fruitful work (completed a new training programme, on Suicide Prevention & Intervention – delivering today)
Switch20 game… got a lot done when I used it
good food
fascination with British politics going into 6th gear…
Switch20 shows me how deeeeeeeeeply down the mental (thinking) rabbit hole I tend to go.
When I Switch Attention ‘cleanly’ (which can feel like pulling a tooth out initially), it makes me more:
efficient
agile
focussed
task-orientated
minimalist
attentive to the ‘next best task’
‘problem-busting’
(also…. agitated and unsettled if I’m not in the right zone)
I spent a long time on the training development after I dropped off using Switch20 at about 1pm…. I would have been more efficient and agile and focussed if I had had the courage to keep using it – but I was under a pressure of a deadline to complete, so it just felt ‘risky’ to try a new way.
That’s understandable. You are developing new tools, for fuller deployment donw the line. Everything doesn’t have to be mastered immediately.
This morning I’ve been studying the Bronnikov Method…. He talks about the New Human. It’s really interesting, because it seems to pick up things I’ve worked out myself… It matches Joe Dispenza who I was reading and finding helpful recently too. See: https://www.bronnikovcenter.net/
Also I’ve downloaded an intermittent fasting app called BodyFast. I know I need to give my body a break and a boost.
I guess I’m thinking about this ‘human potential’ theme. It sure is an antidote to thinking about mental illness which was a big theme for me, and is now what I am training people about a lot.
Yes, the ‘towards’ vision….
I must go to work… Got this important training. Today?
“I am well”
Nu?
Your world mirrors your belief. Remind yourself to live with and within your ‘towards’ vision. Especially when delivering training which would benefit from your positive assertion at all times. Sing it internally across the day.
Lovely. Thank you..
Today I am well
********************
MEDITATION? NO
EXERCISE? NO
#STEPS
DIET – BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NO
DRY today? NO
MORNING: My muesli, caulirice&eggs&kale :)))
EVENING: Fish & chips, G&Ts
SLEEP – IN BED WITH MY BOOKS BY 10pm? NO festive friday
rewarding day-long mental health training for an animal rescue shelter <3
learning (for the training for animal carers) about Compassion Fatigue (= burnout + secondary (vicarious) trauma; on a par with PTSD) – yes, that’s what happened for me… Good to know that.
the feeling of competence and completion with the training
spending a day in conversation and mutual learning
overcoming the tough start to the day (Man, was I hungover??! Red wine = no good for me – even organic, even ‘just’ 2 glasses…)
gorgeous, brief evening with my Love – and delicious chips 🙂
last night’s dream = got shot at with blanks by passing strangers, 3 times in 24h. The third guy insisted he just wanted to be friends, and insisted on coming home with me, Ana and Susannah, under threat of his gun. We pretended to be ‘friends’ with him… Social predators and psychopaths…
The notion of self-kindnesswas useful. I asked myself,“If kindness relates to the way we would treat our ‘kin’, what would I want for (or, be happy to hear) in relation to my beautiful children?”:
Feeling optimistic / hopeful / excited about the future
Lovely partner, friends and strong family connections
Able to expand hearts out to others (Dalai Lama)
And then I asked myself the same question with regards to what I would want to hear for my father (in his early 80s) – “If kindness relates to the way we would treat our ‘kin’, what would I want for (or, be happy to hear) in relation to my lovely father?”:
Feeling surrounded (by family, friends, network, professional services)
Knowing ‘what will happen’ – for peace of mind (eg in the event of loss of capacity, at end of life, after death – as far as it’s possible to plan) – to have had the Conversations
Peace in the ‘legacy’ theme
So, may I give these things to myself as an act of self-kindness, and also to spare my ‘kin’ concerns (that I know I would have if these things weren’t in place for them).
This is the work of the next phase of life, dear Soul. There is much softness and care to bring to yourself.
It was helpful learning about Compassion Fatigue. What a great term. Why did no-one point this out to me?! Of course I would develop it as an Aspie single parent of two children with special needs etc. Why did no one say?!
Maybe you can ‘say’ to others, dear one.
Yes. I will. And I will talk about Self-Kindness.
Good. Where?
Here. 🙂 And there. :))
Excellent. There’s nothing like a SMART target. :))
And that was nothing like a SMART target! Hahaha..!
