This Sunday…. I woke up on my own.  No buzzer, favorite singer, or alarm invading my sleep.  My mind climbed out of deep sleep at its own pace, in its own time, when it was ready.  I can’t recall the last time THAT actually happened.   This.  Was.  The Perfect.  Start.  To.  My.  Sunday.   Says me!

I think it’s another Joy from childhood.  Waking up …. when you want.   We lose it slowly as we begin to grow up.   As kindergarten and school days begin to consume the week days.  And again later as summer jobs and sports take over summer vacation and weekends.   The real doozy is when the thrill of graduation and fear of school loans —- gets replaced by e.m.p.l.o.y.m.e.n.t!!!

Ahhh, employment.  The double-edged sword.  It’s debilitating when yu don’t have it.  And cumbersome when you do.  Employment opens up the world of opportunities for living your life in the manner in which you choose.   But it also becomes the master of your time.  LOL, one of the first things I bought when I got my first job — was a new alarm clock.  LOL, yea — that’s a PERFECT symbol of the rest of one’s life.  From that day forward….. you’ve got somewhere to be….at a certain time…..and alot is riding on your being where you need to be, On Time.

Time….Your Time….just slipped away from you (a little bit) and became a resource you share.  So.  What you do with Your Free Time — j.u.s.t. became that much more important.

Within that Spare Time — as an adult — you need to do laundry, and pay bills, and sleep and bathe and errands, and …..ohhhh man.  Where is the good stuff????  right.  right.  the good stuff.  Like movies, and parties, and friends.  Oh, it’s in there.  And it’s all up to you on how you divide it up, and allocate it, and spend it.

Yea — who knew that once you had employment, and started to make money…..that Spare Time would become the most important currency of all???  HA!  No body tells you that on your first day of work.  We’re much more focussed on when the first paycheck comes….and what color our first new car will be.  I know I was.  and Ahem….it was Red.  A slick, cute, little Red Toyota Tercel.  I both loved and h.a.t.e.d. that car.  A story for another day!

As the days of our life click by….Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday……and on — we choose each day — how to spend the most important asset we have.  Our Time.    I’ve come to learn, that how we spend our free time….may be the single biggest reflection of the real person we each are.  Once all the fashion, and makeup, and fancy cars are stripped from the “outer” person we show the world.  It’s in the “spending” of our time, in the choice of what we do, and how we engage with the world….that speaks so loudly about our real self.

I U.S.E.D. to be a Hider.  What’s a Hider, you ask??  Oh well….it’s pretty much what it sounds like.  I used to HIDE in my house, away from the big scary world.  And in my hiding place, I would read, and watch tv, and do household chores, and surf the internet, and EAT.    Filling up my spare time with things that existed inside the 4 walls of my home.  I lived such a small life.  By choice.  Out of Fear.  Mostly Fear of not being accepted “out there”.  In the BIG WORLD.

Now, I’m Growing. Growing my little world.  Making it bigger.  And making conscious choices of how I spend myself out there in the medium-sized world I’m making for myself.    My new choices include — sleeping in whenever my subconscious will allow.  Running and seeing new places and new people along the way.  Riding my bike and recapturing pieces of my childhood every minute I can.  I’m giving my time to my children.  Helping them to learn not to be afraid of the world.  To get out there and SEE it, to ENGAGE with it.  BE a part of it!  MAKE it!  for themselves.

Give your time to others.  You will receive back 10 times over.  Give your time to nature.  You will find a connection to this world and the planet that will astound you.  Give your time to children.  Yours and others.  It is an investment in the future that will live beyond all of us.  Give yourself to creatures great and small.  You will receive compassion and find a softness in yourself that you never knew possible.

For me, today was Sunday morning perfection. I woke on my own.  Climbed out of bed to be greeted by my chocolate labs who are ALWAYS so happy to see me.  I got my 6 mile run done.   Then made breakfast for myself and our girls. Enjoyed talking with them over an egg with mushrooms, carrots, spinach and turkey.  My coffee never tasted better than today.  I know it had more to do with the company…than the coffee.

My soul was full today — and now, I’m content to go spend some of my free time doing laundry.  LOL.  Having fed my mind, heart and soul with simple joys — it makes it easier to perform life’s chores.

My message today is this.  Your simple joys are out there.  All you have to do is Choose them now and again, instead of the flashier, more popular ones that society will try to sell you.   Trust me,,,,,that movie you miss will be there ….later.  You will not miss it in the end.  Finding the Joy from childhood…Ahhh….this you WILL miss…if you choose not to hunt it down again as an adult.

Ciao for now….Diane