Taking Time Out: Blog

Coming into January, our theme changes from Relaxation and Reflection to “Taking Time Out”. Why did we choose this theme? I have to say that I feel quite strongly that January isn’t the time to be trying to make significant changes to our lives. Taking Time Out is a push-back against making New Year’s Resolutions, against this idea of a new year meaning “out with the old and in with the new”.

I don’t know about you, but Winter for me is the time to cosy-in, to snuggle down and wait for Spring. That doesn’t mean I think we should just do nothing (although doing nothing is a lovely thing to do!). It’s a great time for reflection, for getting things a little more sorted within the home, even for doing things like trying new recipes and dreaming big for the year ahead. It’s just, for me, not the time to be putting lots of new things into action.

When we take time out, we create space for new ideas to emerge. When we take time out, we notice the things that we miss that we want more of, and the things we can let go. When we take time out, we have space to breathe, to dream, even space to consider the changes we can make, if we choose to. Resolutions made when we are busy are bound to fail. Ideas that come when we create space for them have time to germinate – and possibly to bloom.

There’s a couple of lines from Patricia Fargnoli’s poem “Winter Grace” that I absolutely love:

…this is the slowed-down season

held fast by darkness…

We can allow the darkness to hold us fast – and to slow down, taking inspiration from the natural world around this. Let’s slow down together.

If you’re inspired by the idea of slowing down together, we have some lovely events during January that will help us to do just that. Have a look at our events page for more, or join our online community for free by clicking the button below.