ME-time

Esther Dageraad is ambassador for ME-time.

What is ME-time (according to Esther) in the scheme of life?

In a nutshell:

Life is a process. Every process can be described as:
input > transformation > output ( where the output of this routine, becomes input again for the next)

Transformation is a seperate part of the process. Literally, it works best when seperated from input and output.
It works best left to it’s own devices, but it helps to aknowledge its power and needs.

In human life, transformation also takes place in having breaks, between input and output. Always.
You can either value that and give it healthy space, or deny that.

People who do the latter have a lot the tell us about dealing with depression, anxiety and various other forms of nervous break downs.

Why is ME-time essential in life?

As a way to get out of the cycle of regular break downs that hit and disable you, Esther phrases it as:
“ A spoonful of downtime in regular breaks a day, keeps the breakdown big time away!”

She states that taking a five minute ME-time break every 20 minutes is a very efective and relatively simple, easy way to be (come) comfortable with being at peace with yourself.
Yes, these short breaks where you are completely left to your own devices, are enabling you to be resourceful and decisieve in the activities and connections you engage in.

Or would you rather experience bucketloads of anger, frustration, fear, shame, guilt, worthlessness and always working hard to persue being rich, joyful, healthy and harmonious? Does that approach ever get you there?

Making time for transforming today, about 15 times, into the next ever joyful harmonious version of you, might serve you to be there, every day.

The ingredients of real quality ME-time:

It is about disconnecting to the highest extend from interacting with the outsite world.

– You disconnect from investing energy in the outside world. You do what people would callnothing and you surrender to it, for your own benefit.
– You disconnect from the task at hand. You leave the situation, you don’t pick up another task for the duration of the break.

So yes, that means on a very practical level:
– You don’t operate any devices
– You don’t eat or drink anything
– You don’t communicate with anybody else, in any way ( verbally or non-verbally)
becasue all that is putting more input into your system

To really give the ME-time an extra boost, consider to have it in touch with nature: water, animals, fire, (sun)light, plants

If ‘ doing nothing’ is difficult, there are some activities beneficial to ME-time ( as long as it is very different from the tasks you were performing:
– take a walk (slowly)
– have a shower
– go to the toilet and/or wash your hands
– lie down on a bed or sofa or grass and daydream
– whistle or sing a tune

Read more?

Read this blog post on my own experience on how a crash can go with not taking enough quality ME-time.

Or read this playful article on the Joy of Be(ad)ing, where quite clearly gets explained why it is so beneficial.