by Lisa Cadigan
Published also on Daily Presents
This year I am resolving to do less.
Less running around.
Less stressing out about trivial things.
Less snapping and barking.
Less work.
Yes, less work.
If I keep my resolution to do less, I am fairly certain that the work that takes precedence in my life will be born of inspiration rather than obligation. And inspired work isn’t work at all – it’s play.
So I resolve to play more.
Write more.
Sing more.
Do more yoga.
Hold hands more.
Hug more.
Look into the eyes of the people I love more.
See more sunshine.
Take more walks.
Sit still more.
I look forward to the ideas and dreams that flow when I allow myself time to be still. I look forward to the feeling that spurs me to stop sitting so that I can write down the ideas and dreams born in stillness. Over the last few months with the holiday rush and a growing list of work obligations, I have really missed that feeling. When ideas would come at all, I was rarely in a space to write them down. And if I don’t write them down when they are happening, they tend to disappear like dandelion seeds on the wind.
I originally planned that I would “schedule” my time to sit still, to think, to dream. But the problem there is that inspiration doesn’t always adhere to a schedule. So I must also resolve to be more flexible.
As I slow down and do less, I resolve to enjoy the smell of my daughter’s hair, to lose myself in the sweetly awkward, angular hugs of my growing son, to notice the twinkle in my husband’s eyes when he talks about the things that excite him. The work I am resolved to do more of is that of finding magic in every day.
Happy New Year.
Photo credit: Tim Hamilton
