What Do You Do When You Can't Go To Egypt?

Today on Oprah, she interviewed the cast of the new movie "The Secret Life of Bee's".
Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and Sophie Okonedo, are all stunningly beautiful, accomplished and successful in their careers. But just like the rest of us, life sometimes gets overwhelming and out of control for them too. Alicia and Queen Latifah both had an opportunity to go to Egypt. For Alicia it was about getting away from the busyness and craziness of her life to be refreshed and renewed. Oprah asked the ladies this question: "What do you do when you can't go to Egypt?" I love this question, because I can certainly relate to needing to be refreshed and renewed from the craziness of my own life. So, what do you do when you need to center yourself and recharge, and can't go to Egypt to do it? Well, we all need to find something to restart our batteries. Here is a small sampling of what I do:

Mornings are my most sacred time. It's the time before the rest of the world starts to vie for my attention. I use this time for daily devotions and prayer.

I'm very careful about letting other people plan my schedule for me. I fiercely guard my time and I am learning to say no to those things which don't line up with the goals I have for my life.

I don't allow other people to "should" on me. You know what I mean, you "should" do this or you "should" do that. I should do exactly the things that I have decided to do, with no input from others who mean well and a few who don't.

When my life gets completely out of control, I turn off all phones for a day. I know when the phone rings, it's someone needing something from me, which is okay most days, but at those times when I am completely spent and overwhelmed, I have to give myself time away from the phone and away from another request for my time and energy.

You get the idea. The lesson here is not just for celebrities, brides or the planners who love them. This lesson is for every human being who has a big life to learn how critical it is to our well being to be able to stop, recharge and reconnect to that which gives us strength and power to do all that we do and maintain our sanity in the process.