This beautiful cool cloudy morning, I woke up to the thought, “uuuugh, I am so achy and I have work-out.” Now, I was not necessarily dreading to work out but I was thinking about how challenging it is first thing in the morning to get up groggy and stiff and move in any way after laying horizontal over 7 hours. However, working out first thing in the morning is the only time I have been able to remain consistent with it. After my morning prayer while still laying in bed, something in me decided to start gently stretching - kinda like I used to as a child. I started with raising my arms over my head and pointing my toes. Then flexing my toes and foot and moving my hands to me side. I repeated that a couple of times and intuitively started on lifting my knees, one at a time, then both. Mind you, I was still horizontal. Then I did gentle twists from side to side, and eventually turned around and did a gentle circuit of child’s pose, cat and cow. When I got up, I felt energized and not as stiff. When I went to the bathroom for my morning pre-workout routine, I did not feel as groggy. Finally, I eased in to my 10-minute low impact aerobics routine by BodyFit by Amy that I is getting me into to routine of working out again.
Every morning, I do something called a Miracle Morning, where exercise is part of that and meditation in prayer. (More on Miracle Mornings at a later date.) In the devotional I am going through during my Miracle monrning routine, Start Your Day Right - Don’t Waste Time by Joyce Meyer Ministries via YouVersion, Ms. Meyer wrote about it being so important to be self-controlled as not to waste time. Although we don’t need to by rigid or inflexible with our time, it’s important to use that time wisely. It hit me while reading this that in order to use time wisely, sometimes we have to be wise by being consistent with time. So I asked myself, “how is it that one becomes consistent with anything, let a lone time?” It occurred to me that routines make one consistent. Just as I had started Miracle Mornings as a morning ritual, I incorporated working out as another (among other powerful habits outlined in this morning routine.) Habits, whether good or bad, don’t always happen overnight. It is something that one makes a routine and becomes consistent with that routine. Hear ye: I challenge anyone reading this; Start with one easy activity you have wanted to implement, find a time of day you can make a routine out of it, become consistent with it and it will become a habit. It greatly helps if you have an accountability partner – someone doing this activity with you or just someone that you can tell you did the activity so that they can be excited with and encourage you. There are other tools you can use, some which I will mention in the next coming weeks. But start small – like I will with my new routine of easy morning stretches. You will be amazed how something simple like this will monumentally impact your day!
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This week, my energy has been progressingly fading. At first, I couldn’t put a finger on it. I thought it was just the rainy weather and cloudy days, which I am sure could be a part of my blahness. But THIS much fatigue does not make sense. I haven’t been working any harder, nor experiencing any more stress than usual. And then it came to me this morning!!! I have not been CONSISTENT. Consistency has been an ongoing growth area in my life for some time now. Although I have learned to be more consistent with bigger things, like getting to appointments 15 minute early, my morning routine, how I clear out my inbox; I am unfortunately not consistent with many small things in life that are just as and maybe even more important. Maybe I have a touch of ADD (my doctor claims I do), but usually when I set myself out to be consistent, ADD or not, my life takes on a whole new level of productivity and energy. This time, I realized I stopped being consistent with something I didn’t pay a lot of mind to; I started taking Oligo-powered vitamins and minerals sporadically several months ago but last month I decided to take them daily no matter what. Prior to that, despite my mainly fresh primarily organic dairy free diet, I still had the metabolism of a SLOTH. If anything, my metabolism ran backwards. But after just 2 weeks, I felt amazing!!! I was up before 8am with no alarm clock, when prior I struggled to get out of bed by 10am. I didn’t feel I had to crash into bed by 8pm. I did not need naps in the middle of the day. It was like my chronic fatigue syndrome disappeared!!! I was focused, energized and my mood steadily positive. But last week I began slacking; life happens sometimes and we skimp on those things that we think will save us time, like sitting down for a healthy breakfast, taking my vitamins and doing 7 minutes of exercise as I had been consistently doing for a month. You know the deal - how we can get so productive, we get busy, but sometimes too busy so we skimp – you know the deal. When I realized the cause of my lack of zest and focus, I took the Oligo vitamins just this morning with a healthy breakfast wholefood shake and, NO JOKE, I feel my power coming back!!!! So this is a good lesson for me on Consistency (Especcially when it comes to health): JUST BE CONSISTENT - NO EXCUSES. Skimping on those activities that Covey says are Not Urgent and Important is VERY important not to skimp. We often live life, according to Covey – (bestselling author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) – doing things that are Not Important but Urgent, the Important and Urgent, and even too much time in the Not Important and Not Urgent. But those things that maintain us, grow us, are preventative and preserving – those things we give least time to but should be at the TOP of our priority, and to do them Daily! So I look forward to a GREAT DAY!!!! I hope your day is great too!!! #7habits #Covey #Consistency #Noexcuses #PoweredByOligo #chronicfatiguesyndrome #themoxiephoenix #melaleuca #healthyliving #Wellness "Before we can be cured we must want to be cured. Those who really wish for help will get it; but for many modern people even the wish is difficult." - C.S. Lewis ~Mere Christianity I have found that lamentably this is a truth with our current culture. I encounter may individuals, both patients, clients and even friends and family that say the pain or discomfort of their current situation is much to bear. However, when offered a solution or a way out, the remain almost frozen as if paralyzed to act. I used to think it was mere laziness, but as I took time to do my best to understand their heart, I found this is not often true. There is, instead, a learned helplessness tied with an ignorance that takes time to penetrate. There definitely is a longing for the cure, but fear of the cost to obtain it. Fear about how much time it will take to change. Fear about the unknown. Fear about what being cured actually mean as it will become a new norm. Fear of the pain to change is still greater of the fear in remaining the same. I have to admit; I am sometimes at a loss at how to approach people that hold on to their fear like a comfort blankie. I know it sounds ironic, but many do. It is like trying to pry away their torn up smelly blanket from them because it is all they know and have experienced so much loss, losing even this fear they have grown quite accustomed and even comfortable with is too precious for them to give up.