This morning is a home-working day. I’m playing Switch202020 again (since 7am) – it’s so good. It’s helped me: break up the morning; not get stuck in brain-zone in bed – though I’ve come back to bed each time; do meditation on the stool (counts as ‘up’); tidy my work space; clear the kitchen; do 3 writing slots… It links so well with the Reality Transurfing insight which inspired my (our) game (summarised here, page 608): “To “come off the needle” you have to switch your attention and occupy your mind with something else, changing the scripts and scenery.”
[PIC of page 608 and FFP]
I’ve got a way of playing Switch20 – basically, after each 20 mins, you are either getting up, or sitting down, right? So now I have a song to sing aloud for each Switch:
Get up = Get up, get on up, get on the scene…. (James Brown)
Sit down = Get down on it…. (Look and the Gang)
Nice! And how successful are you at Switching?
Ha, apart from right now when I’ve run into the next slot… pretty good! The trick is to write (in the Planner) what you are doing for the next 20 mins before you do it, and then review it (smiley face etc) at the end. You’ve got to stick to the task at hand. In this way, this game is so good for retraining the attention – a) to switch as bidden and b) to stay ‘on task’. As RT (p608) says, we are ever-seeking to wake up and heighten awareness of ‘what’s happening’: “Awareness: in this moment I am awake and am clearly aware of what I am doing, why and why in this manner specifically.”
Today is a big day: I’ve a whole training package to complete today, and it’s on suicide prevention. Need to get it spot on.
Switch20 will really assist you to achieve this.
Cool. So, today?
Today is about switching attention (every 20 mins) in an increasingly ‘clean and clear’ way. It’s about ‘dropping’ the task at hand, and picking up the next – with a smooth, thorough segue. In other words, being sure to use the planner. Why? The body and mind will learn to sense and remain present to the span of 20 minutes. It will sense the apogee of each Switch Slot, and learn to ride in to and out of it.
Ok. Excellent. I like the sound of that. I was struck by a father’s description of his daughter’s PDA on the radio this morning: like being stuck in a car with a wasp, wanting to flee it, or fight it…. just as anyone would in that actual situation… but being at that height of emotion all the time. Switching attention is so good for taking the ‘sympathetic nervous system’ mind off ‘the wasp’… Just practising redirecting the mind/ thinking away from a) the desirable/stimmy/suck-me-in stuff, and b) the amgydala-hijack, fight/flight material. Excellent.
So, today I am switching attention cleanly and clearly?
‘Cleanly’ is fine.
Today I am switching attention ‘cleanly’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r-CRbY6g7s
MEDITATION? YES – 15 min – on the stool – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r-CRbY6g7s – lovely
EXERCISE? YES – 10 mins of twitches
#STEPS – 500… inside all day
DIET – BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NEARLY 🙂 Not bad at all. Homecooked for several days now, and that makes all the difference.
DRY today? NO – 1 G&T (with diet tonic)
MORNING: Coffee with cream; my muesli; carrot soup&kale&chicken; tea
EVENING: White fish, some chips, kale, G&T
SLEEP – IN BED WITH MY BOOKS BY 10pm? NO – working til late
Screens off: 12.15 Lights out: 12.30
Wake up the next day: 5.15! Total sleep: 4.45h :// last day of long week
being with family to mark the life and loss of our dear cousin R
the car journey with my lovely eldest
time with my sister
catch up with my Love
travelling lightly – yes, I conserved good energy as a Glitter Glider :))
I’m so tired. I woke at 4am with anxiety about the day/week ahead, and alas, possibly the effects of two glasses of (org red) wine last night… Argh. I’ve got a day of training ahead. Yesterday’s funeral was beautiful, but I haven’t had time to process it yet. I’m groggy and not myself… Why am I not being ‘corrected’ by the MEDS project? I’m still all over the place in terms of my habits!
Today is a day for practising and teaching self-kindness.
What is self-kindness?
Kindness comes from the word ‘kin’, family – it’s the treatment we would give to our ‘own’, our nearest and dearest. So self-kindness is to treat ourselves as if we were our dearest family member. Softly.
Thank you. I will work with that today. My heart is heavy.
We can see. Breathe in. Breathe out. Be kind to yourself.
Today I am being kind to myself.
********************
Meditation:
MEDITATION? NO – delivering training 8.30am – 4pm – but 1 min would have been good…. 🙂
Exercise:
EXERCISE? NO – again – 3mins would have been good… 🙂
Diet:
BRAIN-MAKER DIET? YES!!!! til the chips at 6pm 🙂
DRY today? NO – dropped the red wine, that didn’t work… G&T in a tin with coke… Less brain-addling than wine
MORNING: Salmon&veg (baked, at 6am!!) for breakfast and packed lunch!! (NEED to get a reliable, non-leaky lunch container – bcs taking lowcarb lunch with me is GOOD); tea; water
EVENING: Home made chicken, broccoli & delicious chunky chips (G here ) 🙂
Sleep:
IN BED WITH MY BOOKS BY 10pm? YES!!!!!!! WHOOP
Screens off: 9.30pm Lights out: 9.50pm – so tired!!
