I believe in the power of solitude. In the soothing nature of silence. In the relaxing and freeing embrace of darkness. I believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with lying in bed for an hour staring at the ceiling, the wall, or the floor.
In our busy world, we often loose sight of ourselves among the hustle and bustle of routine. We need to meet this deadline, have lunch with that friend, drop this off at that place, and jump through a dozen other hoops every day. With the advent of perpetually faster and smaller computers, PDAs, cell phones, etc., it seems that the amount of time we have to do things doesn't grow, but shrinks. Everything must be done NOW. Our decreasing free time is directly related to our increasing processor speed.
In fact, the only time that people ever seem to take for themselves, by themselves, is designated "me time." Now I may be wrong, but I feel that if you need to label and compartmentalize the time you spend just relaxing by yourself, it won't really work. Or at least, it won't work the way it should. You may relax, yes. You may be able to forget all of your stresses and worries during your hour at the spa. But that is NOT enough. i believe you'll never be able to relax body, mind, and spirit fully until you are able to take some undesignated "me time," some "right smack in the middle of what I was doing me time," and just think. If it is easier for you to do this walking through the park rather than lying in bed, then do it then. I find that I can think just as clearly during a solitary run through Forest Park as when I am at home in my room.
I believe we are swept up easily in culture because it is harder and harder for us to identify ourselves. Society, it appears, wants us to craft our identities using the products we use. If we are unable to relate to ourselves, how will we be able to resist?
So we must in a small way put ourselves first in life. Someone once asked, "if we don't help ourselves, how will we be able to help others?" I'd ask, if we don't know ourselves, how can we know others? So whenever you feel like it, take some time, some important time, and sit around for a while. You may accomplish more than you think. This I believe.