When an orphaned copy of Real Simple showed up on my rainy doorstep this weekend, I sat down to read it.  It had been a full weekend, with a visit from the in-laws, basketballs games galore, rehearsals for Twinderella, and trying to get the weekend chores done.  Sitting down to someone’s second-hand magazine seemed like a good excuse to sit still.

Oddly enough, the theme for this month was having an extra 15 minutes.

What would you do with an extra 15 minutes, it asked?  My mind fluttered with the possibilities: I could change the sheets, I could bake some cookies, maybe I could finally tackle the too-small clothes in The Boy’s room.  15 minutes sounded like a lifetime of possibilities.

But then it made a suggestion I hadn’t considered: do nothing.  Just sit still.  For 15 whole minutes.  This sounded silly to me.  And I LOOOVE silly stuff.

So this morning, when I usually hit snooze once or twice, I got up on the first buzz of my alarm.  I packed my lunch without having to rush, could spend a little more time on my hair, and actually had 15 extra minutes.

Get ready: we’re about to go flower-child here.  You’ve been warned.

I hadn’t gotten dressed for work yet, so I was just in a bathrobe.  For my fifteen minutes, I sat in the nude.  Sounds ludicrous.  I know.  It felt weird, for the first five minutes.  Although the sun still hadn’t risen, so the bedroom was pitch black, I felt oddly visable.  And vulnerable.  But then, as my fifteen minutes wound down, I began to notice things about me: my developing biceps, a small patch of dry skin on my left shoulder, how my abs are starting to contract.  I noticed things that I would never have noticed in my daily rush of life, and probably would’ve glossed over in my constant disgust of my body.  But I felt.. human when I got up.  And grateful that I had this body.

So that was how I spent my 15 minutes today.  I’m not sure how I’ll spend it tomorrow.  Any suggestions?  And how would you spend yours?