Wake up the next day: 7am – aahhhh, lovely Total sleep: NINE HOURS!!
Successful training. One participant said, “The best session I’ve ever been to.” And she’s been at the company since 1985. 🙂
Energy to bring it all together yesterday, and to be roughly present to people, while managing my cortisol levels.
Support (emotional, logistical) from colleagues, and from my dear generous Love.
An evening in bed…
So, playing Switch20:20:20… I couldn’t hold concentration yesterday. It was such a full-on day… But I am this morning. I’ve been awake since 5.45am – got up at 6am, and have been Switching every 20 mins since.
The wisdom of theSwitch20:20:20 game includes:
the regular break up of flow and attention forces one to consider, ‘is this activity the best use of my time now?’ – often I find I’ve gone down a rabbit hole…! Good to pull back and out and refocus.
the nudge to get the ‘little things’ done, those things I can overlook / dodge, but the execution of which improves one’s sense of wellbeing and order. Eg. just now I bust out of sitting-working mode, got up, and unpacked and put away all my training materials from yesterday. Ace.
the reminder that you can always come back to the all-consumingly enjoyable thing – it’s just you don’t have to finish it now… Instead, when the 20 mins is up, break out of the zone and… Get up, get on up…..stay on the scene… like a sex machine…
James Brown “Get on up…”
So, on to today.
Today, is a sombre day – the funeral of a dear relative. So, soon I will be leaving the house and back later in the evening. Your advice for the day?
Travel lightly
‘Travel’ or ‘tread’?
Travel – as in ‘carry oneself forward, bear oneself onward’. Be soft as the breeze in the way you move; be uplifted, weightless, without gravity or gravitas. Carry with you the soft breezes of love. And return home with energy to spare. Breathe in the air; breathe out the air. Do not rush, hasten, or harry yourself.
I’m travelling with my lovely eldest.
Your day is about being with her too.
And seeing my lovely family…
Breathe it all in. These are precious days. Precious moments. They can be lost to over-pacing. Travel lightly as air. The theme ‘Get up, get on up’ carries here. We get up, and we travel lightly… onwards, forwards. When we travel lightly we are moving, while remaining present to what is happening now. We are not fixated on the future (and therefore missing the present riches)… We are appreciating and enjoying the passing scenery with equanimity.
Doll on wheels gliding along
Like a doll on wheels gliding along…
If you will. 🙂
So now, it’s time to move softly on with the day. Get up (lightly), get on up (softly), stay in the scene, like a love machine…
Nice. Well that’s the song for the day..! Onwards we go, lightly, softly…
I want to make a quick throwback to Day 46 and playing the game of Switching Attention (every 20 mins). It was AMAZING, brilliant and revelationary. Every 20 mins, I would either sit down and work on one pre-noted chunk of work; or get up and do something physical. I had the most productive day I’ve had in months.I went out jogging twice (for 10 mins each time – easy!). I cleared the house up. I got work done I had been dreading! It felt so fun and playful!! I would laugh every time the timer pinged again… “20 minutes already?!” It felt I could tackle a little bit of anything. And I did. My attention was under my command. I loved it.
So today. Briefly! It’s the beginning of a big week, with 3 bespoke training bookings, on M, W and F. And a funeral, alas, on Tuesday. Your words, dear wisdom of my soul…?
11.12 has always been good number for you.
Yes! It’s true. How shall I apply it today?
Continue playing Switch 20:20:20. The urge to zone in or zone out can be strong. Keep moving and re-intending, every 20 mins. At the start of each 20 minutes, you know what to do:
Get up from your seat or sit down at it.
Write in your planner how you intend to use the next 20 mins (this does not need a plan in advance – the mind knows What’s Next)
Towards the end of the 20 mins, write your review… (smiley/sad face is plenty)
When the timer pings, press ‘Repeat’
Ok, cool. But also, I have training to deliver this afternoon.
Use 20:20:20 to break up the training too. Every 20 mins, a switch of mode.
I didn’t write the training like that though…
Just keep an eye on the clock. Play the game with yourself… The participants will benefit. 🙂
Ok. I’m going to finish with 5 mins meditation and get up on the hour…
Excellent. Trust in this.
