Being mindful of the life we have is important. As I wrote yesterday...this is it. This is our life and we need to pay attention. Have I always paid attention? Good lord no!
I was living my life at ramp speed flying through my days...going from meeting to meeting...phone call to phone call. I was exhausted and then got up and did it again and again and again. "Mindful"...that was not even on my radar as a possibility.
When I crashed and fell...life stopped. As I worked to pull myself together I was able to look at the rumble that had fallen around me. I wanted something else. I wanted a life that I paid more attention to for me. I wanted to be more mindful of my life but that was not as easy as it sounds.
When you are use to not paying attention...it's like a bad habit you need to change. Paying attention is the good habit you want to develop and like every habit you want to establish it takes focus.
To help me focus I came up with a journal like page that I filled out every day. Every day for months. It is said that it takes at least 21 days to change a habit. It takes even longer if you have been through a trauma and are working on that at the same time. My journal page helped keep me focused. It helped me to be more mindful...more aware of every day. Because good, bad or indifferent...every day counts. And I came to realize when I was mindful there were fewer and fewer indifferent days. And while I still have bad days...they are less and less.
So here is step one of being more mindful. Every day you need to exercise. Whether you start or end your day with it, somewhere in your day you need to exercise. You can walk around the block. You can go to a gym or you can go to the library and get a DVD or VHS tape about exercise and put it in your player. (Just carrying it home is not enough.) Okay you can count going to the library as exercise...you have me there. But actually putting the tape in the player will get you further! Maybe you just watch it the first day. That's a start. But start you must. Exercise can change the chemical balance in your body. That is a good thing. It can wake your body up. That is a good thing.
Listen I am the woman who kept a mental list of any sports/exercise related injury I heard of and would rattle them off to my doctor whenever he said I should be exercising. But alas he was right once again. Exercise is important. So do it. And do it every day. For a minute or 1/2 hour or whatever you can spare. Just start...every day will get easier.
I read a quote once that said you need to take care of your body because that is where your spirit lives. So consider that you want to be the best landlord possible and give your spirit a housing upgrade!
Tomorrow...step 2 on living a more mindful life.
PS Frank had his blood tests yesterday. Now we just wait. Any extra prayers or healing thoughts please send them Frank's way. Thanks...
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