It's important to have some “do absolutely nothing” time every once in a whileaway from your children.
I don’t even mean time for what we would normally call self-care, like getting a manicure or taking in a matinee or even having a chatty lunch with a girlfriend you haven’t seen for a while.
I mean time to do absolutely nothing.
I like to do this on my porch, usually in the early morning before anyone else is awake. Sometimes, though, doing absolutely nothing time only comes in the dark. Like last night.
Last night I sat on my porch in the near middle of the night because sometimes this is the only time I have to “be away” from my children. My son begged me to rest my weary self next to him while he fell asleep because he has cultivated a recent fear of ghosts and haunted houses and the still darkness of his pillow conjures scary thoughts. He will call out, “Emma, is that you in the hallway?” because he is afraid the footsteps belong to an unknown ghost.
So I gave him plenty of time to fall asleep and then crawled out of the bed and onto my porch. I sat and listened.
The thing about being quiet is it takes a while for your ears to acclimate to the quiet, just like when your eyes get used to the dark.
The quietness waits as if to see whether you are trustworthy to hear the nuances and hushed messages of near silence.
Like in the morning, when I write haiku, last evening I wrote some contemplative short poetry:
My neighborhood sounds so different late at night.
Breeze helps me forget 100 plus days.
Crickets sing timelessness.
Car passes, unaware.
I don't want to be that car, passing unaware.
I would rather be a cricket or a leaf the wind is strumming.
I tweeted the poetry as it was born, thinking there might be others out there who couldn’t sleep and rather than being bothered by sleeplessness, I thought they might want to step out their front or back doors and sit awhile to listen to whatever sounds there are in their neighborhood’s near silence.
It's important that every once in a while to have some “do absolutely nothing” time away from your children, even if it only steps away while they are sleeping in another room.
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Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
This is post #16/31 for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Slowly and surely I am getting caught up!
© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott
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