Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label balance. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Post-Festivus Restlessness Syndrome

After all the hype it's time to wind back down. We are officially entering the period I'd like to technically refer to as "Post-Festivus Restlessness Syndrome".  We're smack in the middle of that funny week between Christmas and New Years.  That nothing week.  If you're on holiday, perhaps you're doing just that.  Nothing.  It reminds me of that delightful Spanish proverb:  

"Oh how beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterwards."  
(Admittedly, I had a two hour siesta on Christmas Day and it was a beautiful, beautiful thing.) 

But alas, amidst all this supposed 'nothingness' blossoms something.  The awareness of a deep seated restlessness begins to bubble up - an urging to find something more.  To create more.  To be more.  And with the stars aligning for a New Year, a sense of fresh possibility starts to clear the air of all the old habit patterns clogging up the plumbing of Life.  But what exactly birthed this 'something' from 'nothing'?  Was it was that extra ladle of gravy? Or perhaps the last gingerbread cookie you ate for breakfast? (Or the fact that for 2 weeks straight now you've grown accustomed to supplementing your regular Americano with a healthy dash of Eggnog?)  Alternatively it could be your online credit card statement shouting profanities at you through the monitor or the endless number of holiday social gatherings leaking off the edges of your December calender.

Whatever it is that got you here, the restlessness is born with purpose, and a knowing that a better way is unfolding.   The pendulum has swung far into EXCESS and begins to gather inertia ready to pull itself back towards SIMPLICITY - ultimately finding BALANCE nestled perfectly in between.  

Now is the time to harness our restlessness.  It's time for a resolution revolution!  It's common knowledge that it takes 21days to cultivate a new habit.  Why not lay the foundation of your new habit patterns by connecting with your ultimate self through a little 2012 visualization?  (I can hear the squeals of excitement now!)  

Step by step let's create the lives we LOVE:

1.  Find someplace comfortable and quiet to sit still and undisturbed for 5 minutes.  
2.  Close your eyes and take 10 deep slow breaths - each getting deeper and slower than the previous.
3.  Create a picture in your mind of the habit pattern that you'd like to create (eg - eating clean, meditating daily,  doing more yoga, reading regularily.)
4.  Visualize yourself successfully implementing this new habit.  Watch yourself going through the motions ease-fully and successfully. How does this new habit make you feel?  Really tap into how it makes you feel when you're doing it. Imagine having this feeling now.
5.  Release your visualization out into the universe absolutely knowing that if this new habit serves your highest good, there is no reason for you not to succeed.  

You've heard it before but since you're so energetically ready to start the next chapter, here are some awesome ways to support your new ultimate goddess self (who you were actually already but just maybe temporarily forgot):

Set Goals!  Create a vision board (Using pinterest as a vision board has changed my life!)  Enroll supportive friends who believe in you to keep you accountable to your goals - if they're not supportive, perhaps ask yourself why you're hanging around them anyways?  (Suzanne Conrad rocks my world - if you haven't yet, do yourself a favor and click on the last link.. holy girl crush mama! So inspiring!)

Though anytime is time for a do-over, set your small mind aside, step into the now and get PUMPED for 2012!  Create your life.  Be happy.  Be possibility.  Your world is up to you - everything is possible.


Like this post?  Share your thoughts in the comments below - or better yet share it with a friend!  Stay inspired and in-touch with like-minded folk here.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Paus: Swedish for playing hooky.

Paus (pronounced pows) is the Swedish word for "on a break", "timeout", or quite obviously "pause". (It's just way more fun to say in a Swedish accent though right?)

Today I played hooky.  Yup.  After a season of repeatedly over-booking myself, over-committing my time and stretching my balance to within an inch of it's life I finally decided to press 'paus'.  And while yes, yoga does teach one balance - it is a practice. Imagine that if we could all just do enough vrikshasana (tree pose), our life balance would just sort itself out?!  Balance is a choice and I choose balance.   The balance pendulum continues to swing back and forth back and forth like tree's blowing in the wind. 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm in no way out of the ordinary in the hooky department.  As it turns out,  just over half of Canadians (52%) have called in sick to work when in fact they're not actually ill.  Personally I can't believe the stat is so low.  People carry on for most of their lives working 50 out of 52 weeks a year.  Just when two weeks of vacation per year was ever supportive to work/life balance is beyond me. 

With North Americans ringing in with some of the least vacation time and the worst work place productivity globally it's baffling that the Leaders of the Free World haven't clued in to simple work life balance protocol that has been around for centuries.  What ever happened to the simple siesta?  The long lunch?  No wonder more and more peeps are calling in and passing off their groggy morning voices as the flu.

Lucky for moi I work in a forward thinking industry.  Or shall we say backwards thinking?  Yoga philosophy dates back to the vedic ages and the concept of ahimsa so appropriately translates the sanskrit practice of 'non-violence' or 'non-injury'.  This yama (sanskrit word for moral restraint) encompasses the practice of compassion and consideration for all living beings.  Overworking your body both physically or mentally is neglecting to take care and, as such, is a form of misuse. 

Interestingly, my boss renamed our 'sick' days to 'health & wellness' days earlier this year so that they better reflect a supportive and all encompassing personal health approach.  Sometimes we just need to take a day to nurture ourselves and press 'paus'.  In a conventional work environment I would have been in a position to lie about my personal health in order to 'chuck a sicky'.  Instead the space was created for me to be totally honest about feeling that I just needed to take an extra day for my personal well being.  (Which in turn fascilitates my practice of satya, the sanskrit word for truthfulness.) 

Preconditioned feelings of guilt and not-enough-ness bubbled up as I confessed I needed to take the day.  Magically these disappeared almost as quickly as they surfaced when my request was smothered with my boss' blessings.  And so I went about my day.  Meditation.  Skype date with mom and sister.  Retail therapy.  Baking.  Blogging.  Nurturing.  Relaxing.  Not worrying.  Enjoying.  Reconnecting with Balance.  Refilling the tank.  Being Present.




Press 'paus' and visit www.vibeyoga.ca