The Little Things
March 22, 2016

As I’ve been working increasingly towards living a mindful life with peace (shalom), one of the things I’ve added to my life is the idea of a mini vacation.  I realized that I had never talked about this idea here back in July when my parents were helping me move a bit (they helped drag some boxes over before my official moving day).

At night after we had spent about 12 hours running errands, carrying boxes in to the house, and pulling weeds, we were back at my apartment and had just finished dinner. Before we did the dishes I had them come out and stand on my back deck and enjoy the lightning bugs flying around over the field. It’s one of my favorite summer views (I miss it already!), and I wanted them to enjoy it. And then I explained the “mini vacation” to them!

Give Yourself A Mini Vacation

I started to realize that one of the great things about vacation are all the extra intentional things that people do. For example, when I’m on vacation in Marco Island, I will run down to the beach and enjoy sunset after dinner, even if I haven’t cleaned up from dinner yet. It’s an intentional thing that I prioritize. One year when I got back from the Island, I realized that, at least a few days a week, I could choose to implement a similar slowing down and “enjoying the moment” situation. So, I’ve made it my goal to pause and take five minute to enjoy a sunrise or a sunset, the gently falling snow, the changing leaves, a ray of light, or the views of the lightning bugs at night. I enjoy reading outside on vacation, so I try to do that once or twice a week as well, even if it’s only for 10 minutes.

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When we intentionally choose to pause and find joy and awe in the present moment, we’re able to release all sorts of happy chemicals and hormones into our bodies, which decrease cortisol (stress) and help fight against anxiety and depression. We ground ourselves, and this time can serve as a “re-set” to our day!

I’ve loved giving myself “mini vacations” over the past two years or so, and look for opportunities to regularly engage in this type of behavior!

Now it’s your turn to share! What is one “mini vacation” that you enjoy? Is there a little thing you could do more often to give yourself a break?

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