“How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.” – Spanish proverb

The first time I read this quote, I laughed, thinking back on my time in Spain and the phrase, “Mañana.” As many people know, and maybe some of you don’t, the Spanish aren’t in a big hurry. They start work a little later than most (a lot later than Americans), take a mid-day siesta, stay up late and have a holiday for EVERY Saint where they don’t work or go to school and spend the day with family and friends, dancing, eating and enjoying life. When you ask a landlord when something can be fixed or when the internet will get hooked up, the response is usually, “Mañana.” HAHA There is no hurry.

At first I found this a bit frustrating, but things eventually changed. This slowed down way of life made me slow down. For the first time in my life I wasn’t in such a rush, I wasn’t trying to fill every minute of every day with something. I started to enjoy the simple things: walking through the city, lying in the grass at the park, enjoying a cafe con leche at a cafe on the sidewalk, listening to the locals speak and laugh and taking in everything the Catalan culture had to offer me….every.last.drop!

I learned so much about myself by just doing nothing, enjoying the moment and then resting afterwards, in my head going through all that I learned during the silence of “nothing.” But, what I always thought was nothing, was everything! It was the most beautiful time of my life, when I did nothing and then rested afterwards. Slow down, what are you in such a hurry for? Enjoy your life, nature, the silence, the sound and feeling of laughter and, remember, we don’t come out of this life alive, so live it! Take time to RELAX and take it all in…every.last.drop!

If you’ve never mediated, try it. Click the picture below (courtesy of Melissa Amason taken while visiting Barcelona) sit back, close your eyes and clear your mind while listening to my favorite song to meditate to. I promise, you won’t miss ANYTHING and you will gain EVERYTHING!