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I’ve been intentionally offering myself more kindness and listening for my Inner Guidance more. One of the things that happens when I do that is I become aware of habits and patterns that don’t serve me well. It’s like the Universe says, “Hey, sweetheart… here’s a habit of yours. Do you want to keep it around?” Here’s one I found that I’m willing to release/transform: I have lived much of my adult life in a consistent state of low-grade hurry – even when I don’t need to be going quickly. Whoa… I like to be on time when I show up anywhere. Actually, I like to be earlier than “on time.” But it’s been a habit for me to leave for my next thing and/or prepare for my next thing with just the right amount of time to be barely on time. The problem is that inside my body “barely on time” feels like “almost late” to me. So, while I’m rarely actually late, I still feel hurried/rushed much of the time when I’m going from one thing to another. My new experiment, then, is to calculate what time I would normally leave (you know, to be barely on time 😊)… and then add 10 minutes to that. Here’s more pieces I noticed. I took a break in the middle of writing this to go get stuff for lunch, prepare it, and eat. Here’s was I found in that short space of time: 1. I “hurried” off to the store. I could feel it as I was getting ready to go – low-scale hurrying. Which was odd because I wasn’t late for anything! 2. In the kitchen I turned on the water as I was rinsing off a ladle. As I turned to do something else, I kept the water running. I felt myself “hurry” because I was “wasting water.” Uh…? I could have just shut off the water between rinsing. 3. I opened the fridge to get something out and just then Nik (my son) said, “Hey, mom?” I went around the corner to see what he wanted – feeling the need to “hurry” to get back to shut the door. Oh my goodness… I could have just closed the refrigerator door while I talked to him and opened it again when we were done. Weird. 4. But this one is the weirdest! My computer had been unplugged for a while. As I was writing I kept noticing the battery symbol showing less and less charge. I could feel my insides be all tight like I better “hurry.” Ready for this? The cord was on the table right beside me! I could have just plugged it in the first time I noticed the low charge. Now I know these are just little, dorky things but, wow… it shows my habit of being so often in “hurry mode” even when I don’t need to be. That’s the brain baseline that we’ve talked about!! I am lovingly allowing myself to shift this baseline. If any of this resonates with you, here is your Self-Love Provocation. I will be doing it with you. Check in with your body several times a day – while driving, eating, working, talking, relaxing. How are your insides feeling? No matter what you find, put these beautiful steps into practice: 1. First, imagine you could fill your insides with a feeling of “Calm & Ease.” Inhale… “Calm & Ease” in. Do three rounds. 2. Second, say softly several times: You don’t have to try to make anything happen. Just do the two steps several times this week/month and see what happens. Here’s to the feeling of “hurry” giving way to inner “Calm & Ease.” Ahhh….. |