Newsletter 31/01/2021 - Learning from Zachary

Dear you,

I hope you are keeping well. I am finally able to get some time to write after a couple of intense weeks. Like we all do, I am trying to balance things out and find my feet in this new lifestyle and pace, sometimes not as successfully as I wish. The other night, I was rushing around, finished work late, trying to stay on tracks timing wise to sort out dinner, bath and bedtime for my son, Zachary (as hubby works in the evenings). I put him to bed but still needed to sort out a couple of chores, before we could read a story calmly. My phone kept on buzzing with notifications from emails, WhatsApp and other not so important stuff as he was watching me from his mid-height bed. He then said "Mum, can you stop just for a sec, put your phone down and look at me? It's okay you know if we do the story now and you do the other things later or tomorrow! You do too many things all at once!". Many of us have become masters at multi-tasking, and we have so many devices that encourage us to be like that. But don't we then end up never being fully into something if not anything? My boy said something so obvious, yet so challenging these days.

Don't you do things like "I'm walking the dog/going out/popping to the shop and can call X at the same time", "I'm doing the laundry and meanwhile can watch the start of that episode", "I'm having dinner and can read the headlines at the same time", "let me check something in my phone - scroll scroll scroll through Instagram/Facebook/emails - what was I supposed to do again?!". I do. We keep on creating busyness over busyness and then feel like we've got the weight of the world on our shoulders and never a minute to ourselves.But we also very rarely focus on one thing at the time and our attention span is getting closer to this every day that goes by.

How about trying this week to walk the dog, go out, pop to the shop, do the laundry and do "just" that and nothing else? How about eating whilst actually watching and savouring slowly what we eat? How about leaving our devices on the side way more to take the time to BE. I hear you though, working from home, homeschooling, lockdown and all that. Yes, I know. But all of the above are reasons to be EVEN MORE mindful about having down time and to actually learn something from this supposedly "slowness" and keep it for later, if not forever.

There is also no need to trap ourselves into rigid schedules that don't even necessarily match our physiological cycles. Keeping a sense of routine can be helpful but going with the flow these days is most likely what's going to trigger the least stress and keep you as sane as you can be. Special shout out here to all fellow parents who are coping with so much right now. Keep on giving them all the love no matter how much you can all achieve in a day. The laughter, simple things and tenderness are what stays and counts in the end.

Because I am going to try hard to follow my own advice, I might not always be as regular with this newsletter and playlists that I love making for you. Meaning it might sometimes happen fortnightly rather than weekly. The schedule of Zoom classes remains unchanged nevertheless and you can always check in on the website if anything changes or for playlists! See you on the mat for some down time and mindfulness.

Much love.

Liloo