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.

Life is Meant to be Joyful

"Life is meant to be joyful."  She spoke these words to both open and close the most epic kundalini yoga class at lululemon athletica last night.  Seriously - we were rocking out to "Party Rock Anthem" like you've never seen.  Yoga traditionalist wouldn't have cringed at our awesome asanas us we seriously got our groove on looking more like a dance hall than a yoga studio.  Smiling.  Sweating.  Freeing energy.  Laughing. Playing.  "Life is meant to be joyful."

Contrast this to the capoeira class that I just returned from this afternoon.  What is it?  Well let's just say Papa Martial Arts met Mama Brazilian Music and.. boom boom POW!  Capoeira was their darling lovechild.  This dynamic artform weaves together music, drumming, acrobats and self defense.  What's not to love right?!

Well in all fairness to Baby Cap, it was only my 3rd class.  I like the idea of Capoeira.  I like the playful acrobatics of one handed cartwheels and walking on my hands.  I like the strength and power of the combative dance-like martial artsiness.  I like the idea of having the core strength (and rockin' bod) of a Capoeira chick. 

So in spite of my efforts to embrace a 'beginner's mind' and enjoy the unknown of my new found activity, I found my mind (and gut) racing back to grade 3 gym class.  Good ol' Canada Fitness Testing and I was the slowest girl around the track for the endurance test.  (OK not dead last but let's just say I got a 'Participation' badge in the event.)  There was nothing joyful about this instructors' barking words.  There was nothing joyful about having to do pushups because someone else in class couldn't name the correct Portuguese word for the drumming beat we were listening to.  There was no smiling or laughing or playing. 

And so I weighed my options.  (1) Stay and sit outside my comfort zone (aka - grow).  Or (2) pursue something more joyful.  With a mounting sense of 'igottagetouttahere' filling up my belly,  and the class paused for a water break, I seized my opportunity, my backpack and kindly thanked the instructor as I opted for option two (or dues as they say in Portuguese). 

I know what you're thinking and part of me is thinking it too.  Growth is achieved outside our comfort zones.  If we don't grow we die.  Think about it.  Nothing in nature is stagnant.  We're either growing, blossoming, shining, expanding or we're receding, retracting sinking, sulking, not to mention boring. Just because something motivates growth doesn't mean it's necessarily joyful.  (I can't say I enjoyed memorizing all 206 bones in the human body but I was damn well chuffed with myself when I ultimately rocked a Masters degree.)  Conversely, joyful activities don't necessarily inspire growth. (I feel joy when Presidents Choice Candy Cane icecream hits my freezer every Christmas but it doesn't often spawn personal growth.. other than that of my waistline.) 

But the two aren't mutually exclusive either.  " 'William Butler Yeats wrote that happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth.  We are happy when we are growing.'  Contemporary researchers make the same argument: that it isn't goal attainment but the process of striving after goals - that is, growth - that brings happiness."  -  Gretchen Rubin in The Happiness Project

The key is finding the optimal combination of joy and growth in an activity that keeps us coming back for more.  A balance that is as unique and personal as each and every one of us.  To complicate it further, because we're so adaptable, we become accustomed to activities, in turn causing them to lose their luster (like the excitement of driving your Toyota Matrix that wears off over time).  And so, we seek out new more exciting ones - in essence to maintain an environment of growth. 

So just trying capoeira was enough to satisfy my need for growth.  (I can now confidently do one handed cartwheels in both directions thank you very much!) But the lack of joy it brought me wasn't the right recipe to keep me coming back for more.  Instead, walking home with the warm sun on my back,  relishing in finding a new recipe, cooking it for dinner and then sitting down to write this blog inspired the optimal happiness : growth ration for this gal. 

After all, Life is meant to be joyful.


*Check out the Party Rock Anthem video for some crazy yoga-inspired break-dancing at the end.  And a dancing Jesus.  Enough said.

** For a rockin' yoga class to inspire joy and challenge growth visit www.vibeyoga.ca