Jamie Koerner

    Keep your life bright. I think it is important for everyone to have some sort of sunshine in each day, whatever that may be for you. Go out and garden, paint, read a novel, listen to music, play with your kids or go for a walk. The choices are endless and really only depend on you - what it is you like.
     The point is to find time everyday when you can stop all that you have to do and take a breather. Force yourself to do it. You will feel better afterwards. Trust me.
     The hard part of it is actually following through when something else steps into your path that you feel you need to do. It's OK, put that aside until later and relax.
     The Mexican comida is good inspiration for what it means to take time for rest. Comida is the word for lunchtime in Guadalajara, Mexico (there are different dialects used in other Spanish-speaking countries). Mexican people literally take the hot afternoon hours to eat and take a nap, something that they see as enjoyment and necessary for a productive day. I lived in central Guadalajara when I studied abroad. It is a busy city, with corporate jobs and large companies - a city of about 12 million people - and the average person in the city took the afternoon hours to themself and more importantly, their family.
     In Europe, the slow food movement is popular and is now growing in the United States. One of the first recognized non-profit organizations on the trend, Slow Food International, began in Italy in 1989. The movement aims "to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world," according to the Slow Food International website.
     Examples like these are occurring in different places around the world, but if you look at the lifestyle trends and news in the U.S. you will see such things such as: the increase of obesity in children, increase of troops in Iraq, increase in diabetes nationwide, increase of debt, increase in the use of the internet and television, increase of the number of extracurricular activities for the average youth and the increase in the use of cell phones.
     How much time is spent involved in activities related to the well-being of a person in their natural state? Some elements that have increased, for example health problems and money and time spent on unnecessary activities, could be solved with a simple answer.
     Take your well-deserved break. Then, decide what is really important in your life and let go of whatever is not.