TreesInTheForestFito and I went to Nogales Mexico for a couple of days to celebrate his birthday with friends. We had an amazing time with lots of delicious foods, music (some of it live!) and dance.., and a ton of laughter and story telling. It was a blast.

At the same time it was such a departure from our daily routines. It was as if for two days we checked out of our lives. I don’t tend to think of my life as stressful. But, boy did I enjoy the break.

It makes me wonder how much stress in life we could actually let go of.., “I could let go of!”

By the time we got home last night I couldn’t recall anything that I have coming up this week. Meetings, engagements, bills, projects. Gone. You know what? That’s not a bad thing!

It makes me think of the old expression about “not being able to see the forest through the trees”. How often are we so close to or immersed in a situation that we can’t see the whole of it?

It is so easy to get caught up in whatever we are doing, that we can miss that it is also causing us stress. I love what I do and my life is good. But it was also perfect to step away completely. Even if it was only for two days.

What are you doing to relieve stress? Are you seeing the forest? Or are you lost in the trees? I realize we are not all in either/or situations… But if someone had said to me I needed to take a break; I would have thought they were crazy.

We live in a time where we try to cram so much into the time that we have. Multi-tasking is over-valued. Many of us have become master jugglers, without even knowing it! No wonder time flys by so quickly. We have it filled to overflowing.

Take a moment to breathe today. Just a few deep breaths. Quiet your thoughts of things-to-do and simply let your mind wander. Try not to follow the thoughts to completion. Instead just observe where your thoughts want to go. Maybe you’ll discover like I did this weekend that there are a lot of things that simply want to slip away! Like thinning some of the trees in the forest!

Yeah, I think I’ll have that kind of day!

If you would like to see photos from our weekend… Click here: Photos
With Light, Love, and Laughter
Charles