1. The 10 Minute Solution workout DVD series. I received the Fat Blasting Dance Mix and Rapid Results Pilates DVDs for Christmas. Each DVD has five 10 minute workouts targeting different things. You can just do one or you can use the DVD to string them together in any order if you want to do more. Hubby even tried these and liked them. Kids would enjoy the Dance Mix. Even if you don’t feel well, the stretching section on the Pilates DVD is wonderful. It really helps release tension in my back after sitting at work all day.

2. I walk with Hubby to the coffee shop and take the bus from there on weekday mornings. This adds 20 minutes to my morning routine, but wakes me up gently with a brisk walk. It is also a nice time to chat with Hubby. I’ve read many articles reporting that the average American couple only gets 15 minutes to chat a day. Hubby and I have already beat the average by the time we get to work. I also feel more relaxed when I get to work, because I had a slower, stress-free start to the day.

3. Write or draw something. I post to this blog. I often spend more than 10 minutes a day, but even just writing a quick poem or doing a quick sketch helps ease my mind. Write or draw about something you are worried about or something that is on your mind. Maybe send a friend an email or written letter – it really is therapeutic.

4. Learn a language. Hubby and I have been talking about going to Portugal for a few years now. This year, I bought Hubby the Pimsleur Euorpean Portuguese Interactive Lessons CD. Each lesson is only 30 minutes and today we started our “a lesson on Sunday mornings” plan. Not only is this something the entire family can do (the cats are really good at rolling their “r’s”), it is supposed to be a good Alzheimer’s-fighting brain building exercise.

5. Learn and play a musical instrument. I progress pretty well if I practice banjo just 20 mintues a day. I take a 30 minute lesson once a week. Get the whole family involved and you have a band!

6. Pull out that crockpot on Sundays and make a meal that will last a few nights. Making a crockpot meal only takes about 30 minutes “hands on” time and then you have a nice sit down dinner for the fam on busy Monday night. I made pot roast, pork tenderloin, and black beans and rice recently. All of these crockpot left-overs can be used in different ways for multiple nights (one night I stuffed bell peppers with the beans and rice, smothered them with cheese, baked about 10 minutes in the oven, deeeelicious!).

7. Get a Playstation 2 and play DDR, Taiko Drum Master, or Guitar Hero. Yes, you snobs, these are video games but they are interactive. You won’t get brainwashed into shooting up the neighborhood by these games. (geesh) You can work-up a sweat doing them. You will laugh a lot when you play them. Your kids will love playing them with you (so will your in-laws, siblings, and grand-parents). The only trouble is, it is hard to keep to just 10 minutes – though I can’t physically do more than an hour DDR without completely collapsing! For some non-physical but waaaaay hilarious, bizarre, and non-traditional fun try Katamari or Rayman – Ravin’ Rabbids.

8. Put on a song that makes you feel good, crank it up, and dance baby dance! Suggested songs are “I’m so Glad” by Cream, or “I can see for Miles and Miles” by The Who (both of these require super loud singing along). Anything by System of the Down rocks my world. “Mach 5″ by Presidents of the United States of America, “I Wanna be Sedated” by the Ramones. My cats love this! They start tearing around the house. I suspect kids will do the same thing!

9. Set up an obstacle course for your cats (or dog, or kid, or ferret….whatever is around). My cats are indoors cats because I live on a super main thoroughfare and I prefer 3-dimensional cats over the mushed variety. I noticed that whenever something is moved out of place, like furniture, or their toy basket, or if a new box is plunked in the middle of the floor, they go crazy. Just putting a kitchen chair in the living room incited an all out play-war between the two cats (one on the chair, the other underneath the chair). Making tunnels out of newspapers and boxes is also a favorite.

10. Sit in a sauna! If you join a gym, make sure it has a sauna. This makes me feel so good. I can’t really describe it other than I am warm, and it smells like the woods at Lake Tahoe, and it makes my head clear (literally and figuratively). If you don’t belong to a gym, take more than 30 minutes and treat yourself to a sauna at a place like Löyly where you can lounge around for up to three hours for a $20 entry fee. (Often your local YMCA will have a sauna and a cheaper day fee.) If you want to do something cheap at home, lay on your bed and cover your face with a steaming hot cloth for a few minutes. Then put Earth Therapeutics Recover-E Cucumber eye pads over your eyes. It feels pretty good, only takes 10 minutes, and it does help the puffiness under my eyes go down temporarily.

