Maintaining a Healthy Perspective

Ready for the Bounce !

Whoa - It’s been quite the year!   Once again we are in the throes of a Covid surge while regular life just keeps rolling on over us.  Life is always a thrill ride - the ups, the downs, and now with Covid on the top, it’s the ride that really none us signed up for.   Some of us lost our jobs, some - all of a sudden, had too many jobs - like kids needing to be home schooled.  Some friends lost everything in the wildfires, and some of us faced family sickness and tragic loss. Our world has descended into chaos along with a political freak show to accompany it. 

In early March I had the inside track, this virus was going to be bad.  Optimistically thinking I thought we would be through the worst of it come June, I recalculated, well maybe it will be August, I will just coast for a bit longer.   And now it has become clear I can no longer wait on the sidelines for this virus to go away and for everything to return to normal.  Foolishly , because I have known, as already having been rigorously taught, Nothing ever returns to what it was, going backward is not really ever an option.  So how do we maintain a healthy body and mind in this pandemic?

No more pretending, no more looking away.  This is our reality and I have decided I need to pay attention and to get prepared for the Bounce.   It’s going to arrive and I want to be ready, want my body to be ready, to seize the moment,  the moment when the world will seem to right itself again and offer up its pearlescent array of possibilities for growth and adventure.  The moment when our conversations will shift in excitement and colors will shine with brilliance.  I can almost hear the world let out a big sigh of relief for the moment when Covid will slide back into the history of the past. 

I am so far from being ready for that moment right now.  At times my body is weak, my mind is mushy, my habits have slipped into utter distraction.   After 9 months of rationalizing that I needed, I deserved, the urge to escape, I am beginning to see through all of that right now.

How to adapt to our Covid environment?  Mere tolerating the situation month after month is not the answer.  No on the contrary, this time is calling on the best of us - our creativity, our strength, our faith.  For me after years of letting go, I am feeling the need now for a discipline, or regimen, to hang onto.  The will to coax my mind body back into a place that has the capacity to bounce because the time will come.  And I want to be ready.  How about you?

Slowly, slowly, my minutes of gentle feldenkrais exercises in the morning are coming back, along with the sit ups and the newly determined push ups that are starting to click in, my body does know how to do this.   The afternoon hill walks with 65 pounds of lurching dog on the leash end, are also helping.  My meditation practice is thrilled after waiting ever so patiently for my return, and my sugar habit - well there is still a lot of work to do on that.   My mind too needs revitalizing, and I am confident it will sync up once my body moves into its’ renewal phase.

I am continually inspired by those of you I know, who found your creative vein to make the best of this situation, challenging though it is.  You Inspire me to engage!  This is living and not just waiting. 
 

·      Embarking on weekend kayaking trips – camping by the water’s edge for that midnight cruise in your inflatable kayak

·      Creating visionary artistic expression – curating local artists for outdoor light sculpture installations

·      Developing new skills for satisfaction and some badly missed income - designing a pattern for exceptionally comfortable mask wearing and then crowdsourcing to sell them from your bedroom window.

·      Committing to a cause passionately - Driving to an unknown place to knock on unknown doors for persuasive conversation with unknown people and…you’re an introvert

·      Embracing your fears – moving to a new place and putting down new roots after years of stability.
 

How about you?  Where are you on this spectrum between living and waiting?    The next few months, maybe more, are asking us to be diligently careful, along with resolute in creating what we need in this new place we all find ourselves. There is so much to learn, some of it practical, much of it hard to put into meaningful words, yet sage wisdom never a less.   Our vibrant health is the most valuable thing we have, creative carefulness is our calling right now. 

I would really like to hear what keeps you going, or what slows you down to that thoughtful pause, what intuitively you know might change in these next few months.  It helps to have support in figuring out where your hope lives, as Barbara Kingsolver writes above.  It helps to have conversations that motivate and clear the obstacles embedded in your mind.  It really does help to have a plan, and I am happy to explore this with you.

Habits and routine can help us stay grounded when all feels adrift or confused.  And we do live in difficult, confusing times.  I find poetic beauty in Rumi – “there are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” There are hundreds of ways to adapt, to find your balance, to maintain a healthy mind and body.  

The art is in finding the ways that work for you now given our new situations.   Stay open to the chance that they may be different than what you expected.   New habits for new times.  Are you courageous enough to dive in? 

 As David Whyte writes ~ “Beginning is difficult and our procrastination is a fine ever- present measure of our reluctance in taking that first close-in courageous step to reclaiming our happiness.”   

 I don’t know if it is happiness, or a sense of well being, or contentment that I seek, but I know I am ready to begin again and in that desire and follow through I will be ready for when the bounce comes.  I will begin again and again and again to find that new bandwidth of movement and strength for which to kneel and kiss the ground  -  Or maybe I will dance !   
 

Try these 5 ways to Breakthrough Challenge

How to find ways toward that bigger expanse!

Life - the highs, the lows, the challenges.  Let's talk Challenge and our response to challenge. There are many - Maybe a difficult relationship, not feeling vibrant or healthy in our body, overwhelmed by daily demands, or conversely just plain bored and dulled with the daily grind.  Any sound familiar??
 
Most often we will respond in our habitual way, because that is easiest, and when we are under stress - we go for easy.  And I am guessing the popular ways (because I have done them all myself) to respond are; ignore and deny, anger, dipping into self pity, resignation, distractions, or blindly powering through. All of these in addition to not working very well, build up in our bodies and create havoc - headaches, fatigue, unhappiness or worse.
 
