Self Care Aware

My recommendation and mantra for holiday time is be SELF CARE AWARE.  Repeat this to yourself as often as you need to so that you are aware of how you are feeling and doing.  For example, how hungry are you..how tired are you...how energized are you...how stressed are you?  And then, depending on your answers, respond to your body's signals and your mind's answers accordingly.  Slow down to notice.

This is the time of year with so much distraction, that it can be challenging to remember to slow down in the first place.  However, checking in with yourself is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.  By being self care aware, you can make good use of your coping skills, your self regulating skills and your self preservation skills.  This will lead to more peacefulness and more calm whether you are at the grocery store with a crowd of people checking their lists or whether you are in a frenzied mall where people are pushing and rushing, or even worse--you are bothered by your own thoughts about getting it all done in time. 

Can there be a nice balance between being social and engaging and just relaxing and enjoying?  For me, I can't relax until my holiday cards are done.  I love doing them, but this year--there is NO photo which is something I always have on my cards.  I am still not sure how I will resolve this.  Yet, I have decided I am not going to stress myself about it.  My baby girls are 21 and 18 at this point. 

It sounds like I have jumped straight to Christmas and forgotten Thanksgiving.  No, I have not.  I just realized that Christmas is about a month away, so I have a lot to do.  First things first--our November holiday of thanks, gratitude for health, happiness, our treasured friends and loving family, our pets...It's not all perfect, of course not.  (I can't tell you how many lies I have to stomach at my house.)  However, take your health away, and there is nothing.  Take your loved ones away, and there is grief.  Take your friendships away, and there is loneliness that no one deserves.  Take my Pippa away... oh don't even go there. 

The most precious gratitude is for what you have that cannot be bought.  Make a list of those things and be very appreciative...spend time with them and give them your full attention.  Be self care aware.  Enjoy doing it, after all you too are a gift. 

Try Something New If...

When things are going well, there's no real reason to make a change.  Just ride the wave!   But, when your routine starts getting boring, or your habits are not helping you anymore, it might be time to try something new.

Whether it's with your eating, your exercising, your hobbies or even your job--you can always pivot a little or a lot to get something more than what you have presently. 

This week in WW, we rolled out a program innovation, "MY WW" so that for the first time ever there are three healthy ways to work it.  If you are happy with what's happening now, however, stay where you are.  If you would like to explore another option, take a chance on you and see what results you get.

At the very least, remember that the best eating plan for you is the one that you can sustain over the long term.  Your healthy lifestyle is a long term commitment. 

You are never stuck.  Not in your eating.  Not in your mind.  Not in your relationships.  Not in your job.  Embrace something new this week, and take the best gamble ever--the one where you win no matter what.

Karen Coach Says: Self Preservation in a Ball of Bright Light

Karen Coach Says: Self Preservation in a Ball of Bright Light: This week I was thinking about how other people's negative energy can affect me.  I can get bothered if I am in a setting where someone ...

Self Preservation in a Ball of Bright Light

This week I was thinking about how other people's negative energy can affect me.  I can get bothered if I am in a setting where someone who has no self awareness starts chomping ice and spitting it in a cup, for example.  Yes, this happened in a yoga training I attended.  Last summer, I was in a qi gong training in Santa Cruz, and an odd woman kept moaning during class and coming in late and making a fuss and creating a nuisance.  I found this distracting.  Others said to me--don't let this bother you.  Of course, they were right.  But, for me, it is easier said than done.

Fast forward to this past weekend, my qi gong master, Lee Holden, was in town for a day of qi gong at a retreat space in Marine on St. Croix.  This was an incredible opportunity to learn more from him and to advance my own practice.  Lee is a 50 year old athletic California guy, father of three young girls, former soccer player from Berkeley who travels the world for his work and appears on big stages with the likes of Deepak Chopra.  He is often in intimate settings with lots of people who want something from him.  I asked him how he keeps other people's negative energy from getting to him.  He told me that he just releases other people's negative energy.  He doesn't let it get to him, on him, in his mind.  He said that when someone is bringing their neediness or dark energy to him, he imagines that there is the GRAND CANYON between him and them.  What a great image and what a great tip for us all.

Our world is full of people from all walks of life.  Who can know what people are grappling with from one moment to the next?  Compassion for them, yes, but self preservation for you.  Therefore, if you find yourself in awkward situations where someone is not being kind, not being self aware and bringing judgment or negative qi (qi is energy) to you, you might try envisioning yourself in a ball of bright light surrounded by good thoughts, positive images, self love and kindness.  And just imagine that this bright light coming from you can diminish any negative qi that might be floating around you.

This is my plan, and I am sharing it with you.