Thanks, Astrid. It’s hard for me to admit defeat on a book. But sometimes it’s the victorious thing to do. 🙂

Yes, scheduling time with ourselves is a great way to put it–it makes it sound so official to pencil ourselves in on the calendar. 🙂 I hope you are enjoying your time in centering prayer. I’ve found it to be a nourishing activity too, even though I often still find it difficult.

Empty spaces in my day too often end up being filled with distraction and merely wasted time. On the other hand, I know that keeping too busy is equally draining. One thing I am trying is the practice of centering prayer, which is a kind of conscious emptiness. It’s a space of time that I set aside to accomplish nothing, only practice being open to the presence and love of God. It’s incredibly hard for me but I find that it has an effect, more on the rest of the day than in the moment. So I will keep up this research and see where it goes.

Yes, scheduling in free time isn’t a natural thought for me either, Lauren! But I’ve been doing it in very small doses and I’ve enjoyed it.

You’re a good example for this, Joanne! I try to keep Saturday and Sundays open for sure, but I don’t always succeed, pending on what the week prior has been like. But I’m working on it. 🙂

Yes, it is freeing to stop a book! But I do it rarely. If anything, I’ll usually just heavily skim til the end if it’s not a good book. lol. Nonfiction anyway. I’m sure you’ll wisely discern your upcoming commitments!

I’ve been trying to just sit and do nothing with some of my empty spaces. It’s not always easy tho, I have to admit! ha. I at least want to be reading a book when I’m sitting, but that counts as doing “something.”