enough time for ourselves what
sort of activities take up our time and what is our motivation for
doing them. This first lesson looks at these issues and how we can
re-organize our lives to create the
time we need and an energy space that supports us in doing this
process.This lessons assignment will focus on doing some work on
this.
In this first lesson we will:
identify the different factors that prevent us
spending time developing a supportive and creative relationship with
ourselves
create the time to connect with our Inner Healer and
body's intuitive wisdom
identify and set up a space where we feel
comfortable enough to slow down and tune into our body's intuitive wisdom
use a journal to record these experiences
Lets begin with a short questionaire around time allocation.
Time allocation questionaire
Date
How much time do you have for yourself each week - time that you
can spend alone doing an activity you love?
How much time would you like to have for yourself each
week?
If you don't have enough time what out of the following areas take up most of your time?
Doing things for others YES/NO
If you answered yes to this question you could be looking at
patterns of co-dependent behaviour that cause us to rely on a sense of
"other-esteem"for others rather than a sense of "self-esteem" from
within ourselves. Codependent patterns tie up our energy, prevent us developing equality in our relationships with others (we need to keep them dependent on us to gain their gratitude and appreciation), and take us away from being true to ourselves and following our life path. For more information on this look at some of the books listed in the supplementary section or visit the website of Codependents Anonymous. for a list of codependent patterns of behaviour
Read Reclaiming Ourselves p36
Work time YES/NO
If you are spending a lot of time working and this is tied into
generating money and acquiring possessions. Is there any way you can simplify your life to reduce
your living expenses so you can work less and have more time for
yourself?
Read Reclaiming Ourselves p59-60
Constantly acquiring possessions can build up to a point where they overwhelm and immobilise us. We may have problems with storage space and clutter if we do not have time to organise them properly. Dealing with clutter can be an essential part of making time and space in your life for inner healing to occur.
Too many possessions and our attatchment to them can block and conjest our energy field.An interesting website to visit is Karen Kingstons www.spaceclearing.com. Karen is a Feng Shui Consultant who lives in Bali. Her site has information about clearing clutter and negative energy from your home. She has also written a book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui on this subject.( see supplementary page of this lesson)
Most of us lead very busy, externally
focused lives. The society we live in is very consumer
orientated and profit driven. It constantly offers
us new distractions, activities and externally
orientated goals. Penelope Ody, an English herbalist
and natural therapist in her book "Making Time For Me"
compares this pressure to being trapped on a escalator of
activity that we cannot get off. If we don't make a
conscious effort to get off, we can easily become swept
along in this tide of external activities to a point
where we become exhausted, numbed out and disconnected
from people and ourselves.
To coin a popular phrase, we become "Human Doings" not
"Human Beings".
Doing is an activity, whereas being is
an experience.
It is an experience that we need, It offers us an
opportunity to
reconnect and develop a relationship with ourselves.
If we can develop a better relationship with ourselves, we will
automatically have better relationships with people around us.
Our connection to ourselves is the key to developing a sense of
real meaning in our lives. It is the key to developing a sense of
connection,
meaning and a creative relationship to life.
This lessons assignment is an exercise in creating the
healing time and space that we need for ourselves and
fitting this into our lives.
If you would like to take this now enter here
