It's my birthday or will be when you're reading this. Yes, I was born on April Fool's Day. More years ago than I want to think about. Some people make changes on New Year's Day. For me, my birthday is like the beginning of my new year.
It's absolutely not true that old dogs or people, can't learn new tricks. Actually, I have been making some changes for the past month or so.
For as long as I can remember, I always needed an hour of hanging my head over a cup of coffee before I did anything. It had become much longer than that and I decided to make a change. I would get dressed first. They say that if you do something for 21 days it becomes a new habit. Well, getting dressed first thing has become a habit. Sometimes I balk for a moment, but then the resistance goes away and just like that I'm clothed.
I wanted more exercise in my life and to meditate on a regular basis. I took yoga classes for years, and did Tai Chi and various aerobics classes. But it's been a while. The gym I belonged to went out of business. We bought a Cubii, and I used it off and on, but I needed more. Thank heavens for computers. I was up for twisting around on the floor, but I found a chair yoga class that takes about 20 minutes. I made a point to go right from my coffee to the video and then to use one of the mediation tapes I have on my computer. Sure enough after a few weeks of repetition doing the yoga and then meditation, it has become habit. Any resistance I felt is gone and I just do it. And then in the evening I started spending a half an hour on the Cubii. It's sort of like a sit down elliptical. I can listen to music or read. I cap it off by five minutes of Tai Chi courtesy of a video I found online.
Along with drinking my morning coffee, I would write in a journal and make lists of what I needed to do for the day. I would have no sense of time and hours would go by. I decided that wasn't working anymore. The journal writing is where I complain and make sense of things and it keeps me sane, so I didn't want to eliminate it, but rather move it.
So now it is, get dressed, make coffee and work on a manuscript while I drink it. That's the most recent change and I still sometimes feel a tug of resistance, but push past it. It's followed by the yoga and meditation.
I can always complain in my journal later and figure out what I need to do on a particular day. It seems to be working really well. And now when my afternoon gets hijacked, which seems to happen daily, it's no problem and I can deal whatever with a clear mind.
I still have some changes I want to make that will hopefully help me to be more productive. But what I'm doing now has all kinds of great benefits. The key to it all is giving up resistance. My new watch words are: Letting Go and Let It Go. They have a lot of meanings, all of them good.
9 comments:
Have a wonderful birthday, Betty! Sounds as if you have been making some interesting and meaningful changes in your life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !! Hope you have a great day. Your new guide words are great, and should help you have a peaceful and productive year !!
Happiest of Birthdays! I hope it's a wonderful day and a great year ahead.
Linda O. Johnston, thank you for the birthday wishes. It's all about timing. When the times right, the changes come with ease.
Linda Osborn, it's the day after and my birthday was nice. We went to a Greek restaurant in Ventura Harbor. They had live music and great food and was very festive. There was another woman celebrating her birthday and same age as me. Her family had come from all over and had balloons and a crown for her. We hugged and wished each other a happy day and took pictures together. My new year is getting off to a great start.
Sally, thank you for the birthday wishes. It was a fun day with family, the beach and great food. The sun was just setting when we started for home. There were lots of people at the beach watching the sunset, kind of like people do in Hawaii. During the pandemic when everything was shut down, my son and I used to this beach in Ventura. It was always nice and still is.
Happy Birhday to you! Congratulations on your changes. They sound good. The pandemic forced me to make changes to my routine and I'm still tweaking them. My online yoga class ended and I really like it. I'm trying to find a replacement. I understand tai chi is very good for you. I tried some online classes but I don't understand the movements and as soon as I am in one place they have moved on to another pose. I love learning new things.
Chkntza, Thanks for the birthday wishes. I am thrilled about how easy it has turned out to make the changes. They say if you repeat something enough times it becomes a habit.
I took live yoga classes for years. I didn't even think of a live one online. I have been using Chair yoga with Adrienne. It's about 20 minutes long. I decided it was better to do something short every day. I did a search for Tai chi videos and there's a 5 minute one with a woman in what looks like the Seattle area. I took Tai chi classes for a long time and am familiar with the moves, but it doesn't matter for the video I found. They are easy to follow. I thought doing it often for a short time worked better for me. When I took Tai Cbi before I found it was great for balance.
I love learning new things, too!
I am going to try a chair yoga with silver sneakers online tomorrow. Thank you for the information on the chair yoga and tai chi videos. I'm going to try to find them.
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