five minutes

 Welp.  I made it home from Baltimore in one piece. 

And was greeted by these guys. 

And Travis.  Of course.  My kids don’t drive cars.  On the Sabbath.

It’s 10:30pm and I’m exhausted.  I’ve got laundry to do, a bag to unpack, swag to eat and a Travis to attend to.  So rather than try to add blogging ON TOP of all that, I’m putting up another WONDERFUL guest post today.  When I asked for posts, I gave the prompt of “Lists”.  Miriam’s post really made me happy…and thoughtful about how I spend my time. 

Enjoy and come back tomorrow when I’ll wrap up Fitbloggin’! 

———– 

Seven Ways To Spend 5 Minutes

No matter how busy we are, we all can find just 5 minutes of “me time” in our day. When you really put your mind to it, 5 minutes can be an incredibly productive amount of time. Here are 7 ways to spend this little chunk of time- one for every day this week!! Join me in this challenge of reflection and productivity!

Day 1- Be Still, Be Quiet

Let’s kick this off by facing one of the most challenging feats. With so much stimulation these days, it’s hard to set aside time to just be. Find a quiet spot (no music, no people, no tv, and certainly no internet), set a timer, and get lost in your own thoughts. Does the time fly by? Does your mind race with mental lists of things to do? Does 5 minutes seem to last forever? The more you practice this, the more therapeutic it will become.

Day 2- Tabatas!!

Technically this only takes 4 minutes, so we’ll incorporate a 1 minute plank. I use my free gym boss app which has a tabata timer. Choose one exercise (I’m choosing squat jumps) and cycle through 20 seconds of all out effort followed by 10 seconds of resting, repeating until you’ve reached 4 minutes. Next come into plank position and hold for 1 minute. Who said they didn’t have time to work out?

Day 3- Practice Gratitude

Open a journal or get out a clean sheet of paper and make a list of everything you have to be grateful for. Rather than focusing on quantity, take time to reflect on each thing you list. What are you thankful for? What makes you smile? What enriches your life?

Day 4- Write a letter

Not an e-mail, not a mention, and not even a direct message. Take out a greeting card (I’m giving you 3 days to prepare) and write to someone you don’t talk to on a weekly basis. Think of how excited your recipient will be for snail mail!

Day 5- Power Clean

Cleaning doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Choose one task and work your magic. I’m going to tackle my bathroom cabinet and hope to be ruthless with tossing out old make-up.

Day 6- Face Your Fears

What is the one thing that really gets to you? Spend 5 minutes thinking about what life would be like if you weren’t plagued by this concern. For example, are you a slave to those 5 extra pounds? What is the worst case scenario if you decided to be happy as you are? If you never lost another pound could you be happy with yourself. Challenge yourself to consider why you put so much pressure on yourself in a particular area? Work through tough issues to help free you once and for all.

Day 7- Read

I’m planning on reading a couple of chapters from the Book of Psalms, my go to for inspiration!! Grab a Bible, a devotional, or even a favorite book and have at it!! There’s nothing like a good book.

I hope you’ll join in on this 35 minutes of fun. I also hope you’ll swing over to Bellaspire and check out my blog!!  Thanks Lindsay for letting me create a list for your readers :). <-(Lindsay here – thank YOU for creating the list!  I kind of love it!)  Let’s get going so we can check things off!

————

Miriam is a physician assistant by day and one of the writers behind Bellaspire at night. She started blogging with her best friend to chronicle their journey through living a balanced and healthy life.
Bellaspire was founded to encourage others to aspire for beauty in all aspects of life.

————

QUESTION:  What would YOU do with 5 extra minutes in your day??

splendid…lindsay