Like children, we all need time outs. Time to be by ourselves and with our feelings.  Time to ponder our actions and how kind and caring we’ve been, where we need to pick up our game, be a better friend to ourselves, and apologize for giving into guilt and shame and buying into stories that only serve to bring us down.

When we were children, timeouts were mandated as punishments:

"Go to your room. Think about what you have done.

Wait till your father gets home. What’s the matter with you?"

Now we can upgrade our timeouts to a welcomed respite from the rest of the world, to spend time in nature or in a place that exudes peace, a loving sanctuary where no one judges us, including ourselves.

The internet, computer screens, and cell phones sap our energy. 

Whatever happened to live conversations, getting to know each other, and hanging out?  Whatever happened to a quiet time when nothing much was happening, spending time reading a book, just hanging out?

Sometimes when we have still moments, we don’t know what to do with ourselves. 

The world has quieted down but we’re still spinning, our mind is running at warp speed and our resting pulse feels like it’s running a 10K. 

We need to retrain our bodies, minds, and emotions to deactivate hyperdrive, breathe deeply, and be with ourselves.

It’s not rocket science. It’s common sense from the heart.  Overstimulation is impacting our health, disconnecting us from nature, and impacting our ability to give and receive love.  Less is more.

Going from 75 mph to 40 could tax our patience, leading to irritability and a ‘let’s go, let’s go already!” mentality.  And slowing down from warp to docking speed could be our time to breathe out, be grateful for the journey, and feel into the learning, what we’ve learned, and how we’ve grown. 

It’s our perspective and attitude that matters.  It’s our outlook on life that helps to set the table for what comes next. 

If you were to schedule your next timeout, where would you go? How would it be? 

Part of the wonder of timeouts is planning and visualizing the journey. 

What will I do?

How will it be to slow down, ponder, journal, and reflect?

How can I bring myself with calm assurance?

How can I arrive with generosity of spirit in my heart?

There is no ‘getting there’. We will always be a work in progress no matter how much we wake up to our hearts’ knowing. No matter how much we evolve and grow.

Timeouts are intermezzos, the sorbet that cleanses our palate between the events of our life.

Timeouts give us a fresh start. They help us to close the book where the learning is complete, the lesson is over, we get it, and have integrated it into our hearts.

Timeouts help us to place that book back on the shelf; it's served its purpose, and it's time to let go.

Timeouts give us the space to close the door of the old behind us and walk through that new door that’s been beaconing to us, waiting for us to have the courage and wisdom to know that the new is there for us.

Timeouts are a time for heartfelt gratitude for the learning and growth, for curiosity and a sense of wonder about what comes next, what new adventures are possible.

There’s time and space to be at peace with our mistakes, to drop the judgment, and to love and nurture ourselves.  Time to rediscover ourselves with a thankful heart.

Timeouts are an important part of life. 

And, if the truth be told, we can breathe and be with ourselves every day, welcoming a moment or two or more to invite a timeout into our heart of hearts, to be with ourselves, to love ourselves and the journey, to love life and the gift of being embodied on Planet Earth with an accelerated opportunity to be more, do less and grow.

The more we appreciate these moments, our timeouts, the more we love ourselves enough to make them a part of our lives, the more the universe inside of us opens and we can remember who we are and why we’re here:

I am an aspect of Source.

I am grateful to be here now.

I am choosing to bring love to everything in my life.