Take the Time to Smell the Roses...

You have heard the saying "Stop and smell the roses". 

 

Family, job, work, home, church, friends, pets, dirty floors and laundry.

All these things make demands on our lives and our time, and they have a perfect right to do that.  We all have things we must do just to get through the day.  Maybe you're the one responsible for all of it, maybe you have help.  Some of it doesn't have to be done today, right now, but eventually you run out of underwear and you just have to bite the bullet and do the laundry.

But HOW do you do it?  Is it an ice cream sundae task or a root canal task?  If it looks like you're going to go have a root canal, who wants to come along?

If you absolutely dread doing the laundry or the grocery shopping, there's no way you're EVER going to be able to convince someone else to do it, or even help you with it.

I actually enjoy doing laundry, even though I don't do much of it anymore.  I have people for that.  My DH is retired and he has over time taken over all the household chores except for dusting and cleaning closets.  And he always smirks when I say "I have people"...)

One of the best things I heard at Nancy's Notions Sewing Weekend, and I heard a LOT of good things, was Mark Lipinski's lecture on the Slow Stitching Movement.

Do you remember Mark's magazine, Quilters' Home?  I loved that magazine.  Here's one of the issues I have...

Mark had a life threatening kidney failure and got a transplant.  During that process, his life changed.  You can read about it if you don't already know on his Slow Stitching Movement web site.  I recommend you go there and read the whys and wherefores of what the SSM is all about.

It was a revelation to me... mindful sewing - I get it!  I like it!  I'm going to try to practice it.

Hobbies, if done correctly, can relax you, lower your blood pressure and improve your mood, give you a sense of self satisfaction and take away the worries of the day.

 

They can also help you focus your thoughts, and inspire you with ideas for the challenges you may be experiencing in the rest of your life.  When I concentrate on what I'm doing at the moment, sometimes my unconscious brain will be reviewing something else and suddenly I'll have a eureka moment. 

Whatever your task, whether hobby or work, try to 'be there' as much as possible and not be worrying about what ELSE you might be doing.  When that happens sometimes mistakes are made and sometimes they're irreversible.  Like texting while driving, or cutting out the wrong size from your pattern on the last three yards of fabric on the bolt. 

 

Whatever color YOUR roses are... you know what to do.

 

Sew on...slowly :-)