Will do.
Today I am playing ‘Switch 20:20:20’ again
********************
Meditation:
MEDITATION? YES – 4 mins at 9.55am
Exercise:
ONE HOUR OF EXERCISE? YES – walking
#STEPS: c8000
Diet:
BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NEARLY
DRY today? NO – glass of org red wine
MORNING: My muesli, soup&spinach, celery&pate
AFTERNOON: Seeds, nuts, soup&sausage, wine
Sleep:
IN BED WITH MY BOOKS BY 10pm? YES & NO – in bed by 8pm, wired til 11
Screens off: 11 Lights out: 11.15
Wake up the next day: 5.45am (noivous) Total sleep: 6.5h
No post today. One hundred years after the end of WW1, it’s a day for contemplation and joining the collective consciousness in seeking to usher in an era of peace on earth.
********************
Meditation:
20 mins of MEDITATION? YES, at 11am…
Exercise:
ONE HOUR OF EXERCISE? YES – good walk, and Movements
Diet:
BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NO
DRY today? NO
MORNING: Sausages and rice; coffee
AFTERNOON: Roast chicken (with potatoes); Indian takeaway snacks (late), glass org red wine
Add sauerkraut!! NB We’re going for gut-repopulation
beautiful day’s work coaching a team of university students to pitch for funding to do an artistic project (they were successful)
feeling in my flow with the work, facilitating others’ potential and innate gifts
being able to go to the shops and get food
going out with loved ones to a restaurant – laughing, sharing, eating
small oxytocin fest with my Love before the end of the day
And so today. It’s a highly significant time. Tomorrow is 11/11, marking 100 years since the end of WW1. My heart is full. I’ve been (like everyone) full of tears about these days and the recollection of grievous loss of precious life. I am open to change. I am open to learning. I am ready to walk through tomorrow’s gateway with a firm intention to detach from my Old, and embrace my/our/the collective New. Now is the time. These are the days.
I had a powerful session reading Reality Transurfing this morning. Perfectly, sadly, it touched on the subject of alcohol today. Look at this brilliant assessment:
‘Alcohol is pure energy. When you drink alcohol you get energy on credit. Alcohol induced euphoria is like an energy advance and the subsequent hangover the return {repayment} with interest. You always have to give back more than you borrowed. Pendulums never give away energy for free without profiting somehow from the transaction.’ (p592 Reality Transurfing)
Yes, I really resonate with the idea that alcohol is a ‘pendulum’ that lends you energy and then takes it back with interest – either as a hangover, or just by having stolen your mental energy and time, which otherwise you could have used to meet your actual goals of the heart (eg. being with family, completing your work for the day). Zeland adds tobacco, coffee, tea and even chewing gum into this category – any substance which appears to give a quickly-delivered burst of comfort. energy, relief or euphoria. And then this:
‘Positive energy is never emitted in such large quantities.’ p594.
Yes! Let’s say it again for emphasis…!
‘Positive energy is never emitted in such large quantities’ [as are delivered, in bursts, by negative energy sources, like alcohol]
Indeed! Meditation, qigong, walking, breathing exercises…. all take time, patience, trust…before gently, subtly, the benefit is softly delivered…. the uplift occurs gently…. Maybe this is why I’m reticent to give the time required to the healthy activities. My dopamine-grabbing brain is just loving the burst-delivery mechanisms!
So how to spring ourselves free of the dependency on the little ‘bursts’ of energy we come to crave…? Zeland writes:
‘All dependency arises because the arrow of attention has been caught in the pendulum’s noose. In order to “come off the needle” you have to switch your attention to something else. Will power is rarely enough to free yourself from the noose in the same way that you can only get a song out of your head when you switch to a different tune. A harmful habit is as a rule accompanied by a specific script and set of scenery…. There is only one way to pay off all your debts and walk away from the grievous bank: change the script and scenery. If is not difficult to do, you just have to do it and then apply a little imagination.’ (RT p596)
I knew immediately what that meant for me: to switch my attention, as a matter of priority, from my current (professional/personal/speaking in the world) themes of ‘mental health (aka illness)’, addiction, death and dying, suicide prevention, disability, welfare systems, loneliness…. to the positive opposite: healthy living, wellness, human potential!
