“Today I am relaxed and ready.”
Today I am off to London for an exciting meeting with really inspiring colleagues in my field, with a view to our working together. I’m really very fortunate. What is your advice for the day?
It’s fine to be relaxed. It’s good to be ready. It’s wise to be receptive, and also circumspect.
(It’s strange having this dialogue on the keyboard. [Normally I’m writing by hand in my diary.] Is this ok? This way?)
It’s more than ok. Relax. Rest. Receive. Be ready.
Alliteration warmly and readily received. 🙂 So, the message for today is…
“Today I am relaxed and ready.”
Excellent. Thank you. Meditation time….
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Meditation:
20 Minute Guided Meditation and Complete Breath Practice to Build Positive Internal Energy via The Mindful Movement. At first I found myself a bit resistant to the breath focus, with my mind wandering ahead to the day (I had a really good insight for my meeting though!) But over time, the ’embodiment’ process of deep breathing began to take effect. I remembered the dialogue, and began to work with ‘I am relaxed and ready’, and used that mantra to settle into the feeling of being in the body. Some hand qigong also helped, especially around the throat chakra which is feeling a bit tight today. (Also, I was aware of observing myself so I could report on my experience here… which is something I’ll have to work softly with. I appreciated the ‘observer self’ arising, and yet want to be meditating without future thinking. It’ll take time, I guess. Good practice!)
Exercise:
YOQI Fountain Flow 8m Just a brief one as I’m travelling, and the first 4 mins were theory (which I warmed up alongside). This flow focuses on the WATER element, and thus the kidney meridians. I didn’t know kidneys (which also house the adrenal glands, and therefore linked to adrenal fatigue) and linked to WILLPOWER (makes sense!). Yes, may I love my kidneys, recuperate adrenal strength and enjoy enhanced willpower! ✨?✨
Walking: 7200 steps (5km) ?
Diet:
Coffee with cream.
Breakfast: Borlotti beans and 2 eggs
Lunch: (out) vegetarian dish with salads and potatoes
Evening: (out) chicken satay, rice and salad
Healthy food… but still carby. Deep breaths… Soon we’ll weedle out the carbs again. It’s ok. We’ll edge in there. <3
Sleep:
Screens off: 12.10am :((( Agh. I made the mistake (lovely though it was) of making a ‘quick’ FaceTime call at 10pm, an hour after I really need to have put screens away for a good night’s sleep. The result was that I finished the call at 10.40pm and had missed my natural melatonin window (and was hopped up from the lovely chat). I was then wired and stuck on my phone (Facebook I must confess) til after midnight.
Lights out: 12.20pm Once I turned my screen off and picked up a book, two paragraphs had me almost asleep. I need to remember this. If I can just get the book in the hand, I’m away. I know I feel that the phone in the room gives me security in the house, but maybe I do need to try charging it elsewhere now that there are no children in the house…
Wake up the next day: 7.05am I woke without an alarm (I could have slept in today to recover from the London day) completely charged up with a cortisol storm. I had had a long anxious dream about trying to cross an expanse of water by edging along telegraph wires while on the phone to a business partner, and swinging about nearly being dunked in the water (“I’m going to lose my phone!” Hm… there’s a theme here.)
Total sleep: about 6.5 hours In sum, I’d justified the FaceTime call by the fact that I only got back to the house from London at 10pm. The fact remains: if I use my phone after 10pm, my night’s sleep will almost certainly be scuppered by cortisol activation… and, not to put too fine a point upon it, and because the reminder actually piques me… the constant cortisol overload is making me not just exhausted but also uncomfortably overweight. So remember: ‘no screens after 9pm’ is great for losing weight.
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And how was the phrase of the day “I am relaxed and ready”? Learning?
Very pacifying and grounding on what could have been a spinning day. I had to write a whole presentation for my meeting on the train up. Reminding myself that I was indeed relaxed and ready gave me greater ability to focus and produce. It was a practical, rooted, mindful state. In the meeting with new people, it allowed me to sit back and absorb everyone else’s words and presence, rather than be too much on the front foot (at least for the first few hours).