Last time I checked there were still 24 hours in a day. The reason I write this is because my TBR list will soon match my height, which means that I need more hours in the day to conquer my reading goal or my books will move from being a pastime to a full-blown tenant. Perhaps I should squelch my love for reading so that I possess fewer books? Nah. But even if I did, this still wouldn’t answer my need for more time in the day.
Since I like to find connections between seemingly unrelated problems, this moment was perfect for an exploration of accumulating books and disappearing time. Maybe my answer awaited me in the column of books peeking through the doorway.
Now it was time to build the team: my solution-focused mindset and my habit of using resources on hand. Next, I moved closer to my book stack on yeast, and I grabbed the first title I touched. Did I mention that I closed my eyes so my selection would be random?
Slowly opening my eyes, I was greeted by this rich, yellow-colored book titled, Practical Ayurveda by Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre.
Now, the team had to figure out how Ayurveda—of which I have little knowledge—related to the TBR books and time.
Let’s start with Ayurveda, which to summarize Google, is a health and wellness practice that encourages people to support the balance between the mind, body and spirit.
Reading this reference book helped me in so many ways and I decided to start with the pillar of “body.” I learned about my dosha and how choosing certain foods would have different effects on my body as well as which foods worked best with my dosha.
With this knowledge, I was able to see how my nutritional choices impact my physical energy, and my mental health, which tie into my ability to support my spiritual growth. Now that I was ramping up the balance between these three factors, I could see a solution emerging to my core problem. Time wasn’t the issue but rather my choice on how I was spending my time. Simply put, I needed to reclaim my time, and to do that, I used the book for guidance.
By choosing foods that aligned with my dosha’s needs, I noticed I felt mentally energized and yet relaxed. And my ability to focus more on my soul’s awareness was enhanced. I felt complete. Another way to describe this feeling is to say that I could recognize how to support and nurture my dosha so I could feel my best.
The new version of my best self could see clearly now…as the lyrics to the song go, and I became aware that my feeling about a lack of time was just that, a feeling, from a stressor. So, I acknowledged my stressors and saw that one issue was related to my choice of not setting boundaries. The outcome was that I reclaimed some time. My perspective moved out of victimhood over to the I-have-more-time-now-and-how-am-I-going-to-spend-it cul-de-sac.
Moving to this new and positive space helped me to read another book, then another, and then several more. Now my TBR list is getting shorter, and I don’t feel that I lack time to do what I love: read!
The best takeaway for me is that I made effective use of a resource I already had on hand, my book. This action supported a new choice: to respect my process of exploring “seemingly unrelated problems,” and this choice led me to a solution. We sometimes forget that we don’t have to give up who we are to solve challenges we face.
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