I remember once seeing a profound meme of a father (I think it was representing Jesus) kneeling in front of a little girl. She was clutching to her mangled teddy bear. His right hand was gently wooing her to let it go, while in his left hand there was the most beautiful teddy behind his back ready for her enjoyment. But she first had to give this worn out possession to receive what was better. There is a famous quote by John D. Rockefeller: “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” But for most, I find this is still not relevant to them. They still let go of the fear of giving up the bad for the good. Or in this case, the dis-ease for the cure. The battle of any disease state – well most of them – the battle is in the mind. I have learned to approach others “stuck” in fear, with love. Love truly drives out fear. Letting others know that you want to genuinely understand them with no judgment begins to chip away at that fear. With love, patience. The patience to listen and learn; it isn’t an overnight process. Finally, with love and patience; be an example. An example by being conquering one’s owns fear and sharing that process without shame. Show that it is normal and even okay to be afraid, but courageous. How one will get a wish fulfilled with courage. The courage to fight. The courage to endure. The courage to feel stupid sometimes, especially when you fall. The courage to get back up again. The courage to share their story without shame. I was an addict for many years desperately wishing things to be different. I so wanted to be cured of so much pain and heartache. I was that little girl desperately clinging to toxic relationships and afraid of being sober because I didn’t like how it felt to be otherwise. I was okay being self-medicated because it numbed my pain, discomfort and my awkwardness being around others. The band-aide of drugs, sex and trance music was all I knew. But one day, the fear of remaining the same was greater than the fear of being radical and doing something different. The fear of losing my life or soul became greater than the fear of losing my ‘friends’. Ultimately, the fear of my children following in those footsteps outweighed the fear of shuffling alone in my own. When I finally hit my rock-bottom, it produced something amazing – loss of fear. When you lose everything or even just that thing you have clung onto so long and realize you are still alive and don’t have anywhere else to go but up, you are forced to be courageous. Here’s another thing folks; you may think to yourself – “yeah, but I’m not an addict.” And this is what I say to you…EVERYONE is addicted to something. Everyone holds something so close that it is holding their personal growth in some area. Everyone is at one point or another afraid to change. And Everyone has something they wish for but are too afraid to get it. If you want to be cured of something, you have taken the first step because first you have to know you are dis-eased in some way to need a cure. But don’t stop just at wishing for help. Help yourself first by getting the help you need. And if you don’t know where to go; just ask me. I may not have all the answers, but I will strive to connect you with resources to help you get the help you need. Why, because that is what someone did for me and part of my cure has been paying it forward. #Recovery #mereChristianity #cslewis #fear #courage #personalgrowth #addiction #themoxiephoenix I fell of the face of social media for a while. Truth is, life just got so exciting and busy that I had to focus my energy on a new chapter of my life in order to make it a smooth-as-possible transition. New house, new job, learning to work from home consistently and intentionally all while learning to make my way as a "strong independent woman." I have made so much progress as a person, made so many new friends and regained a sense of real priorities. What is my number one priority you may ask? Ultimately, life is truly about loving others - It's all about relationships. It doesn't matter how much money one has (although money helps), nor where one lives (although I still want a beach address) or what one does for a living (and I love what I do)...it all boils down to this: "am I adding value to someone else's life and am I growing in the process." If it wasn't for my relationships, even this awesome transition in my life would have been...lacking. The stressful bits were assuaged with family and friend's encouragement. The joyful parts were celebrated with mirth with the precious human beings doing life with me. The devastating parts were comforted with their hugs and understanding. The wonderful parts were wonderful because I could share them with people that truly cared.
I used to be a lonely bird - a loner, a rebel...one who lived life on the edge. And it WAS lonely. It dawned on me this morning, how NOT lonely I am anymore. Even in my fortress of solitude I know I am not alone. And that I am loved. So that's it folks; life is about learning to live a life full of love. So although I enjoy sharing on Facebook in this amazing platform of digital reality - sometimes I just gotta enjoy this thing called life in analog. |
About the Blog...We have heard the wisdom that we should love others as we love ourselves; but many of us do not even Like ourselves let alone Love ourselves. My mission is to help people learn to truly love themselves so that they can then love others as themselves. Archives
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