Well, I instantly felt my toes curl… I can’t go out into the world talking about ‘health, wellness and human potential’! (I can even hear myself saying it in a mocking voice..!) And noting this took me straight back to a few pages earlier in RT (p581-583), when I had been struck by the reminder of the rules of pendulums, which Zeland notes the Indigos (like me) came to push against and to hold themselves to the rule of the transurfing:
Pendulums’ rule is: “If you want to survive, do as I do” (CONFORM)
Transurfing rule: “Be yourself, and allow others to do the same.” (BE TRUE / FOLLOW YOUR BLISS / As a bright student said yesterday, ‘Find out what you love to do and then keep doing more of it.’)
Well, the part of me that recoils from ‘talking about health, wellness and human potential’ is the part of me which recoils from Pendulums – and gets round the sadness of not following my bliss by using substances for energy burst. On the other hand, the part of me that wants to talk about health, wellness and human potential, is the part which is being swept up warmly into the Alternatives flow, happily, naturally and… without (egoic?) resistance.
[I have a friend who was super-cool and maybe somewhat aloof at school. A few years ago, I became aware via social media, she had opened a beauty therapy business. That was so out of conformity with the norms of our previously shared intellectually-snobbish world. I wondered how she had found the courage to face down everyone’s presumed snobbishness?! I recalled that maybe she had addiction issues along the way? Anyway, clearly, something powerful had happened for her to bust out of our collective consciousness (or unconsciousness) and be herself. I have been heartened by watching her revel more and more in her work and art and skills and business online. Meanwhile the civilised elite, sit at home chafing against the callings of their one true heart…. ]
So. Time to bring it all together for today. There’s work to be done!
The ‘switch’ mechanism. Can you play with that today?
I guess so. In what way?
Switching attention is best done accompanied by embodied action. So can you practise ‘switching’ by moving into a different activity and mode physically? Get used to the feeling of getting energy by positive action, rather than by knocking back substances such as coffee, alcohol, tea, chocolate, food for quick bursts of energy.
So often when I teach mental health and ask people how they look after their own wellbeing they laugh (note the giveaway) about running purely on coffee, cakes, biscuits! Ho ho… feed the pendulums, why don’t we?!
Softly. Switching out of the ‘quick fix’ pattern needs compassion to self and other.
So are you asking me to kind of zig zag in terms of what I do today? What about rebranding myself…? I’d like to say I work in ‘health, wellness and human potential’ and suck up the pendulum-shocks.
Softly, sweet one. Just get agile at switching activity, without hesitation or deviation. Train your brain to follow your will.
I’ve got lots of writing / work to do today, at the laptop
The Pomodoro Technique
Perfect practice ground. Use the Pomodoro technique to mix up activities. You will find that you get used to wrenching yourself out of the head-zone, and it becomes easier. And then 20 minutes at the laptop is used efficiently, because you know it’s only 20 minutes. And then you’re up, to run round the block for 20 minutes, or call a friend for 20 minutes, or … well, as much as possible, use the next 20 minutes to ‘give yourself a break from the benefits of civilisation (p597). Then work again… 20:20:20… 20 mins of laptop… 20 mins of something uncivilised / simple / chopwoodcarrywater … and repeat.
You wanted to switch your attention human potential. Here’s your first lesson. 🙂
Haha. Ok! I hear you. Sounds crunchy and inconvenient and possibly brilliant!
There we go. Lift off – with naturally-induced energy, not fuelled by fixation / caffeine / heart-dodging. Welcome to health and wellness.
I’ve had a look at the Pomodoro website – and this video
How many pomodoros required for an activity? Learn to estimate accurately..
Protect your pomodoro time
Use part of your pomodoro times for recap and review
Pomodoro times are 25 mins, plus break = 2 per hour
We are suggesting you focus on Switching Attention – so shorts bursts of 20 mins on a roll. It may be that you are effectively going Work / Break / Work / Break. That is find. This is what we are suggesting you do.
Then I shall! I’ll set my alarm for 20 mins and just keep resetting it. Let’s see how we go…
Today I am practising Switching Attention.
Hm… I’m suddenly imagining that mastering Switching Attention is actually a really good way to refine Holding Attention.. Right?! Let’s see. It’s 12.15. I’ll start at 12.20pm. I think I had a dream about this a few years ago…
Softly. Softly. Rest in awareness. This is a gentle discipline, not an obstacle race…
Got it.
********************
Meditation:
MEDITATION? 5 mins
Exercise:
EXERCISE? YES! 2 x bursts of 10 minute trots!
