I read somewhere (and sorry, I forgot where!) that suffering meant being stuck. I never thought of it this way and it makes so much sense, don't you think? We need to know we are walking towards something or somewhere or maybe away from something or somewhere else.. Doesn't matter. We need movement and change. Adaptation and growing. Whatever life throws us. These are my almost-Autumn changes. Little. Slow. But moving and making a difference:1. Music in the morning. Since my laptop crashed two weeks ago (ay, ay, ay!), I haven't been able to play my Yogamazing podcast (which I strongly recommend) for my morning yoga. That threw a spanner in the works. As the routine persone I am, I struggled once again with my morning ritual. But only initially. I am now making up my own workouts in the morning and I listen to nice soothing music, which gently wakes me up and puts me in a good mood. Although I have re-arranged the study room (where the desktop lives) to practise my yoga there, I think I'm still going to combine my 'musical yoga' with the podcast. I was in downward dog one morning and I found myself smiling. That needs to carry on.
2. WALK, NOT RACE! Unless I'm running a marathon (rather doubtful right now). And still in a marathon, your pace must be steady, your stamine well measured and you must enjoy every minute. I've realised I do everything in a rush. As if my life went with it. So I've started SLOOOOOOOWING down and enjoying every breath. I hope I can maintain that when I start my classes... To my previous sentence on suffering, I would add suffering is also being detached. Walking (at lunch time, to get the bus, to the gym, even up and down the uni stairs to go to the toilett!) makes me feel more connected with the universe. I am a part of everything else (the hippy-in-me had to emerge at some point...) There is no point in running towards or running away, UNLESS I AM ACTUALLY RUNNING. And that links with my next change.
3. Running. For now, on the treadmill. I am currently reading Haruki Murakami's What I talk about when I talk about running. Well, and it's really got me moving. Running is something I had been thinking about for a long time but never quite got myself to do. So here I am. So far I am running 3 times a week, 40 minutes each time. I haven't run more than 4 miles per session but hey, it's a start. This week I've run twice and, oh no!!!! I woke up this morning with a bad cold, which made me stay working from home and , of course, away from the treadmill. Let's hope I can catch up on Saturday. Running has made me laugh several times. After only a few minutes my 'evil' inside voice started its chatter: you are tired, can't breath, your legs hurt, you've run for ten minutes, that is enough, you could stop... The minute I identified the voice as the 'evil voice' and gave it a caricature face and sound, everytime the inner chatter would start, I would feel like laughing so much at it! I won! Of course!
4. Journaling. As I seemed to fail at Morning Pages, I got more and more into journaling. I've done it at any time. On the bus, before bed, waiting for my gym class... I know I need to get back into the completion of The Artist's Way. But, after its sudden interruption, I'm just letting things to settle and journaling has been a fantastic way to reflect on what is going on right now in my life.
And that's it for now. The above have been my 4 pre-seasonal changes. They appeared without previous notice. They didn't (directly) respond to any goal setting session. They just happened. Adaptation, I suppose. And the principle of 'movement' as survival. As Haruki Murakami mentions on the first chapter of his book, "pain is inevitable, suffering optional".
I would be very happy if you shared with me which little changes you may have introduced in your 'back-to-school' routine and how they have helped your overall health and wellbeing. Leave a comment if you have read me!
And what about leaving you with another Macaco song? This one has hit the Spanish summer lists this Summer. It's called MOVING. (Please, click on the link, for some reason I wasn't allowed to embed this video).
Picture: By moi. Taken on the 16th of August in Gargallo (Teruel, Spain). The performance was 'jotas', the traditional Aragon music and dance. They always manage to make me cry since they reminde me of my grandparents, who are not here anymore. All my 'jotas' pictures are dedicated to them, Pilar and Antonio.
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