19th February 2018
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop
treating yourself like an afterthought. Eat the delicious food. Walk in the sunshine. Jump in the ocean. Say the truth that you’re carrying in your
heart like hidden treasure. Be
silly. Be kind. Be weird. There’s no time for anything else.
My bestie sent me the above quote in the early hours of this
morning, I’m not sure she sent it because she knows I like a good quote or she
was trying to tell me something. Either
way, I’m glad she did. Yesterday I had a
good think whilst walking, I’ve been doing the thinking thing a lot this last
week since realising I needed to get out of my funk. Images on facebook from previous years ‘on
this day’ have also been giving me food for thought. Anyway I decided when it heats up a bit out
there, I’m going to go have me a good walk up a big hill somewhere, I will work
it round mom somehow, even if it means taking a day off work.
I can’t wait for the weather to warm up, I want to get in my
garden and paint the fence panels and the shed, start clearing up, but I’m a
fair weather gardener, I’m not going to lie.
Anyway back to February and my de funk challenge, today
should be easy enough, yeah I do want to start doing more stuff but for this
month I want to reconnect with myself first and that means relaxing and resting
when I get the chance, which isn’t always easy.
Yesterday was a real challenge, mom was, well let’s say changeable,
nothing we put on tele was working, and she had an ‘opinion’ on everything
which spoils watching everything to be honest.
I even resorted to doing the washing up to escape it, now that’s when
you know it’s getting bad. Today’s
challenge;
Day 10 – 19th Feb - Slow down, sit down and watch
the sunset (or sunrise)
I’ll enjoy that, will definitely do the sunrise and will try
to remember to do the sunset too, this challenge is about stopping and reconnecting
with nature and myself, being in the now, above living in the moment and being
mindful. So many of us are waiting for
Friday, for summer, for something to happen but the truth is happiness is
achieved when we stop waiting for it to arrive and make the most of the moment
we are in now.
People keep telling me I need some respite, that’s not
particularly true, what I need is to be able to live in the now and take the
good moments when they come along but be able to tolerate the not so good and
the downright awful. They’re not going
away.
I don’t want to change my life, I want to be able to handle
it. Yesterday when I was thinking, a
friend came to mind, she and so many other people out there has a severely
autistic child and I thought it must be similar to having a mom with Alzheimer’s,
I wondered if she got as frustrated as I do at times, how she handled not being
able to scream at the person behaving in a way that they cannot help but that
is really difficult to handle because it’s not rationale. I was suddenly full of admiration and respect
for parents and carers all over the world who just do it without fuss and with
love.
Back to being mindful, how do we do it successfully, for
starters don’t believe your thoughts, and don’t take yourself too
seriously. At the same time don’t try to
avoid or deny your emotions, it’s okay to feel sad, mad or whatever way you
want to because like all things they come and go, time passes, emotions pass,
people pass xx
Do things one at a time, stop multitasking so much,
especially eating, stop – sit down – taste it - appreciate it – enjoy it. How many of us say ‘I just love food’ and
never actually taste it because we’re too busy shovelling it in.
One suggestion to being more mindful is to turn everyday
tasks into mindful moments, this one seems random to me but I have to say
washing up yesterday I just focused on the getting things clean rather than
everything else that was going on in my world, I think they call that respite J
it’s having a break from the situation anyway, however small, that brief
interval gave me the breathing time I needed.
Mindful people get outdoors and embrace the beauty of nature,
which was why I decided I wanted to walk up a big hill yesterday, I recalled
how it used to clear my mind literally, I’d start my walk and my head would be
full of stuff, by the end of my walk I had nothing going on in there at all, I
would be just breathing and walking and enjoying the views. Maybe I won’t wait for it to warm up.
Mindful people listen too, they don’t just listen, and they
hear what’s being said. We’re all guilty
of waiting for the other person to stop talking so we can start, observe
yourself today and see if you’re doing that.
On that notes I’ll stop talking and let you be a little
mindful for a moment. Well almost, just
wanted to tell you I’m 2.5lb lighter this morning than I was this time last
week, so I’ve turned the tide of the scales hopefully, I need to keep that
going though, doing it for one week is easy.
I’m pleased because I haven’t been rigid and 100%, I’ve been relaxed and
realistic. I have my area meeting on the
17th and I wanted to lose 7lb for then, so I’ve given myself a good
start, now to carry on.
Yesterday’s blog was the most read this year which shows we
all love to share our success and get inspiration from others, make sure you
share your success with others both on and offline, in and outside the
meetings. Be someone else’s inspiration,
always use the hashtag #theflexeffect when you’re posting online, if you’re one
of mine I’d like you to use #bevsww too.
Why not go fill out your success story at www.weightwatchersstories.co.uk,
you might even want to take it one step further and become a Weight Watcher
coach, no two are the same and maybe you’re the next one we need. https://www.weightwatchers.com/uk/about-us/careers/become-coach
to find out more, if you apply, remember to put my name as the referrer Beverley
Longsden.
Have a wonderfully Mindful Monday, manage the magic and make
things happen BeYOUtiful.
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