Diet:
BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NEARLY
DRY today? NO
MORNING: My muesli; coffee and cream; chicken soup, spinach, raw celery, pate
AFTERNOON: Indian takeaway box from supermarket; organic red wine
PSNS (parasympathetic nervous system) activation work… omg… so good
inching forward with work, while horizontal in bed
first practice with a new band <3
So this Parasympathetic Nervous System (PSNS) activation work is VITAL. This is breakthrough material.. again!
Today is the day when you lay the path for tomorrow. (Every day.)
What can / shall I do today to lay the path for a better tomorrow?
Work /act / start from a state of PSNS – this is the only ‘sane’ state of mind with which to enter a world which is wired, fried and hopped up on fear.
Accept that new patterns and habits are best deployed tenderly and in a timely fashion.
Thank you. So if I want to start my days with PSNS activation… I am looking at…
Busting out of bed, sweetcheeks.
Yes. I have my lovely wing-backed chair to write in; my meditation stool to ‘sit’ upon; my trainers to put on my feet and get out for an early morning walk. Those are the key elements, no?
Your ‘coffee in bed’ ritual gets in the way. Can you take your coffee to the Writing Chair?
Yes, siree, I can. Especially if I put the heating on in the office when I get out of bed. I can put an oil heater in there… And the Morning Walk or Qigong? And the Morning Meditation?
We suggest an experimental approach. Try switching it all up in the mornings, and see if you can measure which routine soothes the system best. Remember the principle is this: ‘there’s no point in trying to ‘work’ without first activating the PSNS.‘ This is the point of the (any) morning routine.
Ok. Good. Got it. An experimental approach. Yesterday I noted how I had ‘calmed the SNS and activated my PSNS’ on post-its. Maybe I’ll keep that noting practice going for a few days.
Yes. Noting is good. And remember: it’s all about Soothing The System. This is the first step of self-care.
Today I am Soothing My System.
********************
Well, there’s nothing like actual tracking my day to see how Intention and Action can be so far removed from each other.However I did take some positive actions to Soothe My System…
Today I Soothed My System in these ways:
I meditated briefly, and did 3 or 4 qigong centring gestures
I embedded some long-out-breathing in my day
I remembered that a little (homeopathic) bit of mediation and qigong is farrrrr better than none at all – it reminds the system of what it already knows.
I gave myself enough time to get ready to go.
Realised this important factor:
‘Rest’ (stillness, PJ paralysis, being in bed) does not lead to activated PSNS
Activating the PSNS (which is an active process) does lead to ‘rest and digest’
I realised this – as a child I was mis-taught (threatened with #fake news) the idea that ‘success’ evades us unless we are prepared to:
leap into the hot fire of the SNS
hemorrhage energy outwards to others
I jiggled and bobbed around when feeling stress in the system
Decided to look up ASMR
Considered taking up monthly TRE sessions
I am learning so much. Now… to put it in to action.
Amen.
Meditation:
20 mins of MEDITATION? – Just 5 mins – in a rush out in the morning for a job
Exercise:
ONE HOUR OF EXERCISE? NO
SOME MEANINGFUL/SOOTHING EXERCISE? NO ://// What’s happening?
#STEPS – few
Diet:
BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NO
DRY today? NO
MORNING: My muesli; Coffee&cream; veg sticks & houmous; chickpea puffs
AFTERNOON: celery&creamcheese; G&T; Nandos with family (incl chips.. could have had chicken salad);2 ciders; beer
working with university students on their creative project (I’ll help them pitch their proposal / plan to the university tomorrow)
my training colleague, who is great to work with, flexible, generous and fun
the university colleagues who were welcoming and warm
writing and QT (quiet time)
the practice-which-wasn’t…
‘Appreciating the seemingly boring practices from a heart-centred place’ basically involved me watching, from a heart-centred place of curiosity and compassion, how cleverly and completely I dodged some of the ‘boring’ practices and activities that would give me inner stability…! For example, last night, rather than quietly sitting down and finishing up the day, or doing my emails, at home after my afternoon of training, I handed my mind and body over to a fest of food/drink/radio/social-media/youtube. I felt ashamed as I did it… crouched down on the foot stool in the kitchen, next to the oven and radio… zoning out. I know it had been an intense day… but I was dismayed how quickly I crashed and burned. My vague intention had been to write an article that evening. Ha! So… what’s the learning? I’m sensing there’s something around stimming…
Stimming activities are indeed the ‘non-boring’ activities for you. They have an immersive quality to them. This writing is stimming for you. You are ‘lost’ in it, deliciously. Everything is flowing, light, regenerative, tickling, ‘stimulating‘. “Thank you for a stimulating evening!” is the very opposite to “My goodness, what a boring / tedious / draining evening…” Yes?
