Happy Independence Day to all of my American readers. Today is our national holiday celebrating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It’s a day of family picnics, parades, fireworks, baseball and concerts. It’s a day to celebrate freedom.
And what better way to celebrate freedom than with a four-day weekend! If you’re lucky to have the next few days off, here’s five steps to a blissfully unproductive weekend:
1. Change Your Mindset, If Only For the Weekend: If you have a workaholic, productivity proves validity mindset like me, you don’t relax easily. Why not try changing your mindset for just a weekend? Everyone needs time to relax and recharge and anyone who thinks they are productive 24/7 is just kidding themselves anyway. So go ahead, throw relentless productivity to the wind and resolve to be blissfully unproductive this weekend. You can always go back to being a crazed workaholic on Monday.
2. Unplug From Your Electronics: Put the stresses and obligations of the work week on hold by separating yourself from your cell phone, tablet or laptop. Deliberately unplugging makes a statement to yourself and others, “I choose to relax and be blissfully unproductive for a few days.”
Go one step further and seek out silence. As Deepak Chopra said, “Silence is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it. There is no substitute for the creative inspiration, knowledge, and stability that come from knowing how to contact your core of inner silence.”
3. Stay in the Moment: As hard as it is to unplug from your electronics, it’s even harder to unplug from your monkey mind. You know what monkey mind is – the incessant chatter of worry, “should’s,” “what if’s,” and past/future focus. When the chatter starts building, take a breath and stop. In that moment of awareness, you create a gap that allows you to recognize the noise for what it is, before it takes you away with it. Practicing “catch and release” of your monkey mind thoughts, keeps you present in the here and now and focuses your mind on one thing at a time.
4. Have Fun: Fun is not a luxury. Let me repeat: Fun is not a luxury. In fact, fun is necessary to a healthy life. Spontaneous fun is great and happens more often when you’re in the moment. But planning for fun is as important as planning your meals. This is a great weekend to go to a concert, parade, family picnic or watch fireworks. It’s also a great weekend to have sex, read a book, lie in a hammock, or make banana bread. Fun doesn’t have to be big and noisy. Fun is whatever feeds your soul and makes you feel more alive. Go have fun.
5. Reconnect With Loved Ones: Sometimes we’re so overwhelmed with obligations, schedules, responsibilities and appointments that we forget to really be with the people we love. If you turn off the TV, phone and laptop; stay in the moment and go looking for fun, guess where you’ll end up? Reconnecting with friends and family! That’s the message of this adorable video. Enjoy!
May you have a wonderful, blissfully unproductive weekend!
Survival > Existence,
Related Posts:
Are You Spending Too Much Time with Technology?
The Survivor’s Nest – Family Togetherness
Comments
Rest & Healing
Hi Judi:
You’ve been through a lot, with more to go. I hope you were able to spend the weekend resting and healing.
Survival > Existence,
Debbie
What a great and positive
What a great and positive post! I love how you mentioned to cut off any electronic devices, such as phones and tablets. These devices tend to disconnect us from those around us, which is why it’s important to disconnect from it every now and then! Thanks for sharing!
Where We Go Now 
Radiation
Hi I have had two surgeries for one little lump Had a severe infection post op
(in breast) now raciation? I don’t think so! Judi D