Build a Life Raft

Oh boy, just when life seems like it is as challenging as it can be--there's more.  Last night in Minneapolis, there was a horrible and tragic misunderstanding about a suicide after a homicide.  Looting, fires, damage and destruction took place.  Then curfew accompanied by the National Guard.  What should we do to contain this information and make sense of the world? 

I am trying to do just that very thing.  I ran into my yoga student, Alyce, who is a therapist while I was out walking Pippa.  I was so glad to see her in the neighborhood because 1) I don't get to see people as much as I did before covid; 2) I like her; and 3) she has been out of town a lot taking care of her 86 year old dad.  She told me that she developed a "life raft" for coping with covid.  This is a twelve plank raft (for twelve months I think) of activities, projects, intentions that she can focus on and use to help her cope and feel good about life.  This is fabulous advice.  This is the wisdom of setting your positive intention in your mind's eye on what you want more of, so that your attention (your actions and behaviors) can follow suit.  Two of her planks are taking care of a new kitty cat with her dad and doing a knitting project.  I didn't get to hear the other ones.

So, I ask you, in the midst of all this craziness, can you build a "life raft" of intention coupled by attention so that you too can cope with the unforeseen and unfathomable events of quarantine and civil unrest and all that goes with it?

I will be encouraging you, because this is also part of our resiliency training.  This is part of our wellness and wellbeing.  This is a big part of our mental health.

We absolutely must come through this experience better off than when we went into it.

Start building!

Tiny Habits Add Up to Big Results

If there were ever a time NOT to get overwhelmed by life, now is it.  The "covid coaster" is taking us all for a ride that we never bought a ticket for.  At times, it can feel like all will be well, and then at other times, it feels like all will be hell.  OUCH.

Instead, consider the tiniest of habits to commit to--and let that tiniest of habits be enough.  Let yourself be enough.  And then be done.  Easier said than done.

Another thing to consider with these tiniest of habits is how successful you will feel more frequently if you actually follow through.  For example, what if you want to start a walking routine after meals.  You are home a lot, and it looks like the weather is still cooperating.  Instead of committing to a twenty minute tour of the neighborhood, what about a five minute walk down the driveway or around the block?  That five minutes will pass so quickly you will be surprised it's time to go inside.  What if that five minutes was enough time to appreciate the weather, the sunshine, the flowers, the kids playing and dogs barking?  What if that turned into a five minute "vacation" from your life and became a five minute walking meditation on how life isn't so bad despite stupid covid?  What if that time for yourself became a reminder that there are things to look forward to?  What if you decided to think ONE good thing about yourself during that five minutes, and that thought could brighten your outlook and warm your heart?

Feeling good about what you are doing is everything right now.  Whether you are solidifying habits or trying your hardest to create new ones, you deserve to feel good about yourself and your life.  It takes focus.  This week, FOCUS ON YOURSELF.  In the smallest of ways find something to latch onto so that your commitment to health, wellness and happiness becomes your lifestyle.

Sleeping Well is a Healthy Goal

Setting goals, no matter how big or small, is critical in feeling like you are actually moving forward with your life.  These goals can be about health, wealth, happiness, family togetherness, personal fitness, volunteer time or even sleep.  When you identify something you'd like more of--put a bead on it--and keep focused on it so that you can inch towards it--achieve it and then reap the rewards of having done what you set out to do. 

To make it even more likely that you will achieve your goal, consider telling someone about it.  Announce to your friends that you are limiting yourself to one glass of wine.  Period.  Then it is more likely to follow through in the moment.  Your friends become "accountability partners." 

In these covid times, I think it is even more important to identify things that matter to you, that are within your control. 

Exercise is Always Good

Taking the short view or the long view, exercise is a major boost to the body and mind.  In the short term, it gives you a break.  A break from sitting too long or thinking too hard.  By getting up and stretching or walking even five minutes, you "shift gears" and then start feeling better mentally and physically.  Think of recess as a kid in grade school.  When that bell rang, you might have been one of the students who ran like the wind outside to play.  All that focusing and concentrating and sitting still was a tough job.  After a while, we are not creative and do not think as clearly as we could if we took intermittent physical breaks.

Exercise is the best prescription for what ails you.  Truly.  No dangerous side effects other than feeling better, more flexibility, more stamina.  Physical therapy works this way.  The "prescription" is literally exercise--in a very specific way--in order to heal. 

During these "safer at home" times of covid, breaking up the tension of the day by a little gardening, a quick dog walk or a full body stretch for two minutes is all it takes to feeling better in your body and mind and then move on to something else with a renewed attitude.

People who exercise (however you define it) have more body confidence and body positivity (look what I can do) than people who don't.  That confidence then affects the decisions you make about life--food--how we want to "show up" in the world.

Some say your body is a temple--meaning respect it--worship IN it--by being mindful of moving more often so that you feel better more often so that you do better more often so that your life matters more often.  That's a good prescription!