It has only been a few hours in to the New Year’s first day and I have just woken up. I sit here in my bed typing this blog.

My kids have woken up, got their dose of holiday chocolates from me and are watching their favourite morning cartoon tv. My wife is reading articles on her tablet.

A typical day in the Valentine household in this phase of our life.

We witnessed a fantastic New Year’s Eve fireworks display on Sydney’s Harbour bridge and surrounding areas at 9pm last night. Our children loved it. My son asked to be lifted on to my shoulders on our 3 minute walk home and fell asleep by the time we returned. What a day and night it was for both of them. Stimulated on all their senses to the nth degree.

The day before, I met an old University mate at a local tavern for a few drinks and catch up as we watched Australia play test cricket on the big screen. The venue was packed. You didn’t have to strain very hard to overhear other patrons’ conversations. There were all sorts of topics – relationships, politics, the state of the economy, the state of the world and personal affairs and so on. One particular conversation struck me for the briefest of moments and it went something like this:

“Where did the year go aye mate?” I heard the person sitting in the table to the left of me say.

“I don’t know, just been so busy” came a reply.

“Yep, very busy for me too” confirmed the first speaker.

Got me thinking.

Got me thinking about time and moments and the insatiable desire to ‘rush’ through life.

As I reflect on that piece of conversation and the year that has been I ask myself questions about the speeded up, frentic culture that most of us live in our modern world and the best use of our time, of our 86,400 seconds of each day.

Most of us talk about being ‘busy’ like it was an Olympic sport. Everyone seems to be going through their day and subsequently, their year ‘busier’ than everyone else they know. So much so, that if they weren’t doing something productive, wise or useful, they would experience a sense of panic.

Have you sensed that panic?

Whilst I can understand the desire to be busy, or at least looking busy (most office workers would know this especially if there is an ‘open plan office layout’), I argue that going at ‘full throttle’ all day, every day, may not be the best use of your time.

It is important to slow down and take stock.

Maybe, just maybe you should consider just for a moment, the best use of your time at this time of the year is to do absolutely nothing instead of being ‘busy’ or looking busy to get the most out of your 2015. Yes, that’s right – do absolutely nothing before you start working on your New Year’s goals and resolutions for 2015. I am sure you and most people you know aim to or are working through goal-setting for the year already.

Sometimes, when you slow down and pause or stop for a little while, you increase your sense of awareness. This increased awareness taps in to the wisdom that is in each and every one of us and reveals answers to the questions you need answers to.

You need to be a little patient. It is worth the wait.

However, this takes a bit of courage as you need to exercise a bit of humility to admit that “you don’t know the answer” to everything and in particular, that ‘you don’t know what to do with the moment you’re in”. This takes a bit of practise. It is not as easy as it sounds.

When your subconscious mind accepts that it does not know all the answers, it sets forth a series of steps that allows this inner wisdom, this inner voice inside of you to spring forth. You just need to do one thing –

You need to quiet the mind.

By quietening the mind, you give yourself the best chance to allow that voice, that source of inspiration in you to reveal itself to you. You don’t need to wait to be inspired by people who climb Mount Everest or complete marathons. You don’t need to wait to be inspired by survivors of cancers or other killers of our time – God bless them. No, you don’t need to wait to be inspired by your teachers, your spouse, your partner or your coach. No. You don’t need to wait to get inspiration from quotes thrown about on various social media sites.

No. You just need to learn to be a little bit more patient, slow down and pause. Pause long enough to allow you to quiet the mind.

And listen.

Allow the inspiration in you to spring forth. It may take a few minutes but sometimes it may take a little longer. Be patient.

Doing absolutely nothing, not being busy, may just allow you to tap in to the inspiration – the wisdom that is in you and every one of us. This may just be the very thing that you need to help you to springboard you towards achieving your goals and New Year’s Resolutions for 2015 and beyond.

You may surprise yourself with the wealth of wisdom and the inspiration in you.

All the best!

 

Until next time,