gratitude

Functional Serenity

/ Donna / 3 Comments

Captain Serenity, my meditation buddy

I love yoga.

Nothing fancy, mind you.  I’m in no danger of achieving king pigeon pose; even bridge pose is well beyond my humble capabilities.

What I can do are simple stretches that loosen up the old bones and alleviate the discomfort-du-jour.  I can also sit in a mercifully-modified lotus position, focusing on my old buddy Captain Serenity until my racing thoughts get bored and go off to find better things to do.

My all-time favorite yoga pose has got to be savasana,  better known by the deceptively ominous name of corpse pose, where the body and mind relax completely.  I find myself feeling peaceful, unhurried, unworried, serene.

Until I’m back in the World Out There.

In less time than it takes to say “namaste”,  petty irritants multiply like loaves and fishes.  I find myself mentally casting aspersions on the parentage and IQ level of fellow drivers while stressing about what fresh hell awaits me at work and agonizing over the 5,234,678 things I (think I) need to do when I get home.  Next thing I know I’m back on that souped-up hamster wheel, wondering what happened to all that wonderful serenity I had just the night before.

News-flash-to-self:  I’ve still got it.

It’s just gone into functional mode.

Which is a good thing, because most workplaces take a dim view of unfurled yoga mats during business hours, and closed-eyes meditation is not conducive to safety in heavy traffic.

But Life Out There can be stressful and chaotic, and it’s easy to get swept away.

So how do I tap into this functional serenity?

Take a long, deep breath.  Or two, or twelve.  When I’m rushing around like a lunatic, I breathe like a lunatic–one step away from hyperventilation.  This in turn kicks my body and mind into totally unnecessary “fight or flight” mode, and I’m off to the races.  If I stop, breathe, and allow myself to center, I can see things more realistically and am better able to cope.

Step back–or better still, away–from the scene of the crime.  It doesn’t have to be for long.  A walk down the hall and back.  A quick visit to a nearby coworker. Even a trip to the water fountain. Sometimes just a minute or two away from my cluttered desk and ever-blossoming email inbox  helps break the spell of Overwhelm.

Say or do something nice for somebody else.  This is a biggie, and it has never failed me.  Besides generating positive energy for everyone concerned, it reminds me not to let the chaos of daily life overshadow the importance of the human connection.  (Hey, we’re all in this together, right?)

Give myself permission to feel good.  “I allow myself to feel peaceful and serene through whatever comes my way today.”  “I allow myself to detach emotionally from (name that situation).”  “I allow myself to feel confident.”  Laugh if  you must, but I’ve found this to be surprisingly effective.  I may have to repeat it more than a few times, but eventually it kicks in.

And last, but definitely not least:

Be grateful. Yeah, you knew that one was coming, didn’t you!  🙂 But it really does work.  Tallying up the many good things in my life is a great little equalizer when I’m feeling beleaguered.

Six Ways To Change Your Life Without Spending A Dime

/ Donna / Leave a comment

1. Forget about trying to be perfect

We might as well try to be unicorns–there ain’t no such critters.unicorn sketch

Fear of being less than perfect kept me at the starting gate more times than I care to think about until one day I finally asked myself, “What’s my real goal here?”

For example, I’m a writer. What’s more important to me: getting my work “out there” where it has a chance to sell, or keeping it safely tucked away on my computer because it might be rejected?

For someone else, it might be, “What’s more important to me–having a get-together with the people I love now, or keep putting it off until my house is exactly the way I want it and those people are no longer in my life?”

2. Realize that saying “no” is an answer

Whether we’re dealing with a stubborn two-year-old or an adult who’s trying to guilt us into compliance, “no” is an answer all by itself. If we weaken it with excuses and justifications, we provide inroads for the other person to wear us down.

Speaking for myself, I’d rather deal with the momentary discomfort of being considered the bad guy than seethe with resentment at wasting time I don’t have on something I didn’t want to do in the first place.

3. Do a daily gratitude list

I used to blow this one off as being too Pollyanna for words until somebody asked me how well I thought I’d function if things like

  • good health
  • a husband who loves and understands me
  • a car that runs
  • money to buy food

suddenly disappeared from my life. My answer: not bloody well at all!

Doing the gratitude lists this way has given me a whole new focus on life. It also shines a spotlight on the things that are really important when I get myself in a tizzy over inconsequentials. (I can hear my husband saying, “You? Never!“) Give it a try.

4. What’s-Right-With-Me?

I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who has raised self-criticism to an art form. It’s so easy to expound upon “what’s wrong with me,” especially with the media, certain relatives, etc. ready and willing to lend a helping hand.

Lately I’ve been trying to give equal time to “what’s right with me”, and it’s been a major eye-opener. When negative self-talk crops up, I immediately counter it with a positive statement.

Example:

Negative: Boy, you really screwed up this time!
Positive: Yup, I sure did. But it’s fixable, I’ve learned from it, and I won’t make the same mistake again.

It was difficult at first because there had been a certain macabre sense of power in dissecting myself and stomping on the pieces before anybody else could. I fought some pitched battles with deeply-entrenched negative self-images, but I kept at it and, to my immense surprise, I discovered it’s far more productive, not to mention pleasant, to build myself up than to tear myself down. (Duh!)

5. Clean out a closet

I don’t know why, but every time I work up the courage to take on the wilds of my bedroom closet, good things seem to follow.

Sometimes it’s as simple as being able to find things easily as I stumble around getting ready for work in the morning. Other times I come up with wardrobe items I forgot were there–kinda like shopping in my own closet.

Other times, it’s almost like I’ve signaled to the universe that I’ve made room in my life for the Next Good Thing. It’s happened too many times to be just a coincidence. Closet-cleaning has been followed almost immediately by:

  • moving into my own big-girl apartment (at the ripe young age of 47)
  • meeting my husband
  • getting a new job

Give it a try. When you’re ready to put things back in the closet, check out this handy little tip that will greatly simplify the next purge.

6. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

I’ve always been one of those people who don’t just get in a rut; I move in, lock, stock and laptop. But I’ve come to the conclusion that the status quo isn’t really comfortable so much as it is familiar, and it’s good for the soul to shake things up from time to time.

It doesn’t have to be hang-gliding. It can be something as simple as taking another route to work or trying a daring (for you) new hairstyle. Just something different that shakes things up in a good way and invites new people and experiences into your life.

photo credit: merwing✿little dear via photopin cc