Yes! But, most of the executive or interpersonal tasks of life don’t fit into my stimming paradigm. Would that they did! I do like hanging up laundry (as does a fiend of mine..) – because it’s sensory, touchy, orderly… I wished I loved emails or something useful. Like coders stim with coding, or a graphic designer might get satisfaction out of creating something beautiful, or a scientist might get pleasure out of research…
Wait up, dear soul. Come back… You are looking for the sensory-psychological satisfaction externally…. This is the valuable learning: you can self-generate the stim sensation. What stimming does is allow your autonomic nervous system (ANS) to reset itself. It’s like taking the system offline so work can be done on it. You can do that yourself, by accustoming yourself to self-generated inner stability – which then you take out into the external world.
Notice: when you did the ‘attend neutrally’ mediation practice [on Monday]…. when you then went out into the world, the world seemed so ‘easy’, so ‘flowy’, so ‘generous’. Yes? In the simplest terms, your mediation practice calmed your ANS so very much that you were able to perceive the world more truly as it is, which is generous, flowy and easy.
So, would it be true to say we have a choice of how we run our days?:
Option 1:
stim out the morning delightfully (eg by writing)
crunch into the cold, harsh world and suck up the strain/pain
come home and crash, and stim out the evening with distraction / avoidance / dodging life’s exigencies
Option 2:
prepare the ANS for the day ahead, with meditation / qigong / gut-friendly food / energetic-balancing
move into the day keeping boundaries clear and enjoying the ‘generous, flowy and easy’ nature of things
come home and decompress carefully and appreciatively and mindfully…
You’re on to something powerful here.
I avoid my morning practices. I’d love to jump out of bed – go for a jog/walk in the sunlight – practice qigong – do my extensive meditation… But I get cowed by the day ahead… and I take my coffee and nuzzle into bed… I do all my morning writing and meditation in bed….
No wonder the world feels like a harsh, hard shock to your ANS when you emerge… You are asking it to go from 0 – 60.
What even IS the autonomic nervous system? I don’t know. And what was the LightBody we talked about the other day? And are they related?
[Goes and researches ANS]
Oh wow, the ANS is just the Sympathetic (SNS = Flight or flight) and Parasympathetic (PSNS = Rest & Digest) Nervous Systems… as I teach in my training… 🙂 This Khan Academy video is brilliant.
Autonomic Nervous System
So, I imagine, the mediation and qigong and walking and breathing stimulate the PSNS (parasympathetic nervous system) and calm the SNS. I’ve been using stimming to take the edge off my SNS…. Better to use the former, as I did more diligently in 2016-7 healing from the challenging period running up to 2015.
The human light-body (phra-ba’i lus) is the subtle bio-magnetic field in which the physical body is embedded. This psychically generated light-body is an energy template that both orders and parallels the physical body. It extends around the physical body like an electromagnetic egg, forming a spherical bubble about three feet beyond the skin surface, with more subtle radiations flowing out to a distance of as much as fifteen feet. This ‘alternate’ body (for which reason it has sometimes been called the doppelganger) consists of many energy-layers and centers interconnected throughout by a complex circuitry, in many ways matching the physical nervous system. It is, overall, and like the physical body, a multilayered structure.
You know what we’re going to say…
Yes… Focus on the physical ANS for now. Absorb the LightBody stuff lightly… Stay physical.
You mentioned Option 1 and Option 2. What would it look like to get Option 2 off the ground (again)?
I guess I fear it would feel like tearing myself out of a dream…
Excellent. That’s a great starting place. Because if you can stand that process of leaving the ‘dream’, then you are also ‘spelled’ from the ‘nightmare’ of chaotic, unstable, dodging, overwhelming days. You can put your hand on the tiller of your ship again. And really, the shift is not a big one for you. You’ve done it before. You know it works.
So, we’re talking about using ways of activating the PSNS and calming the SNS on a daily basis, before entering ‘the world’, before putting on the ‘Shop Open’ sign, before becoming ‘Available’ for the day? Even if it hurts… Even if I want to stim into oblivion with all my mind…
Yes, sweet soul. That’s right. Fabulous work.
Ok. Lush. I’m feeling this. This is what the MEDS project is about, right? Embodiment… and the crucial, functional, balance-able, receptive elements of the body are the PSNS (and the SNS).
Today you are invited to work with your beautiful parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), and discover how delicious life is within it’s gently cupped hands.
Thank you.
Today I am working with my parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS)
********************
Meditation:
20 mins of MEDITATION? NO… How did I drop that after all this?!
