So I've been tired. I'm tired when I get up in the morning; I'm tired when I get to work. I'm tired during the day; I'm tired when I get home. I seem a little disinterested in everything. Life is tasting a bit like a bowl of plain oatmeal and that is no way to live. Sure, it's enough to live on -- but it's not making a smile spread across my face.
So, I'm going to do an experiment for the month of February and will see if this helps.
For the month of February I am going to
- Go to the gym before work, 5x/week
- Eat a healthy breakfast (I already do this)
- Focus on some happy thoughts (see below)
- Walk for 10 minutes at lunch time
- and Drink 2L of water every day
About the thinking the happy thoughts... I wish I had a better word for this. Martha Beck calls it treasuring and this is what it consists of:
Think of something your heart really years for. Now imagine that you have that thing, whatever it is. Spend 10 solid minutes imagining this with all senses -- what does it sound like, look like, feel like, taste like, smell like. 10 solid minutes.And that's what I'm going to do for February and I really really hope it brings me some more oomph. Some more get up and go (cuz my get up go seems to have got up and went. <-- I wish I made that up. Clever.).
That's it.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Good luck with the February resolutions. Do you get shorted on sunshine down there, too, in winter? Ever considered one of those SAD lamps? Everyone I talk to at this time of year could use one, it seems.
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ReplyDeleteHi Mar. I feel your pain. I go through times like this, especially during the winters. I agree with the SAD lamp thing that Katie mentions above (keep one on my desk). Some other things I do to cultivate joy and have more energy are:
ReplyDelete- cutting caffeine (I am really sensitive, so for me this means no coffee or just decaf). I allow myself 1-2 cups black tea in the morning. When I was having 1-2 cups coffee per day, life was a lot different.
-(some aspects of )Ayurvedic daily routine: neti pot, tongue scraping, nasya oil, drinking warm water instead of cold, trying to avoid eating between 7 and 7 (supposed to be 6 and 6, I find even 7 and 7 is hard), trying to sleep from 10 to 6, lunch bigger than dinner.
-attempting to eat for my dosha (for me, enough protein, avoid going completely empty, high quality oils)
-sing (impossible to be sad and sing at the same time)
-(only a new thing I am just now starting) turning negative thoughts around so that they become affirmations. I.e. "I should eat more healthy" --> "I am so grateful that I eat healthy"
(reading The Secret right now, kind of cheesy, but some useful stuff in there)
-movement. If I am having trouble motivating, music always seems to help. I also have to consider where I am in my moon cycle. For me, I am often down for more strenuous activities (i.e. hike up a mountain and ski down or weight lifting) in the 1st half of my cycle, and less strenous (gentle yoga or walking the dogs). I got this idea from the book Consciously Female (Tracy Gaudet, MD). Another great one in this same vein is Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (Christianne Northrup, MD).
-really hot baths with epsom salts (like a pound per bath).
-light timer on my bed side table. Lamp turns on 1/2 hour before alarm goes off, so I get the dawn response at the same time each day(from Northrup).