Let's look a little more closely at overwhelm and resistance. Overwhelm is a popular predicament - many of us just feel so bogged down and lost in overwhelm. Did you know that overwhelm is a version of being in victim mode? That feeling of powerlessness, giving up, not taking responsibility for life's situation, why oh why is this happening to me?
 
And then there is resistance - my personal favorite. Resistance is an energy zapper, an avoidance scheme, heavy and exhausting. It has a fear base to it and makes everything seem so much harder than it needs to be.  Now that is a challenge!  The poet David Whyte wisely says ~ "The price of our vitality is the sum of all of our fears."
 
What if we were to turn toward this challenge and get really curious, honestly curious? What is going on underneath the layers?  What do we feel in our body?  If you were to take a wild guess, what do you think is feeding this challenge? And then continue diving deep into it from there...so much to uncover !
 
This may sound not so interesting or difficult but the challenge looms! And that in and of itself is uncomfortable or maybe even painful. So breaking through a habitual response might really be worth it.  Recognizing where we really are with a situation and acknowledging the responsibility we hold in this, is the first step to meeting a challenge. 

5 ways to get Started with this process of breaking through.

Try on a different perspective, looking at the issue from a new angle. Perhaps imaging stepping back, way back, so that you get the big picture, as if you were a movie director, or a stranger peering in, What Patterns Do You See?   

Honor what your body is telling you it wants to do.  Listening in for the Clues of tightness, guardedness, deadness, maybe even a sense of nausea - all tell tale signs that there is another, easier way possible. Then trust your intuition on what that might be

Embrace the looseness and Lightness of Being Creative. This could be wearing mismatched clothes, dancing by yourself with the music blaring, coloring out of the lines, whatever your routine is try to do it, approach it, differently.  Hint:  No one does creative perfectly, in fact imperfect is better.  

Ask for Help. There are times when we all need to talk with a friend, a relative, a professional. Pick your confidante wisely so that it feels safe to be vulnerable and genuine. This offers not only support but possibly new views into what feels like a bleak situation.

Make Time to Be Alone out in nature. There is a lot of beauty and wisdom to absorb in those silently present 400 year old oak trees, million year old boulders. Perhaps lie down on the earth, contemplating the ever changing clouds, our expansive blue California skies. Experiencing the innate truth that everything changes, your situation is not fixed.

 So pick one, trying to keep your mind open to new possibilities without going into your habitual pattern. Recently I was lucky enough to expand my training with Lucid Living, an advanced program that helps me help my clients move past what they find challenging into a place that feels better in every aspect of their life. If you are curious, or want to share something about all of this, reach out. I am here for you and believe that our challenges can connect us in this evolving dance of life.

 

Finding Resolve - Simple Tips to Up your Chances

If you look carefully, there's a young woman scaling the face of that rock and I can only imagine what brought her there, what will get her to the top.  Inner strength, determination, and courage - we all draw upon our resolve especially at the beginning of the year as we set our resolutions, intentions, and goals. I am not going to be rock climbing at Joshua Tree any time soon although I will need resolve to get me where I want to be with my health, with strengthening my body. I am going to need resolve for changing habits, or more important changing the conditions that set up habits.

Resolve -  n.  a firm determination to do something.  Latin roots of, to loosen, which I love when you think in relation to habits or tendencies.  Our habits can bind us, our resolve can free us!
 
But first things first - did you make a resolution? It's kind of like the lottery - you have to pick your numbers and actually buy your ticket for a chance to win. And you can increase your odds with the following suggestions;

•  Be specific - describe in detail what your goal entails. The time of day, the duration, the specific result you are seeking.
•  Write this commitment down, in a way that you can carry It with you, mentally and physically.  Imprint it in your schedule so there is no chance you will forget ... or ignore.
• Plan for success, Think ahead, plan each day. What is going to create space in my day for this?  Is there anything I need to reprioritize? What might get in the way? And then make the necessary adjustments because you want this - this is your winning ticket!
• Tell someone - select carefully because you want this person to hold you accountable. You are not going to be tempted by distraction with this person on your side, who is creatively tuned to your personal challenges.
• Reflect on why this is important for you. What do to have to gain by following through?  What do you have to lose? And what is important about each?

Recent neuroscience studies have made some very favorable discoveries.  The patterns in our brains can be changed, they are pliable and can be shaped into new patterns with repeated effort. Just like a well worn hiking path that for years has directed you from point A to B, you can forge a new path in the brain, literally. The neurons that fire together when you make a choice, or set an action, repeated over time will wire together. With practice your tendency to reach for the sweetest, largest desert falls away and you actually prefer that perfect pear or juicy tangerine.

This year I resolved to have a disciplined training program after 6 months of inactivity. And that first week saying this out loud, imprinting my intention in my mind, did help get me to the gym when I felt the pull to be elsewhere. And then life happened; surgery for the dog, injections for the hip, then that nasty chest cold going around, so I found I did need resolve, a resolve of patience and acceptance. That was my training for January.

It's been just over a month into 2016 and not too late to reset your efforts. This could be the year of the big win.  Is there anything you would like to share about resolve, habits, or making changes?   I encourage you to comment below and go public.  Make your most important aspirations real - now is the time, and you deserve it !