The Labyrinth walk is a sacred tradition that goes back thousands of years and is found in many different Eastern and Western Religions. To read more about the history and spirituality of the labyrinth go to http://www.sacredwalk.com/.

Basically, there are several Labyrinth designs. The idea is to start at the beginning with an intention. An intention can be a mantra or a problem you want to consider during your walk. My intention was to completely clear my mind. I wanted a blank mind by the end of the walk.

A labyrinth is not a maze. A labyrinth has only one path. While the path is winding, it is very clearly marked and predictable. It is hard to get lost in a labyrinth. The idea is that getting to the center of the labyrinth is like leaving life and journeying to a heart of spirtuality. Often people have epiphonies at the center of the labyrinth. Exiting the center is like going back into life with your new-found clarity.

So, I went on this walk. It was at an Episcopal church. These Labyrinths were cloth and therefore, portable. We had to take off our shoes to walk on them. A lot of other people were there. Some prayed and rang a little bell when they entered the Labyrinth. I did not do this. Many seemed to pray as they walked. Some actually pressed their palms together in front of their heart, others did breathing exercises. I just walked. A lot of people stopped at the center to pray. I gave a respectful pause and moved along.

I’ve never been good at meditating. My mind is easily distracted. I read once that this is bad because I can never get close to God if I can’t clear my mind (this was not in reference to a Christian God, but in my world God is God – everybody pretty much wants to be at peace, have love, have a nice afterlife, and somehow reach a pinnacle of spirtuality). Of all the many things people have told me will keep me from God (and believe me I’ve heard a lot on this) this one actually bothered me a little. I’ve worked on using mantras, but I can never remember them and that distracts me! I just want to be able to totally zone out and have nothing in that noggin’ of mine. Pure, sweet, empty space. What a relief that would be!

Labyrinth walks are often done in silence, but at this particular event, a harpist was playing. She played Pachelbel’s Canon which was the song Hubby and I were married to. I thought this was a nice symbolic thing to happen during my walk. I had a little trouble not laughing during the walk. Hubby had threatened to leap into the room dressed as a Minotaur and yell, “Raaaarrrrrrrr!!” during this walk. The room we were in had an entire wall in clear glass that looked out on a garden. I kept getting an image of Hubby leaping through the glass, dressed as a furry huge minotaur – glass shards spilling over the labyrinth. The breathers and prayers shaking out of their reveries with screams and scattering in all directions. The harpist shrieking and running. Me standing there in the labyrinth, doubled over laughing hysterically. This caused a funny little smile to play on my lips during my walk.

I had no epiphony in the center. I did not burst into tears. No lightning struck. God didn’t tell me what the one true religion is or to start some new sect of worship.

Something a little strange did happen to me, though. As I left the center and moved back toward ‘the outside world’ I got scared that I was turned around and heading back to the center. I started to have a mild panic attack. My heart started to race, my breathing became shallow, and I felt dizzy. I took some deep breaths and tried to get ahold of myself. I stopped and looked ahead. I realized that I was ok. I wasn’t turned around, and I continued successfully out of the Labyrinth.

I don’t know for sure what this means – if you believe as many do that this meditation can be quite meaningful. My journey to the center was really happy and silly. I’d say I was almost giddy. My journey away from the center back outside resulted in a near panic attack. (But was my panic over fear of heading back to the center, fear of heading back out, or fear of just being plain lost?) While I can’t articulate it well, I think I might understand it a little. I certainly feel safer and happier closer to my center than I do outside. I force myself to reach outward and take risks. Boy – do I get slapped around a lot for that too! I also get rewarded for it. Still, I’d rather stay internal, at my center, and safe. Sometimes I’m afraid that I’ll get stuck at the center and become agoraphobic. I fear I’ll become the boy in Silent Snow, Secret Snow. That is why I force myself to get out and do things, meet people, try stuff.

