Do you need a beach day?

I went to the beach last Sunday.  It was the most incredible time.  Not because I was at the beach, although that was nice.  Yes, it was beautiful.  It was sunny, low 80’s so it wasn’t too hot.  Yes, I had my SPF 50 on as well as a shirt & hat to cover up when needed.

The waves were crashing in.  The sand was warm on my bare feet.  My grandnieces were laughing and playing.  The best part of all of this?

I actually took the day off.  Not just that I physically showed up at the beach but I mentally showed up.  I shut down all parts of my brain that wanted to focus on work. I did not think about my clients.  I did not review my to-do list.  I was not worried about the economy or the evil government trying to destroy my country.  I put it all aside.

I took the day completely off and showed up 100% for my family.  My brother and adult niece were visiting.  We were able to walk the beach, swim, jump into the waves with the 3- and 4-year-old and just relax.

I was able to relax and enjoy.  Even though Monday was a major tax season day, I did not think about it one iota.

How many of you have not had a beach day on a while?

How many of you need to be able to shut the phone off, shut the TV and radio off, ignore your emails and just get away.

Sometimes we think we need to go away someplace to get away from it all.  Yes, that is really good too and serves a different purpose.  But sometimes you just need to get away from it all right where you are.

When I was in music school, many, many years ago. I did an exercise in “The Artists Way” by Julie Cameron. The exercise was that for one week, you could have no outside media influences. No radio, no TV, no books, nothing. It was you and you alone along with the people you interacted with.

It was a great experiment. It’s a great exercise to get closer to God and hear his voice better too. When I cam back from this week of “media hiatus”, I sat down in the lab and wrote the most beautiful song that I have ever written. It’s called “The Truth”. I wrote it in 10 minutes. Astounding. Okay, the Holy Spirit was downloading it to me. But without that week of silence it never would have happened. Now, 22 years later, I am actually recording that song. What’s even more astounding is that, at the time, I did not have a relationship with God.

But back to you.  You need to take a beach day on a regular basis.  Your beach day may be a couch day, it may be a pool day, it may be a hiking day or camping day or stay in bed all day.  Whatever your beach day looks like for you, you need to take it. 

When things seem to be going amok, your mental health is more important than ever.  Taking care of yourself is more important than ever.

Taking time off, giving your brain a break and just relaxing is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.

If your mind is one of those that can never stop and constantly has to chew on something, this can be hard for you at first.  But with practice, you can train your mind to stop thinking, stop worrying and stop going and just relax.

Your prayer time is key to making this happen.  When I first met God, I would sit down to pray and my mind would spin for about an hour before I could actually get to worship & praise.  That hour shrunk quickly as I got to know God better.

If you are the worrying type or a perfection type, you need to do this more than most.  Learn how to shut off your mind.  To just focus on being in the moment and enjoying.

You can train your brain and your mind.  What’s the difference between the two?  Your brain keeps working even when you are sleeping.  It tells your body to breathe and run without your thought process involved.  Your mind is the one that runs around making plans, thinking about the to-do list (highly overrated) and worrying about what is going on in the world and how it will affect your family.

The first step towards peace is to bring God into your life and then get closer to him.  He knows all and see all.  He knows what the evil governments are doing.  He knows what is going on in the economy and the energy prices and food prices that have been intentionally driven up.  He let them get away with it for a short time to wake people up.

We will have a good life on this earth, and we will get our country back and make it a great place for all.  But we have to bring God into our lives first.

We need to take care of ourselves because so many other people depend upon us.  Taking care of yourself is not selfish.  Some people use it as an excuse to be selfish and only care about themselves.  These are two different things.  If an airplane loses oxygen, you have to put your mask on and give yourself air before you can help others.

Give yourself air.  Give yourself the oxygen you need to function at a higher, better level.

When you are do tired, you can sit at your desk and slog through more work, but you aren’t as sharp, you aren’t as fast, and you probably are not as accurate.  Stop trying to be superman or super woman and take care of yourself.

Take your beach day.  Give you mind a break.  Once a week.  Shut that phone off on Sunday and ignore it.

Your mental health will improve which will help every single area of your life get better.

Take a beach day.  You’re worth it.

Peace, Love & Prosperity,

Deborah