Awareness Check In.
Where are your thoughts? What is going on with you energetically right now in this moment? Avoid getting caught up on the circumstance or on the “story” of what is happening in your life but focus from a slight distance with perspective on the theme of the thoughts they producing and what emotions are they creating?
Where is the energy of your body? Is it still, centered, clear, vibrant? Is it scattered, depleted, stuck, etc.?
Sit still and upright. Close your eyes. Breathe slowly and deeply inhaling through your nose on the count of 6 in and then out again on the count of 6. Slightly suspend the breath between inhales and exhales. Listen to your breath. Observe how your body feels, observe your thoughts from a distance like watching a train pass by. Deepen the breath more fully and just observe.
Bringing awareness through observation and stillness is the first step to healing and to becoming fully yourself. This is the place where healing and insight happen. We have to make time to do this daily.
Bring this awareness with you throughout the day. Do not worry if you didn’t feel centered or struggled breathing or got caught up in your story and your mind wandered. Learning to accept ourselves where we are and take time to be sit with ourselves in order to cultivate our SELF is what matters.
Botanical Name: Matricaria Chamomilla
Chinese Pinyin Name: Huang Chu Ju
My Greek husbands’ mother would drink a cup of chamomile tea every evening. It looks like a daisy flower as they are both members of the Asteraceae family. It is my go-to single use herb for destressing.
Here are just a few of its healing properties.
Chamomile tea helps to reduce anxiety and aid sleep.
It contains a flavonoid called apigenin and acts as an effective natural sedative relieving anxiety and stress. A good night’s sleep keeps those cortisol (stress hormone) levels at bay.
Chamomile tea is a great digestive as well.
Soothes skin rashes and bruising.
Decreases inflammation in the body.
It’s gentle enough to drink every day.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine we categorize like so;
Temperature: cool
Channels: It enters the meridians AKA channels of the Lungs, Large Intestine, Spleen, Liver & Pericardium.
Taste: sweet, bitter
Main Actions: It regulates the circulation of Qi (energy), thus removing stagnation (inflammation). Calms Shen (spirit-mood) soothes digestion.
So now that we are officially in Spring, it’s time for Spring Cleaning. While cleaning out the closets, drawers, and “stuff” in general I started thinking about Spring Cleaning in another way.
There is another place to Spring Clean and that is the mind. We clean our bodies by brushing our teeth and taking a shower daily (hopefully). Let’s make a new habit of cleaning out the negative internal dialogue.
It doesn’t matter if we are right or not. It matters that we sweep out that negativity and replace it with something positive and helpful.
It doesn’t mean there isn’t stress (believe me, I know stress).
It doesn’t mean we avoid dealing with what needs dealt with. Common sense tells us that we can not change what we do not acknowledge.
It does mean that what we feed, grows. Where we put our focus, we put our energy. So, we choose to clean out the mental garbage, focus on the good and make the most of the hand we have been dealt.
It isn’t easy and sometimes we take a step backwards, but Spring is a good reminder to clean out all the clutter physically and mentally.
Happy Spring Cleaning!
Wish Lists
I have been reconciling my wish list with being in a state of gratitude.
Being in an active present state of gratitude allows me to focus on what I am thankful for. There is beautiful and helpful experiences, people, situations, and things of which I am thankful. Gratitude also stops me from getting swept up by the issues that cause pain and suffering. I am not in denial of the financial and health crisis we are in. I am not in denial of how it has impacted my family personally and the stress and problems it has caused. I just know that when I am in gratitude nothing negative can affect me. I can only inhabit one state of being at a time. The challenges no matter how dire, simply are what they are, nothing more and nothing less. My experience, my state of being is my choice. It takes a lot of work to be in this state and I get thrown off course all too often, but I keep bringing myself back.
I do have a wish list though. It’s a good one too ha-ha. Focusing too much on what I want, creates a state of longing for the future (or past) and keeps me from being in the present moment where gratitude, insight and intuition exists. So, I imagine that wish list as if it already exists. Then the relief, peace, and happiness it will give me, is being brought into the present. I am experiencing my wish list in the “now”. Everything I need is with me right here in the current moment.
In the words of Eckhardt Tolle, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough”. I catch myself moving away from that thankfulness and bring myself back to it, simply through sitting still, breathing slowly, and placing my consciousness and awareness on the peaceful, bliss of gratitude. I have my wish list, but I imagine it already existing so that I remain present with myself.
Happy Lunar New Year! Celebrating the Year of the Ox.
It is the Year of the White Metal Yin Ox to be exact. While we often refer to it as Chinese New Year, the Lunar New Year is a holiday celebrated across much of Asia.
The Ox is hardworking and methodical in nature.
We will feel the weight of our responsibilities this year, but the good news is that with focus and commitment to our work, we will accomplish what we need to do.
It will be a good year for the economy to recovery and to organize our lives and put order back in family life. No doubt the pandemic has made work, school and home life stressful for families in more ways than one.
We will be equipped with even more added strength due to the Metal nature of this New Year’s Ox and we can handle the work ahead. Problems will get solved. Success will come to those who work hard. It’s all about work, our duties and discipline.
