Growing up, I often heard the saying, “take time to smell the roses.” When I reached adulthood I remembered thinking, “how can you do that when there are so many obligations and so much work to get done?”
I’ve come to realize that as busy as we are, there are still ways we can actually take time to breathe, take time to do something that makes us happy, take time to give thanks, take time to be with the people we love.
In what ways do you take time to smell the roses?
Scroll down to share your thoughts in the comments section below. It will be a great way to share suggestions and get some new ideas.
As a Thank You I’ve created a Take Time to Smell the Roses journal to share with you. I’ve added the essence of several of the first comments shared below.. Enjoy! May this serve as inspiration to help you to take time to smell the roses.
Click here to download your gift, which is for your Personal Use:
Take Time to Smell the Roses 31-Day Journal.
Please Scroll Down and share a thought or share something you do to relax, unwind, and enjoy life!
I appreciate you!
All the best,
D’vorah
For me, it’s a luxurious bubble bath or a short getaway!
My garden is what gives me peace and I added 4 rise bushes to my collection this mother’s day so I can literally smell the roses 🌹
Yes, taking time to “smell the roses” is indeed important. We can use this time in ways that allow us to relax and feel rejuvenated so that we actually make better and faster progress with our necessary activities. My mother always had roses in our yard. My parents gave me my own sweetheart rose bush to care for and enjoy! As I looked at the beautiful roses in this picture, I actually got a physical sensation of the aroma of rose perfume. Memories can take you back in time to whatever wonderful things you may have enjoyed. They can create the sensations and aromas and feelings of pleasure and anything else associated with those memories. One of my favorite go-to places is sitting on the side of Flathead Lake in Montana, feeling the cool breezes blow across my face, hearing the gentle lap of the waves against the rocky shore, inhaling the smell of pine trees, and looking at the beautiful mountains at the beginning of Glacier National Park. I always come away feeling relaxed, refreshed, and ready to get back to whatever needed to be done.
Read a book, take a walk or short hike, do something creative like color, draw, or crochet, and lately I’ve been building LEGO sets in the evening! My husband buys them & I assemble them – he likes what they’ll become & I like the building.
Sitting outside and enjoying tasty hot beverage.
I love flowers of all kinds and I enjoy photographing them. It is difficult to take time and smell the roses when we are all so darn busy.
We have a long driveway …with lovely shade along the way….so one thing do to “ smell the roses” is to dance- walk the length of the roadway….greeting the llamas, enjoying the new lotus blooms in the pond and breathing in the fresh air along the way….often while listening to a playlist of upbeat music.
I spend time cuddling with my cat, Sheba. It also feels good to watch her play.
It also helps to spend some time near the water. Whether a river, lake, or the ocean. Just lookin at pictures of water will calm me.
spending time with my friends and family doing something we all enjoy. today it was going to the local farmer’s market. Seeing all of the locally crafted products and getting our first Palisade peaches of the season. so relaxing and fun.
Hi Dvorah:
It’s been forever!
My enjoyment is graphic creation, coloring, creating coloring patterns and mandalas, and lots of streaming. I love the crime dramas and enjoy watching the ones from years ago…. Some favorites and some I don’t remember ever watching. People often make an issue of watching TV, saying the time is wasted. At this point in my life, I earned the right to enjoy whatever makes me happy WITH NO GUILT! 😉
I have been doing lots of coloring. It’s the most enjoyable for me in these times. It’s very calming and I can do it in the quiet, or while streaming! The bonus is I have something tangible I can use in my creations, since I created them, there are no copyright issues! 😉
Hope to reconnect soon Dvorah! Be well and take care!
Roz Fruchtman aka @RozSpirations
I like to walk around our 3.3 acre property with my dog. About 2.5 acres of it is wild but we mow out a trail along the property for my dog and me to take a walk. Speaking of mowing, I like to mow. It’s my time to think while I mow and just enjoy nature. It use to be gardening, but I have a bad back and I just can’t do that like I use to. I do have containers along my deck railing but this year it rained so much that none of them performed as well as they usually do.
I take a ‘ME’ day at least twice a month. I try for once a week. I drive an hour East to my favorite coffee shop where I enjoy chatting with the barista friend, drink my favorite caramel/ mocha latte, watch videos on my iPad and work in my planners for the coming week.
Such a simple, yet beautiful post to provide us all with the reminder we need to just take a simple pause! Timeless advice. Thank you.
I love to loose myself in a drawing. It relaxes me while it invigorates. Thank you so much for the reminder to slow down!
Life is a gift and roses with their fragrance just add to the joy of living.
I love getting out for a walk and also spending meaningful time with my kids and grandkids!
Thanks for reminding us about the importance of the little things in life. Taking a walk and scrapbooking are two things that I enjoy when I need a bit of ‘me’ time.
I am blessed. I live in the country and work from my kitchen table, so all I have to do is look outside at the grass and trees and the farmland. Thanks for the reminder to take the time to do that. (And thank you for the lovely gift.)
I love taking a break to photograph roses.
For me it really is taking time to get outside and feel the beauty. Whether its the vibrant and fragrant flowers in the garden, Mt Rainier out in all her glory or the full moon and the sprinkling of stars in the night sky, we are surrounded by beauty and blessings and taking time to reflect and say thank you fills me with joy. Thanks for the reminder to notice those things that we pass by every day and never see in our hurry and worry!
Walking on a warm day with a gentle breeze and my dogs running around me is bliss and recharges the batteries. Curling up with a book in front of the fire on a wintry day. Crunching leaves underfoot in autumn and eagerly looking for the first flowers of spring. We are blessed to be able to smell the roses.
A nice reminder! I’d love to know more about how you stop and how it’s evolved for you over the years.
Simple moments can be great. I enjoy when I can sit outside on my deck, looking out at the bay and ocean, with my cup of coffee. Listen to the gulls, Watch the boats. I’m so fortunate and I’ll probably never tire of it.
I’m so aware of how quickly my daughter keeps becoming these new versions of herself. She’s 13 & I love when we stop to “play” together. I also love the time I spend with my parents & try to take time every day when I can.
Thanks for the reminder that we need to slow down and give appreciation for the many blessings that have been given to us. Earlier this month I did something that I had not done in a while, I stopped what I was doing and sat on my front porch for a couple of hours, just taking in the fresh air and waving at the neighbors.
This was a topic of conversation during a virtual event I attended not that long ago. I shared how I literally do the same exact thing day in and day out & a lot of the time, I was just doing things on autopilot. That conversation led to some great suggestions and for a few days after, I would leave my phone at home during my walks and stop and smell all the roses I found in my neighborhood (surprising how many flowers there are here – I was never aware of them because I wasn’t paying attention!). Other than that, I love getting lost in a good book, taking a bubble bath & my ultimate stop-smell-the-roses moments – a little getaway to my happy place (the ocean)!