{"id":1586,"date":"2013-11-02T14:32:51","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T20:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/?p=1586"},"modified":"2013-11-02T14:32:51","modified_gmt":"2013-11-02T20:32:51","slug":"serenity-tranquility-calm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/?p=1586","title":{"rendered":"Serenity, tranquility, calm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serenity<\/strong>: the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; sereneness<\/em><\/p>\n

Serene<\/strong>: calm, peaceful, or tranquil; unruffled<\/em><\/p>\n

Calm<\/strong>: freedom from agitation, excitement, or passion; tranquility; serenity<\/em><\/p>\n

Tranquil<\/strong>: free from commotion or tumult; peaceful; quiet; calm<\/em><\/p>\n

I love serenity.\u00a0 It’s probably on my mind because I have been in need of it.\u00a0 October was a busy month, with the weekdays, weeknights, and weekends being full of activity.\u00a0 Now, I can handle busy-ness…for a time.\u00a0 But if I don’t get some downtime, some time to myself without interruptions…I start to get irritable; my anxiety and stress levels go up.\u00a0 It’s not good!<\/p>\n

Last weekend I was starting to feel it.\u00a0 And even though I got a little time to myself, it wasn’t enough.\u00a0 Today has been much better.\u00a0 I’ve had a few HOURS to sit in my office, in my comfy chair, with the candles burning and relaxing music playing in the background, and I’ve been able to read and write.\u00a0 That’s what I like to do for my downtime.\u00a0 And I really appreciate the fact that my husband understands this and respects this (he’s been keeping the children out of my hair today).<\/p>\n

I know I’ve written about this before, but I don’t think I can emphasize it enough.\u00a0 We ALL need serenity!\u00a0 I am an introvert and I naturally ‘re-charge’ when I get time alone.\u00a0 But extroverts need serenity, too (my husband is an extrovert and there are times when he needs to “get away”).<\/p>\n

I feel so much better when I can re-charge.\u00a0 I am more ‘present’ for my family and friends.\u00a0 I have more energy.\u00a0 I am in a better mood.\u00a0 The benefits go on and on.\u00a0 And yet, there are so many people who don’t intentionally take time out for themselves.\u00a0 A friend of mine mentioned that she had a very rare evening of being alone on her hands, she had lots of housework to do but she really just wanted to watch a movie… and she didn’t know if she should feel guilty about it.\u00a0 Why would a person feel guilty about that?\u00a0 Are we conditioned in our society to feel guilty for ‘inactivity’, for ‘serenity’?\u00a0 Has this been de-valued?\u00a0 And we wonder why we are so stressed?!?!<\/p>\n

Granted, I have not always lived this way (as I’ve mentioned before).\u00a0 It was my husband who modeled the value of solitude.\u00a0 Deep down in my heart I had always wanted this but I didn’t think it was ‘allowed’ for me.\u00a0 I don’t know if this is worse for women and caregivers but it certainly was for me.\u00a0 I grew up with the impression that I needed to take care of everyone else’s needs and that my own needs weren’t important.\u00a0 And somehow I thought this was healthy.\u00a0 It wasn’t.\u00a0 As I’ve said before, I am a better person when I’ve had some serenity, and that naturally trickles through to the relationships in my life.\u00a0 And the opposite is true.\u00a0 If I haven’t been able to re-charge, my irritability and lack of patience also trickles through to the relationships in my life.\u00a0 So it’s better for everyone if I get some time away.<\/p>\n

There’s my rant for today.\u00a0 2 days down…28 to go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Serenity: the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; sereneness Serene: calm, peaceful, or tranquil; unruffled Calm: freedom from agitation, excitement, or passion; […] Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1587,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions\/1587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/songofjoy.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}