Commitment to service. The Ox historically was and still is responsible for the survival of humanity. In agricultural communities we could not farm without the Ox helping to plow and sow the fields as well as carry and pull the fruits of the labor and other items needed to build communities. Ox, Bison, Buffalo and Cows are all highly revered throughout many cultures for their aid and service to humanity.
Although the dense yin nature makes it a year of hard work, we are planting the seeds for what we will need later. We reap what we sow. The White nature of this year’s Ox will cleanse us, purify & protect us so that we will have clarity, honesty, and integrity in our work.
It is a year to complete what has not been completed in the previous year. It is not a year for instant gratification. That is difficult to accept in a world where we can send and receive information at a click and have almost anything delivered to our doorstep overnight, but there is nothing better than reaping the rewards of one’s own hard work and enjoying the accomplishments of our own sincere efforts.
May you celebrate the Lunar New Year safely. Enjoy delving into the work ahead. You will be grateful and prosper for that work ethic and commitment. By this time next year, that hard work will bring a smile to your face. Ox is a noble creature. May we all live a year as nobly and virtuous as Ox.
Less is More
Have you ever forgotten you had a piece of clothing, because you had so much stuff you couldn’t see it?
Have you ever bought something from the market like seasoning or a cleaning product only to realize you had one stuffed in the back of a shelf when you got home?
During the pandemic I have watched on Netflix the Minimalist, Home Edit and Marie Kondo. I like my things too, but as you get older you realize if it’s important to you, it should be displayed in a place of honor. Thank you, Peter Walsh for those words of wisdom. I had the pleasure of meeting him at my husband’s restaurant Le Petit Greek many years ago. He wrote the books, “It’s All Too Much” & “Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?”. If you do need to keep things stored away, that is okay. The pandemic is a great time to start editing, organizing, and labeling. Truth is most of the stuff I have is all too much.
I am keeping it simple. I am doing my own version of The Minimalists 30-day challenge game. I am getting rid of one item a day for 30 days. I will donate, trash, or sell. Then I will organize and label slowly over the next month. Who am I kidding, it could take me a year I’ve so much “stuff”!
For me it is about the Feng Shui. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of harmony and balance in your living or work space. That to me is a fabulous way to live. You don’t have to be wealthy to create a beautiful space. It’s something I had done, but lost track of when different challenges arose over the years.
Often, we don’t declutter due to the fear that we will get rid of something we might need, or we will regret giving something away. That mindset is one of lack. No item will bring back our past or our loved ones. Excess stuff will not prepare us for the unknown future. Feeling we won’t have enough is what keeps us collecting and for some hoarding. Fear and regret are not a place to live from. So, I am moving forward, taking it one baby step at a time as to not get overwhelmed. Because overwhelm is also a reason we put off decluttering. Wish Me Luck!
If you need a healthy New Year’s challenge of less clutter and more clarity watch the shows I mentioned and read the books. Less really is more. Except when it comes to Love. That is infinite and there is always room for more.
Less Clutter, More Clarity! It’s not a New Year’s resolution, it’s a proclamation and an action to be taken every day.
Everyday when I wake up, I set my goals for the day. My personal goals and professional goals.
At the end of the day, I assess by asking myself what were my personal and professional triumphs and challenges? I like these words better than success and failure. Triumphs are steps forward and guess what, so are challenges. Challenges are the difficulties or the obstacles we encounter (internally or externally) that we have to learn from and work on. They shed light on what needs our attention and what needs a shift in effort and focus. We have to bring a different state of being (consciousness) and or mode of operation to a challenge. We are forced to expand our knowledge, problem solving skills and mastery of obstacles and challenges. Challenges are opportunities for growth, which in turn brings us closer to balance, and harmony, even though they are difficult when we are in them. So as long as we are addressing and working on the challenge it is a step forward to that peaceful and happy state of being that is our authentic self.
Some days the goals are met and sometimes not. When not, I strategize. I know what it is like to get sidetracked by fear and frustration, upset with injustice, and bureaucracy, or my own resistance so I just keep it simple. Goal, Strategy, Assess.
Then the final and my favorite step is Kindness. Throughout the process of the day professionally and personally I practice kindness. I actually plan acts of kindness for myself and others. I make sure every day that I am giving and experiencing kindness no matter how difficult the challenges have been. Nothing grandiose.
Again, I keep it simple. Here are a few examples of self-kindness; I massage my hands and feet, I treat myself to Take Out Food, I tell myself while looking in the mirror “hello, I love you, it’s good to see you and be you”. Giving to yourself with kindness is an act of love, it is not selfishness. You cannot give what you do not have to give.
To give kindness to others I may open a door for them, leave a public restroom cleaner than when I entered, let someone else go first at an intersection, give a compliment to someone. Giving to others allows the movement of that compassionate energy to continue to flow and grow throughout the world we live in. The act of giving kindness to ourselves and others allows for a balanced and virtuous flow of Qi (life force). It is important to plant seeds of kindness.
WISHING YOU ALL A DAY BRIMMING WITH KINDNESS AND GOALS FULFILLED!!!
