If we are what we repeatedly do, it's no wonder then that I'm a ball of fatigue now.. having been a ball of stress for the last couple of years. I hate to think what I would have been like if I didn't do yoga through that time!
So here we are.. and here is today. This moment. Neil Pasricha tells us,
"Life is so great that we only get a tiny moment to enjoy everything we see. And that moment is right now." The moments that made up the end of 2011 looked like this: Dinner time - I've just downed a pizza for dinner along with some buttery, wheaty garlic bread, all washed down with soft drink. So in this moment I've fed my addictions of sugar and wheat cravings, because
'I deserve it'.
What do I 'deserve'? Gee. I deserve home delivery.
You know, I work a lot!
I work late nights and early mornings!
I don't want to cook and shop and wash.
I deserve to have what I want.
I work hard, I have had a tough life, I just want what I want without it being a big drama.
We all have these stories, and whether they're true or not:
that's not really the point at all.
Try this on for size - next time you're tired, or stressed, or down, and you just want a pizza for dinner.. or a glass of wine (or 2, or 3) to wind down with at the end of a day.. or that chocolate.. or that sex.. that exercise.. that drug.. whatever it is, STOP. Take 10 breaths.
And ask yourself what it is that you're
really craving for.
Oh I know sometimes that sugar or drug or whatever it is, is completely a chemical reaction. Or it's something that releases charge. We all want to not feel the stress or sadness or 'feeling' that is hard.
For me, having downed the pizza and soft drink (when I'm meant to be gluten free and sugar free to help with the whole adrenal issue!) made me feel good.. for a moment. There's
nurturing involved in sugary, high carb foods. What do I want? I want life to be simple. I want love (don't we all?). I want a feeling of wholeness, uncomplicated beautiful wholeness.
I currently - when I succumb to the gluten and sugar - find all of that in some bites of food, which sets off chemical reactions, which floods my body with this stuff. So the questions is: how could I find this stuff elsewhere?
Simple. Meditation.
Yin yoga.
(any yoga, when it serves your body & your mind)
Yoga nidra.
Whole foods.
Slowing down.
Meeting with friends.
Space.
Just breathing.
Feeling my feet on the earth and being present.
So here's a good pointer of what I need in this new year.
In fact, that above list could be my 2012 resolutions.
The point isn't always to understand what we're trying to fill/ignore/create/avoid... but sometimes just to sit through it the best we can. These are ways I can get through life, the best I can.
How about you? What's on your list? xo