It’s an interesting contrast to move from last month’s theme of surviving hard times to this month’s topic of making your life easier in the summertime. Yet, what better moment to make your life easier than when it seems harder? It’s all in our perspective.

As grandparents who have lived longer than the younger members of our families, we have a broader view to bring to any current situation.  We’ve all know hard times before, right?  We know what it takes to survive whatever the challenges have been in our lives. We know that life goes on after death, loss and even tragedy. We’re also aware that what matters is our response, not what challenge presents itself.

Get more of what you already know

One approach is to look at our life and see what already makes it easy.  What brings us comfort, peace and pleasure?  Can we do more of that?

The small things make a big difference

It can be a very small thing.  I have an orange liquid medicine that I take daily and it comes in an ugly brown plastic bottle.  One day, a vinegar and oil bottle I had bought but was too small to be useful caught my eye.  I transferred the medicine to that glass bottle. It now looked pretty. Each morning I take pleasure in the sparkle of the orange color through the glass and also enjoy celebrating my own cleverness.

Is there a small part of your day that you could make more beautiful?  Perhaps you could even involve a grandchild in a project to create something new. 

How do you spend your time?

I have also found that it can be very helpful to look at how I spend my time.  I might keep a time log for one day or longer.  If you try it, you may be in for some surprises!  I don’t do this with the intention to start multitasking and getting lots more done – I’ve learned that’s a quick way to burnout! I have used it more to structure real time off in my day.  That means not just what I am doing, but what I’m thinking about. 

Send your mind out to play

My mind has more trouble than the rest of me regarding time off.  I might be lying on a beach in Hawaii but my mind is still trying to figure out the best way to address a problem at work.  So I have a mantra that I use to talk to the part of me that has trouble relaxing: “This is play time.  Please come back at (fill in my next work time).”   It may sound strange to talk to parts of yourself but, as a therapist, I can assure you it can be very helpful!  In fact, there’s a whole therapy approach called Internal Family Systems that teaches you how to do this effectively.

So find the simple ways to make your life easier – time off and beauty.  Enjoy the beginning of summer!