Take action

I've been very inactive the last two or three weeks with a recurring flu. It's that time of year of hot-cold-hot-cold-cold and pretty much everyone is bound to a packet of tissues or is staring blankly at the multivitamin shelf in the chemist after work, looking for something that will make them feel better.

It's no biggie. I get the flu every year. I guess this year it got in the way of my swing. I was starting to get into the flow of operations here in Sligo. Yoga twice a week, work twice a week in town, my blog. It was all going quite well. Then one day at work a kid coughed then sneezed a wet one onto his sleeve in the crease of his elbow. That did it. Next day, the bedroom smelt of lemon and ginger and a nice little pile of tissues, orange peels, mugs and throat lozenge wrappers settled in to stay beside my bed.

You would think that I would have used this time to take action and catch up on reading, watch those environmental documentaries I've been keeping my eye on or simply start crocheting those mittens for Christmas. Instead I decided to feel sorry for myself and drink more tea and watch HOURS of Breaking Bad, The IT Crowd, Battlestar Galactica (again) and Grimm.

It was the greatest feeling to breath in fresh air and leave the apartment after a week in bed. Two days later, I got the flu again and we were back to the pile of tissues. This time the man friend actually knew what he was doing; he was aware of how much honey to put in the hot ginger tea and even cooked some dinner (the horror) without meat in them. For me. Positive, caring, nurturing behaviour to help me. I am so used to helping others out I couldn't fully remember what it felt like to be looked after for a change.

Getting back into yoga tonight after two weeks, I fell over, stretched muscles that were long forgotten and went red in the face with the frustration of two weeks of yoga lost. It took 80 minutes and 10 of relaxation at the end for me to finally switch my destructively critical mind off and to be at peace. Taking action is not just about forcing yourself to get over the flu. It is not about rushing into your backlog of work. It is not about judging yourself against the new girl in yoga who is now one week ahead of you in her path towards a leaner body and more focused mind.

Taking action is sometimes about making a conscious effort to decide to calm the negative and destructive mind that is so harsh on your emotions and your body. It is a focused response to fthe ear of not being good enough when you start to compare your pose to the person next to you. It is a decision to be clear about your goals of not just a lean body but a strong body, strong mind and clear, healthy and positive emotional base. These are my mantras of this week. Overall, I am telling myself this week "I am taking action by being good to myself, my body, my soul, my heart, my gut and my mind.

This website really inspired me and made me think that action need not necessarily be a movement or change of the body. http://www.actionforhappiness.org/ Thank you Tori Lane for pointing it out! X

 

Namaste!

Things can only get better

Have I managed to put that irritating song into your head for the rest of the day?
It's repetitive and has cheesy tunes to accompany it but the overall message is positive and wholesome and hopeful all in one.

I want things to get better. I want to be healthy and happy and I am now of the firm belief that things can only get better, not because so many things have gone wrong but because I am willing them to get better, for myself and for those I care about.
I am a big believer in the analogy of waves as a representation of our lives and the world around us. Not just those beautiful green blue masses of force out at sea but sound, light and experiences. Waves are in constant movement, constant change and and constant flow. Nothing is ever stagnant. Everything is temporary. Suddenly the world becomes very philosophical because you realise that only the current moment means anything. It is the now that is important and while we focus on things only getting better, we automatically admit to ourselves that we are discontent with the now.

This has always been a difficult point for me. I try to focus on the now but in reality, I am not entirely happy with the now, not fully content with the present and want to see change, not just for myself but for people and the world around me. It was then that I realised that making the most of the present is understanding what needs to change towards happiness and growth for myself and others. Change is growth and we were not put here to remain stagnant. Enlightenment comes from the understanding of change not the longingness for it.

It was this brainwave that led me to wanting to learn and understand about new ideas of growth, not simply economic growth. Money and the striving for wealth never made any sense to me. As far as I can see, the greatest wealth to be found and to be given, is in love and the expression of it to ourselves, the people we care about, the people who don't understand and to this beautiful earth we live on. I am inspired by people who are DOING and practicing the change they want to see in the future from others, in the present themselves. It gives me hope, it keeps me positive and makes me feel whole because I think the world is so much better with this kind of change that no amount of change money could bring about.

Here are two documentaries that illuminated my day.

 

The first: Edible City makes me feel like I am not alone in my desire to fix cities and help communities, one garden at a time.

Jamie Johnson's documentary: The One Percent, gives me hope that there are people, even within the 1% who are thinking, thinking about where they come from, who they are and what they want to be right now and what kind of world they want for the future.

Enjoy! This happy girl did :)