Day 1 - Walking the Talk

Posted on February 4, 2010 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare

So here I am Day 1 of my 21 day commitment to "Tuning into my body with my breath a minimum of 8 times during my waking hours".
 
As I write this Day 1 blog, I feel a little exposed.  Telling the truth about how I am trying to walk the talk on the content that I know so well is a bit scary.  What happens if people think I am a fraud?  Here I am sharing tools and techniques to help people stay grounded and connected with their "in the moment" experiences and I am struggling to achieve this myself.  But, I committed to telling the truth so here we go.  
 
Did I follow through on my commitment? 

Sort of.  I found it challenging to do this on a scheduled basis however, I was more conscious of wanting to tune into my body.  That having been said, it is easier to do right now as I am currently on holidays in Hawaii and having a wonderful time.  Every morning, my husband is in a conference so I spend a couple of hours writing, working on content and "being with me".    Being on holidays means that I do not want anything scheduled, so I am going to be lenient on myself (just a little).  I did not set my blackberry alarm as I did not want to have the alarm go off every hour while walking the beaches of Waikiki.  What I did notice however is that I was a lot more aware of the need to pay attention to my body - stretching when I felt tightness, drinking water etc.  When I felt a physical sensation, I believe I responded to it more consciously. Setting the intention helped keep me aware of what I wanted to have happen for the day.

 

There were definitely several voices that spoke to me (inside my head) as I went through my day. 

  • There was my body which called on me to stretch, eat, drink, sleep etc.  As I went through the day yesterday, I was more conscious of my physical body asking for attention and I responded. 
  • There was my mind and this voice was quite abusive and negative. Yesterday when I decided to do some work by the pool, my mind got pretty loud. "What are you doing working by the pool, you are on holidays, you should be relaxing and doing nothing. You are always working, you SHOULD be more balanced etc."  I realized it was my mind because it had a lot of “Shoulds” attached to the messages I received.  (What I notice is that the thoughts that go on in my mind contribute to my stress and feelings of overwhelm.  When I recognize this fact, I can thank my mind for trying to keep me safe and then I am able to move on).
  • Then there was me: I took some intentional breaths, tuned into my body and asked myself what I really wanted to do and it was clear to me, that I really wanted to work as I was inspired by the beauty around me and it felt right.
What worked for me yesterday was:
·        Setting the intention that I was going to tune in throughout my day
·        Committing to writing this blog has certainly increased my diligence. I have made a commitment to my readership and members of my community that I am going to do this. You are my accountability partners.
What did not work:
·        Setting the blackberry alarm did not work, but I think I will try that one when I get home.
·        Scheduling the times that I needed to tune in. Once again, I think this is because I am holidays – I think this will be very powerful for me when I get home.
 
Today, I am going to set the same intention for the day.  I will see how it goes and let you know tomorrow. Take care and I will blog with you then.
Gerrianne
 
 

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