In our support group, we like to celebrate the things that are going well. Yesterday I was celebrating how quickly I had refound a sense of well-being after losing my balance when back in the UK and two questions came up. What are the supportive routines that have helped me get it back? and what went wrong with them in the first place?
I think the bottom line with what went wrong is that I chose to give productivity more importance than my self-help practices. Digging a little deeper, perhaps my growing confidence in my resilience had something to do with that. In a way, I’m quite right to be confident in my resilience because with the proper support my health does bounce back quickly, but I was foolish to forget the importance of the proper support. Digging even deeper, I guess life with a rigid structure can get a little boring and there’s always a pull for more. Right now, I’m motivated to do what I do because of how clearly it makes the now better,how much more of a life I have as a result of them. But my recent experience shows how easy it is to stop being grateful for how things are now, to take them for granted, focusing instead on where you want to be, for me that was about wanting to keep up momentum in growing my business. I guess my big lesson about what really went wrong is the reminder of how important it is to work on enjoying the here and now and let go of any attachment to how you want life to be.
I’m pretty sure that the future will pull me away from balance again sometime, but that’s OK because I can also trust that I will notice things going wrong, that I will learn from my mistakes and put myself back on the right track again. And if I ever forget, here I’m recording the routine that supports both my well-being and my productivity:
6.30-8.00 am. Wake up and read affirmations. Get up, dress in comfy lounge gear, kettle on, early supplement, light essential oil burner, make mug of hot water with lemon, Tai Chi followed by meditation (whilst drinking 2 mugs of hot water and lemon). Switch on computer and listen to vision anchor.
8.00-8.45 am. Writing with first cup of Yogi green energy tea
8.45-9.30 am Breakfast (usually eggs and beans of some discription) and supplements
9.30-10.30 am work and more green energy tea
10.30-11.00 am mid- morning break involving moving around (shower/ washing up/ pottering with little chores etc.)
11.00-12.30 more work and redbush tea
12.30-1.00 pm short walk up to the village for any shopping if necessary or maybe down to the veg plot to pick something for lunch
1.00-200 pm preparing and eating lunch (usually a big salad)
2.00-2.30 pm resting in the sun (when possible) with decaf coffee
2.30-3.30 pm more rest but out of the sun, with pukka womankind tea, often reading a trashy novel and/or perhaps doing a sudoku, sometimes when needed 30-40 mins of shut eye.
3.30-4.00 pm Donna Eden energy exercises and pottering around with cleaning, washing-up or food prep, or showering if I haven’t earlier in the day.
4.00-4.50 pm yoga and meditation with a glass of water
5.00-6.00 pm group/client work with more redbush tea
6.00-6.45 pm afternoon walk or time on the veg plot (start at 5 when no groups or client work)
6.45-7.45 pm cook and eat dinner (earlier when no 5pm work)
7.45-9.00 pm Netflix (I try to include something that will make me laugh) or a book if tired but wired, sometimes I’ll pop and see a friend instead
9.00-10.00pm reading
10.00pm getting ready for bed, reading affirmations and lights out.
The timings vary slightly, and the things in italics are the things that are still a work in progress and I haven’t quite got settled in with yet. I don’t work on Saturday and Sunday afternoons so have more time for walking, the veg plot or connecting with friends.
One of the things that went wrong in the UK was when I wanted play time or needed extra rest time, I let go of self-help instead of work. Now when I want to add something to my day I clearly know that I have to make space for it by letting go of work time!
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I live in the U.S. I know climate can be quite different. However, what do u use for healthy pest control on veg. garden. We have some colder weather for now. However, here in southern AL it’s normally quite humid. I like your website.
Leisa
Hi Leisa,
I try and use companion planting to manage pests as much as possible, but if I need a spray, I use a squirt of environmentally friendly washing up liquid with a few drops of tea tree essential oil (melaleuca) in a spray bottle of water.