Sanctify Your Sundays

I would gratefully say that about 98% of the things I have to do throughout my week I love doing.  That includes all of it – work, home, leisure, Jon, the dog… whatever.  Still, during 6 days of the week I operate on some attempted schedule, a ‘To Do” list, deadlines and commitment to others.

Pull out confession!  The other 2% is usually house cleaning related.

I don’t exactly know when it happened, but Sundays are, for me,  a totally free form day.  No lists, no work emails or texts, I don’t even think about the love projects I want to lose myself in.  Every thing takes on a slower pace and is approached by the question, “Mmm… what would feel yummy right now?”

I always liken it to floating.  I’ll wake up slower, linger in my pjs longer and sometimes I’ll make an elaborate breakfast/brunch for us like a frittata or we’ll head out to breakfast.  Jon and I will chat and hang out.  There is always more lingering.  Other times, I’ll cook dinner, sometimes I won’t.  Sometimes it’s special, sometimes a creative repurposing of left overs.

The over all feel of the day is characterized by a lack of any definitive direction and a much slower rhythm.  Sundays hold a reality where every single thing is directed/motivated/inspired by what would feel most lovely, most homey and most self nurturing for that day.  I float.

This isn’t to say that these motivations don’t exist throughout the rest of my week.  It’s just that throughout the rest of my week, there are a multitude of other drives and motivations as well.

I like it this way.  It’s soothing, celebratory in a quiet, peaceful way and the food I have or make on Sundays feels more tended to, artistic, in the way I savor, in a manner that is so much more about pleasure, romance, and abundant living.  Time stretches out, less weighs on my mind and my only goal for the day is to seek out what feels good.  By the time the day is over, my soul has replenished it’s joy factor, my body is relaxed, easy, and my world is ready once more to start anew on Monday.

Tonights dinner?  Gluten free gnocchi with white sauce, basil from my mini garden.

Do you want to sanctify your Sundays?  Consider a few tips:

sanctify:

1. Set apart as or declare holy; consecrate.
2. Make legitimate or binding by religious sanction.

1.  Pace.  Linger in each moment.  Let them all be full, from the way you wake up, and the way you leave your bed, walk about your home and start your morning tea, green drink or coffee.  Slow allows for presence and for a relaxation of your mind and body.  There is no where to be.  And perhaps this is the most important thing… keep your schedule light, empty, formless.  On days you have to do things?  You can sanctify in different ways, and I’ll write about that in another post!

2.  Intention.  This is simply the act of consciously choosing this day to be set apart, declared holy, beyond any religious convention.  It is set aside and holy by virtue of the fact that a simple act, a simple carving out of 24 hours can sooth, replenish and heal a tired soul.

3.  Pleasure.  Slow wakings, comfortable pajamas, your favorite foods, books, moments in the sun on a porch… our bodies and souls respond to pleasure.  We open, release our grips and sink deeper into the present moment the minute we begin to pay attention to the pleasure of a moment and  savor.  Holy work indeed.