100 Day Gratitude Challenge: Day #3 - Gratitude to Sundays

Yesterday was Sunday.  How was your Sunday? Did you get adequate rest? Did you get time to reflect on how your week went and how the next week should go? Did you get time to catch up with what is happening in the life of your family and loved ones? Did you find time to do what you love and feed your soul? Isn’t that how it should be ideally?

Nowadays Sundays are as busy if not busier than weekdays. We tend to schedule all that we cannot fit into the week on Sundays and Saturdays. Sometimes meetings or social engagements scheduled by others are imposed on us and we do not get to spend Sunday the way it should be.

If your life is on song, then Sundays must be the pause in the music. The pause should be complete for the song to be a chartbuster. Let us not complicate our life by complicating our Sunday

I remember how Sundays used to be special when I was a kid. We would wake up in a relaxed manner, dress up in our Sunday best and troop off to Church. My dad used to pack all of us – my mom and six kids, into the car and drive us to Church.  I loved Sunday Mass. The choir, the reading, the furtive glances at the pretty girls, the chit-chat with relatives and friends and the general festive spirit associated with that day. After Mass, we would all go to Drive-in Woodlands and have a relaxed breakfast. This was another ritual we followed on Sundays.  I don’t want to go into raptures about the Sunday meal. Now in hindsight, I can see that while it was a relaxed day for me, my mom must have slaved away in the kitchen to prepare the sumptuous lunch that she used to dish out for us and the sundry guests who invariably graced our dining table at lunch.  

Sundays, like many other things in our life, have changed. But the essence of Sunday should not be lost. Schedule a break from your busy week and make Sunday count. Let everyone in your family take a break. Dine out, Order in, Cook for your spouse if she is the one doing it during the week. Fast or Feast, the choice is yours. But break the monotony and give yourself and your loved ones a break.

You need it. Your body needs it. Your soul needs it. Don’t deny the break. Celebrate it.

Here's a list of few things that you could try on Sundays to make it count.

1. Switch off your mobile phone and all electronic gadgets
2. Give away things you don't use in your life and others may need it - old clothes, books, toys, gadgets, utensils, etc
3. Sleep in, if you are used to waking up very early and always wanted to relax and get up
4. Take an afternoon nap
5. Visit a friend or loved one you have not met for a long time
6. Take a walk on the beach and get your feet wet
7. Read a book that you always wanted to read
8. Catch a movie with family 
9. Wear grumpy old clothes and hang out at home
10. Walk barefoot on the grass

You can make your own list or add some to this. Try a few each weekend.

Thank you, dear Sunday.