Take a Little Me Time

60 minutes of self-care for your weekend

I hope you had a good week and are giving yourself a bit of me-time today. I went to get a massage this week and despite the masseuse pushing and pulling, kneading and rubbing; at the end of the session the masseuse said, “mada.” This means not yet in Japanese. I was still kind of stiff from weeks of sitting in the same chair from 8am to 7pm while working every day. The realization I came to was that I don’t give myself time to just appreciate me. I used to take Sundays to read the paper from cover to cover and just get a new perspective on life. That really helped to provide a mental reset. It is with this spirit that I give you these 11 stories written by ILLUMINATION writers this week. All told, you should be able to finish them in about an hour. So grab your favorite beverage, find a relaxing spot and enjoy these wonderful stories.

One good way to get into your relaxation space is with an immersive soundtrack. Julius Dee shares a natural audio therapy technique you can use to decompress in his story The Benefits of Listening to Rain.

Two nice stories about fathers this week by Mila and Jackie Madden Haugh.

Living so far from my parents, I often long for just sharing some space with my dad, especially as American Football season begins. And when I get to spend time with my kids, well it is a blessing I savor for weeks and weeks.

I did my first Facebook Lives this week to introduce my book, Win the Day: How to win your daily battles with stress, anxiety and depression. One of the questions I was asked frequently was about living as your authentic self. Vuyo Ngcakani, Josh O'Neill, Andy Murphy and Kristle Chester all provide insights for doing that.

Sometimes, like me, we need to move away in order to develop into the person we were meant to be and Joseph Atzinger shares some of the benefits of that in his story, Moving to a Small Town.

My recommendations would not be complete without some culture to brighten your day. Jan Sebastian talks about the art of sushi in her piece Sushi Chefs Are Artist. Indeed, whether you order a pair of sushi, a whole plate or a sushi roll, the beauty of the presentation is a part of the magic of sushi.

Did you know that some countries have adapted crypto as their official currencies? Well, Passiveblog explains how this is happening in El Salvador. Then tells about some of the benefits and issues surrounding the transformation. It’s a fascinating read.

And finally, I’ll leave you as I came in, with a story about the importance of getting out in nature. The Mountain Is Calling Me Today is a beautiful reflective poem from A. Grace that is a good way to wind up an hour of me-time.

Hope you enjoy these stories and have a wonderful day.

ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Tree Langdon, Brian E. Wish, PhD, Dr Ron Pol, Dr Michael Heng, Paul Myers MBA, Karen Madej, Joe Luca, Dipti Pande, Kevin Buddaeus, Kate Maxwell, Arthur G. Hernandez, Bill Abbate, Michael Patanella, Aurora Eliam, CMP, René Junge, Geetika Sethi, Ahmed Jamal, Britni Pepper, Selma, Earnest Painter, Dew Langrial, B. A. Cumberlidge. Lanu Pitan, Agnes Laurens, EP McKnight, MEd, CR Mandler MAT, Sumera Rizwan, Liam Ireland, Tony Young, Jr., Neha Sandhir S, Desiree Driesenaar, Stuart Englander, Ntathu Allen, Thewriteyard, Haimish Mead, Maria Rattray, Cristo Lopez, PhD, Dr Preeti Singh, Holly Kellums, Kristina Segarra, Yohanan Gregorius, Audrey Malone,janny’s heart, Sabana Grande, Jennifer Friebely, Zen Chan, Aamir Kamal 🚀🚀🚀,[arlie] PEYTON, Georgia Dimitrious, Kim Petersen, Josh Balerite Acol, Noorain Hassan, BMS, Mallika Vasak, Ikram Al Mouaswas, George Blue Kelly, Scott Hughey (TheWriteScott), Claire Kelly, Pranjal Saxena, Aldric Chen, Bryan Dijkhuizen, JS Adam, Regi Brittain