Whether or not you believe in spirituality or meditation, a labyrinth walk is something you should try at least once. It really is mired in history. It really is a religious practice that crosses all walks of life (Buddhist, Hindu, Christian – and many more). Labyrinths are pieces of art, so it is an artistic experience as well. Also, it is a grand people-watching adventure.

Here is a great website that locates labyrinths near you. Give it a whirl! Take a window of time and try something really different and really peaceful.

While I cook nightly (with organic, local produce), Hubby cooks only for special occasions. While I try to take 30 minutes to an hour to prep dinner, Hubby takes the whole day. Hubby made braised lamb shanks served over a bed of polenta with home-made olive bread and a delicious Merlot from Keenan Winery – an off the beaten path place we discovered on our “slow” (because we drank all that wine) vacation in Napa a few years ago. For dessert, he served home-made lemon cardamom ice-cream with Stroopwaffles (a discovery I made while in the Netherlands.)

While he cooked, I visited with my friend who just had knee-surgery and her baby (my Godson). We made Mr. Pumpkinhead, munched on delicious Italian subs from Geraldi’s – a favorite local deli, chatted about this and that, and watched the baby roll around on the floor.

On TBYT day, we slept in a little then ate breakfast at a restaurant in a neighborhood we like to go to but rarely visit due to lack of time. We went to a movie (which we hardly ever do)! We came home and relaxed, ate leftovers from the previous day’s feast, and felt very relaxed.

It was inspiring and I realized that I need desperately to find a way to be more slow-paced and to put Hubby and my friends first (before work). Hubby and the friend I spent the day with have been supportive companions for a lot longer than any job or even any career, I’ve ever had. These are the constants in my life and the positive things in my life. Actually, I really need to put myself first too. Just feeling this relaxed – like the whole day was a deep breath of clean, fresh air – shows how important it is to take back some time from the race.

This day is scheduled 9 weeks from the end of the year, which is the number of extra weeks worked by Americans vs. our European counterparts.

Remember, the Europeans are often held up as better than us because they are thinner, live longer, have less disease, smarter kids, blah blah blah. Gee, do you think these things – time spent working vs. the long list of what is wrong with Americans – might be related?

This year, the Take Back Your Time people are encouraging us to take “4 windows of time” between October 24 and the first of the year to do something meaningful for yourself, your family, or your community. For instance, you could take a day off to chaperone your kids class trip to the Pumpkin Patch (Grandpa Vern did this for me in Kindergarten and it is one of my favorite childhood memories!) You could take election day off and spend a little time studying the issues so you can vote your beliefs rather than doing the quick “partyline” thing. Then, you could reward yourself with a stroll through the public gardens, a trip to the libraray, a drive down a scenic highway, or whatever other community service you voted to continue to fund.

I actually started thinking about windows of time a little earlier than Timeday, and I’ve decided to journal about the things I am doing that are intentionally mindful about taking care of myself, my community, and my relationships. I also hope that the things I am doing to take back my time will result in me being a more productive and positive influence at work rather than the frustrated and negative employee I have been the last 5 years.

It is a grand experiement. Let’s see how it goes.

I started at the Take Back Your Time Day page. I subscribe to their newletter, so I was checking that out. (I recommed the Take Back Your Time book, it is a thought provoking read.)

That led me to the Simple Living America site which led me to the Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska site. I watched her episode clips and found them interesting – especially the ones on alternate energy sources, living in small homes, and the Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter Special. This lead me to check out The Carter Center website. I have a long and well-known history of a deep love of Jimmy Carter. I was a kid when he was President, and now I think I was drawn to him and his family because of their simpleness (Simple does not = dumb, by the way. By simpleness I mean they did not seem to have an unquenchable thirst for power and money.) and sincerity. I think they really were more like “the people” of America and not just pretending to be “everyday Joe” clearing the brush at the ranch while making money hand over fist from corporate America.

Additionally, the Take Back Your Time page led me to the AFLCIO website that has published the results of a 2006 survey of working women. The results are interesting, and I suspect the concerns outlined in the results apply to working men in 2006 as well.

This was a good walk through the web. It made me feel like maybe I can make some personal changes to my lifestyle that will make me happier and that also might trickle up to make a difference in my community. I left my computer with a little hope that how individuals spend their time and money does matter, and maybe we can still use our time and money to influence our leaders and the corporations they currently represent.