slow

off the hook…

~ Maya C ~ Leave a comment

It’s early on a Saturday morning. 

I’m up, alert, and enjoying the quiet before the day gets going.

Right before I disappeared to bed last night, I wrote this in my journal…

I’ve been thinking a lot about how finite life is, how this is really it and how each day passes without a do-over. I guess for some people that would serve as a stern kick in the butt – a motivator to get going, start doing, and be someone more. For me, after almost 30 years of pedal-to-the-metal overachieving, I just want to slow down and live. I already feel like life is passing me by and I might totally miss it if I don’t slow down soon.

Being alive is a privilege. I want a long life filled with love (friends and family), great food (coffee!) and the occasional adventure. I want dinner dates and pretty things. I want trips to far away places and cozy weekends at home. I want to savour life and not feel like I’m on a speeding training racing towards the proverbial next step (do we ever get there? where is there?) I want to read books and loiter, and occasionally do yoga. I want to write in my journal about all of the things I want. I want the life I already have… 

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So, with that, I’m letting myself off the hook. Again.

Happy Saturday! 

Much love.

mxo

snowy quote…

~ Maya C ~ Leave a comment

It’s absolutely stunning outside – white, crisp and so perfectly sunny. Days like this are why I adore winter.

SNOW!

On this beautiful day, I leave you with this gem:

We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap

Anthony Hopkins  
(Source: that kind of woman)

Much love,
mxo

just be…

~ Maya C ~ Leave a comment

I’m back from sunny paradise (a.k.a. Nica)…

… back to this:

But alas, c’est la vie.

Nica is this incredible place where I can truly let my body, mind and soul rest. It’s the place where I can really connect with myself and those I’m fortunate enough to spend my holiday with. On this trip, someone said something offhandedly that really resonated:

“you can tell she just let’s herself be. she just is.”

Hmmm.

This culture of ours is so goal-focused, so driven, so speedily pursuing some future version of something that I think we often forget the art of just being.

How often do you let yourself just ride the subway or bus without checking your phone, reading or listening to music? How often do you just sit there and take in the ride?

How often do you have a conversation with someone when you’re truly listening to them, without thinking about what you’ll say next or what they might be thinking of you? How often are you just there?

I wrote about this awhile ago, but I feel like it needs to be said again (translation: I need to hear it again). But really, how often do you just let yourself be?

Once you move past the initial anxiety of not moving at 1,000 miles a minute, you might just find that there’s something so beautiful in the stillness. It’s actually quite joyous.

So much love,
mxo