Sometimes,
we have to go through the motions when there’s no time
just fit in a minute to play one line.
Humans who have to schedule time to BE
to look out of the window – enjoy the sun – feel the breeze.
One minute of joy that stretches longer each day
time for work and time for play.
This poem is meant to be read 3 times with ‘play’ replaced with write, and then draw.
It’s been a really busy few months for me. The end of 2022 saw my days filled with support for family members in hospital or recovering after discharge from hospital. All is well as I write this post and I’m feeling grateful.
I decided having that no time to relax wasn’t sustainable and that it just wouldn’t do and took my own advice from this poem that I wrote earlier. So, I divided all the tasks I needed to do and tackled them in parts, fitting in just one minute a day, many times a day, on hobbies that made my heart happy. That, and a workflow made highly efficient with daily planning, helped me fit ‘happy’ time in when things got challenging. I think piano teaching and daily piano practise give one highly developed workflow organization skills. So I didn’t exactly start out from scratch.
And I started playing the piano and practising – with an s because I feel it’s a verb :). Playing the piano makes me feel happy in a way that I can’t explain and somehow fills my heart and gives me resources and an unexpected resilience when things get challenging.
One minute a day has also got me back to reading daily. It’s something I fell out of during the lockdown of 2020 as I needed time to adapt to online piano teaching and didn’t pick up again, when things settled. Until recently. Right now, I’m reading just one page a day – a commitment to myself that I fulfil no matter what.
I encourage you to try this out – one minute a day – if you don’t already and hope it brightens your days the way it does mine.
This poem was published on October 19, 2020 at anitaelise.com and is no longer available there as my writing has moved to this blog.
the relaxed housekeeper 
A wise decision! I do think that having a way to recharge the “batteries” makes for a happier life… And reading and music can refresh in ways that other activities can’t.
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It really makes a difference and the daily effort is worth it. Thanks so much for reading and commenting.
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