Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

"Take it easy!" Easy to say...

I received a Mothers' Day card from an old friend who advised me to do something nice for myself. She says in the card, "Gift yourself a specific time, during which you let go of e-mail and let your voice mail answer any phone calls."

Hahahahaha! As nice as she is and as well as this may work for her, not answering my mail or phone would kill me, being the wacky person that I am. Anyhow, most of the time, I don't feel rushed, and when I do, I like the rush. I guess to each her own.

This brings me to the advice books that come in nice, neat, little packages with meditations etc. These I believe are money-making gimmicks for their writers, but are not really useful for the public. If they worked, one book or one CD or tape of relaxation would be enough for the entire population.

On the other hand, each such book I glimpsed into lately is the boiled over, stale revision of the same idea. I have to say, "Writers, beware! You are turning into the bad reruns on TV."

For me, what works is listening to music, or walking on the beach, or because of the storm Andrea's washing out our beaches, walking through a nursery and enjoying the flowers. Then, I like to sit and enjoy a good book, also. And if in the middle of it the phone rings, I can answer that, too.