Do you ever come across something that feels like it was written just for you? That happened to me this week
I wrote a post about how I plan and block my time in order to use time in the most effective and productive way. All of the tips I shared are tips I use because they work for me. I hope they will be helpful to you as well. But — I have also noticed that as I plan my months and weeks and fill in all my millions of things to do into daily time blocks, it’s easy to lose sight of what I claim is most important in my life.
Last weekend I was cleaning out
In her article about teaching and leading a balanced life (an ongoing goal for many of us), Kelly uses an acronym which I love: SPREAD
(What can I say? I’m a teacher and we have acronyms for EVERYTHING in education.) 🙂
Here is a short version of what each letter in SPREAD represents.
S = Spiritual (whatever that may be for you. For me, it involves devotional and Scripture readings, prayer
P = Physical (exercise, eating healthy food, getting enough sleep)
R = Relationships (spending time connecting with people we love)
E = Enjoy (being mindful & aware of what brings you joy).
As I write this post, I am sipping a hot cup of coffee on a beautiful, snowy early morning. It’s a snow day and school is closed. I am enjoying the leisurely time, the smell of the coffee, my favorite holiday mug, the fluffy snow falling, and the view of the field behind my house that is covered with seven inches of snow.
Get the idea? Sometimes we have to remind ourselves to take a moment and notice the things that bring us joy.
A = Act. This is where we get to all those thousands of things to do. As Kelly says:
It won’t all get done today, but some will get done. It feels good to get something done. And now, with my spirit, my body, my relationships, and my outlook attended to, the work is put in its right place. The work appears now for what it is: a gift.
I love that. The work we need to get done is a gift. Today I’m going to stop and give thanks for each task that I “get” to do next (laundry because my husband and I have good clothes, grading math tests because I have a job teaching students that I love, buying Christmas gifts because I love the people who will receive them and I want to give them a token of that love).
D = Dream. Making some small amount of progress on your dream, on something that gives you hope for the future. It might be making a phone call, reading a book, writing a blog post, taking pictures.
I love Kelly’s concluding words:
I’m spread too thin. And maybe (probably) you are too. SPREAD helps me accept that fact, and remember what’s really important to me. It helps keep me in balance, working but not all about work.
So true. Yes, we are all spread too thin. But I believe that keeping the SPREAD acronym in mind as I plan a “balanced” day will keep me focused on all that truly matters to me.
To close, here is one of my favorite quotes from Rumer Godden:
“There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms, a physical, a mental, an emotional, and a spiritual . Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but unless we go into every room every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not a complete person.”
― Rumer Godden