Time Out For....ME

As many of you know, I just took my annual birthday trip to Chicago to celebrate my 60th! Hard to think I am at that age that I used to think of as really old! ...........but I have to admit it really isn't as bad as I had envisioned! Dan and I had a lot of time to talk and think while we were in Chicago. It was bitter cold there and much of our traditional activities were curtailed due to the weather. Then we got stuck there. Flights cancelled and then delayed. We finally got home on Christmas eve and went straight from the airport to a party and have been on the go ever since. But that time spent in the quiet of our motel room afforded me the time to read through Oprah's January issue of O Magazine. If you have not read it, you need to. No matter if you are male or female, it is a must read if you are thinking seriously about the changes in our world and in your own life.



I bought the issue mainly because of our son Jared's KEZA organization. (www.keza.com) On page 156 there is a Prada model wearing the KEZA necklaces and in the credits in the back of the magazine it gives the name and website info. So since I had the time and the magazine in hand I read it all............cover to cover. And boy did it get me excited about changes I want to make in my own life this year!



Probably the most amazing article was from Oprah herself (and if you are of the mindset that Oprah is "of the devil" you are taking a very narrow view of a woman who has, in spite of her flaws, had a lot of positive impact on our society. A couple of changes I made in 2008 was to quit being so judgemental and arrogant and to allow people to be who they are and love them in spite of our differences!) Oprah wrote an incredibly honest and revealing article about how she has gained back much of the weight she had lost years ago and had to revisit what she is doing to herself. It is an article that will make you think and will also free you from the bondage of guilt.

What it did for me...........and what the other articles said to me.......... was exactly what I needed to hear. I CAN take control of my life in this New Year by taking better care of ME!



It's ironic, actually, because I have spent most of 2008 advising people to look beyond themselves and to see the needs of others with a more authentic and compassionate heart. I worked hard at doing exactly what I preached and found that much of 2008 I was on overload. I was overwhelmed with compassion for everyone I met, everywhere I went, every opportunity I experienced. By the time the holiday rolled around I was so exhausted both physically and mentally from trying to be Queen of Everything (see a previous blog) and fix everyone that I needed to take a fresh look at what I had created in my world. Taking time out to read Oprah's magazine helped me to see that I had often neglected taking care of me. And that is hard for me to do. Very hard. I have made a life for myself out of taking care of everyone else and feeling good about that. Talk about the consumate people pleaser! I imagine some of you can totally relate. Oprah said her philosophy and the philosophy of the magazine is to fill your own cup so you have bounty to share with others. The problem here is that we people pleasers often forget to fill our own cup FIRST.



I have lost track of how many New Years have passed by with me saying once again that I will do more writing and I will finish the book on Creating a Haven of Peace..........In a Broken World that I have been writing and formulating for probably 15 years. And now another year has passed and I think I wrote one chapter towards that goal. I have heard Dan say over and over that if it is important enough you will put it first priority........and obviously it hasn't been important enough. The truth of those words rankle. I sometimes want to slap him silly when he says things like that.........but in my head I know he is right and that Oprah is right and that if I don't take time to regenerate and take care of me and my own house, everything else suffers. I tell others to do that all the time. Yet, obviously I don't practice what I preach.



So this year I am going to concentrate on me and my house. It means saying no to a lot of people and events and circumstances. And that is going to be a major problem for me. But I am going to work hard at it and learn to say, "No..........I am sorry but that doesn't line up with my goals for this year." or better yet, "No......I have another commitment that day!" And I do.............A commitment to myself!



I wish you all an incredible New Year full of miracles and God's richness. I encourage you to read O Magazine for January and I also encourage you to read Ken Gire's Windows of the Soul. I have read it, studied it and taught it..........and apparently somewhere along the way I forgot to take it to heart........but I intend to revisit that book and once again learn to take time out to see God in everything around me and to REST in that glory and abundance...........and learn that taking care of me is NOT self-serving but is a principle that is necessary in order to share the bounty with everyone around me.