Today is your day.
You get to CREATE your experience of it. While you're at it why not notice the evolution of your day. Where and how does it flow? Interactions with others, tasks, work, mistakes, entertainment, silence, laughter, tears... Look for the subtle moments or even the obvious ones that give you a GOOD FEELING and then pay attention to them as they float through you. The more you NOTICE them the more they will come to you. Ah, sweet success!
calm your thought ocean
If the ocean surface is a metaphor for our swirling thoughts and busy mind then it's easy to understand that deep below the surface, where the water is still, there is clarity and peace.
How do you calm your THOUGHT OCEAN to get to deeper insights and knowing?
Worst case scenario thoughts. Negative thoughts. Positive thoughts. Worry thoughts. Predictive thoughts. Repetitive thoughts. Intuitive thoughts. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts!
My meditation practise doesn't let me down, it helps to calm those surface waters so I have clarity and have direct access to deeper aspects of myself. The more I practise, just like the more I do bicep curls, my CONCENTRATION MUSCLE gets stronger and my ocean of thoughts calms down.
Eat Dessert Mindfully
If you could close your eyes AND read this at the same time that would be awesome, but since you can't, read below and then take a few seconds to close your eyes and imagine. Go on, trust me, this will just take a few seconds.
Close your eyes and imagine a beautiful yellow lemon. Imagine the texture of the smooth, dimpled, outer skin. Now imagine the lemon has been cut in half and you can see the lemon juice dripping from the pulpy interior and the small, pale, slippery seeds. Can you smell the lemon? Can you imagine what it's like to bite into it. Did your mouth actually react to the taste? Okay, open your eyes?
Have you tried eating mindfully lately? So the above visualization illustrates the SENSORY EXPERIENCE of eating without the distractions of our cell phones, small screens, radios, magazines, or televisions. We tend to chew more when we're not DISTRACTED (and we know the mouth plays and important role in digestion), and we also tend to eat LESS because we're MINDFUL of what's going in. Oh, and mindful eating doesn't require you to close your eyes-just tune in to the colour, smell, texture, sound and taste.
If you're not already doing it, try to mindfully eat at least one meal a day a see if it reinforces the idea that food is a gift to your body.
3 Step Energy Re-set
Is your 'to-do' list sabotaging your life and got you on AUTO-PILOT? No time to try something new and create your dreams? Be aware that in every moment of the day, we are CHOOSING where our attention and energy goes. Yes, we all have certain responsibilities that can't be avoided but look inward to see if there's a pattern to your day or week that could be adjusted. When our energy is scattered and LEAKING in too many directions, it's really hard to create something new.
Try the 3 steps below for 1 week, then at the end of the week take inventory of where your 'energy leaks' might reside (hint: see the negative and indifferent lists-step 2 below). See if your attention can shift in a way that allows you to retain more energy that you can GROW with.
3 Step Energy Reset: (Total time:10 min)
1. Where does your energy go? At the end of the day (or throughout the day) notice or list every action/task that you finished, worked on or started.
2. Record how you feel after the day has ended. Keep it simple: '+' for positive feeling; '-' for negative feeling; and 'x' for indifferent.
3. Re-charge with stillness. Start with a 5 minute meditation. Anytime. Anywhere. Use a meditation app, a favourite mantra or visualization or ...
Try this simple breathing technique:
-Set your watch or timer for 5 minutes.
-Sitting comfortably upright, close your eyes and feel the air on the tip of your nose and place your attention on it as you inhale and watch it move slowly and gently into your lungs and belly.
-Notice the gap of stillness as your breath turns and then moves back out your nose with your exhale.
-Repeat until your timer rings.
Don't worry about the thoughts that will probably creep in during your meditation, just notice them and return your attention back to your breath.
This 'stillness of BEING' is where the sweet spot of rest, renewal, and re-connection to yourself occur and this will open the door to sparks of creation (ideas, positive emotions, concepts...).