Exercise:
ONE HOUR OF EXERCISE? NO – in bed all day (til evening)
Diet:
BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NO
DRY today? NO
MORNING: My muesli, chicken/courgette/saurkraut, tea, coffee
On the topic of earthing and the nervous system, Dr Stephen Sinatra has said that:
As a cardiologist, I repeatedly treated the human wreckage that stress (acute or chronic sympathetic overdrive) can exact. In trying to rebuild and restore the wreckage, I have applied the best tools that both conventional and alternative medicine has to offer. Reconnecting the body to the Earth offers perhaps the most natural tool available anywhere. I’ve seen this simple remedy do some amazing things.
extraordinary national conference (on #socialprescribing)
giving a talk: My social prescribing story
sharing the billing with the Sec of State for Health, Rt Hon Matt Hancock (!) who swung by to announce the government’s plan for Social Prescribing
the incredible love, kindness, warmth, compassion, care I experienced from the people at the conf on giving my (patient voice) story – oh my….. <3
meeting such amazing, talented, passionate people, committed to the health and wellbeing of this nation
winning one of the 3 raffle prizes at the end of the day! – and enjoying our collective sense of delight and amusement in the ‘patient’ getting a cosmic nod. One of the organisers, Prof M, congratulated me heartily afterwards, saying: “God {kiss on the cheek} favours the bold” – which moved me no end.
getting the train back and hitting the last 10 mins of choir, and then going out for a drink with my handsome love, and having someone so caring/astute/kind/loving/profound with whom to share our days’ news
Yesterday was marked by joy, ease, confirmation, affirmation… God does favour the bold! There was a sense of my two ‘identities’ coming together and merging: the ‘professional’ me and the ‘complicated, raw, honest, broken, bold, passionate’ me. And that felt amazing. I felt emboldened by speaking out about my mental health recovery. I felt aligned to that ‘personal credo’ of mine I identified when asked to ponder it a few weeks ago in Reality Transurfing:
My personal credo: we can all be happy
And today, now, continued focus. I have training to deliver at a university, and much work to do in the coming eight days.
Let’s keep it easy and light. ‘Attend neutrally’…
Thank you. Yes, I would love to keep swimming in this flow of wellbeing, confirmation, trust, enjoyment and ease…
Good. And so it is.
What is the thought for the day today, dear heart of my soul?
The Practice
Uhuh, interesting. Tell me more…
We are developing The Practice that sustains health and wellbeing, in a heart-centred state.
Ooh… What should I know, consider, explore along those lines today?
Ask yourself: is the practice ‘boring’? If it is, then it is feeding a part of the being which needs nourishing, and which the ego would deprive of fuel – and deters you from feeding it by flagging it as ‘booorrrringgg’. The (heart-centred) boring practice leads to the interesting life. The overactive, fluxing, titivating practice can lead to rather overly-complex, dissipated days…
So I should enjoy, or relish, or make peace with, the ‘boring’ practices?
Ponder that today.
Today I will embrace ‘boring’ practices… from a heart-centred place.
‘Embrace’ may be too strong/loaded/activated a word…
Today I will appreciate ‘boring’ practices…from a heart-centred place?
There’s your ticket… (But are they boring..?)
Today I am appreciating the seemingly ‘boring’ practices…from a heart-centred place
********************
Meditation:
20 mins of MEDITATION? NO – eek
Exercise:
ONE HOUR OF EXERCISE? NO – ehem
Diet:
BRAIN-MAKER DIET? NEARLY
DRY today? NO
MORNING: My muesli, coffee with cream, cabbage&scrambled egg& sauerkraut; supplements (probiotic, NAC, Vit D3)
Afternoon/Evening: A cereal bar, a squash drink, a tea; roast chicken and courgette; G&T in tinx2
What do I mean by the Brainmaker diet? My take is a kind of keto, lowcarbhighfat, natural, pre/probiotics… The problem issues for me at the moment are: sneaky carbs, the ‘relaxing’ drink at the end of the day (even if low-carb) and… quantity / timings / overeating
Next:
I need to think about intermittent fasting, I believe. Eg even 16:8… 11am – 7pm… would help – if I had black coffee or green tea in the morning.
I could introduce more of the prebiotic / probiotic foods – kimchi, kefir, pickles…
Sleep:
IN BED WITH MY BOOKS BY 10pm? NEARLY
Screens off: 10.45pm Lights out: 11pm
Wake up the next day: 7.45am Total sleep: 8.5h – YES!
