Natural Rhythm

I'm seeking a natural rhythm for my day, one that flows with the season and my energy levels, and also touches on all of my important projects and roles; I want to figure out how to find the sweet spot, where I'm engaged and challenged, but not stressed out - part of my (Slow) Passion Project, to involve myself wholeheartedly with my priorities and stretch beyond the way I’ve always done things. 

Monday is my day to reset for the week and get my ducks in a row - make some plans for health and home, and prepare for Grandson fun.

Agenda:
1. Love Meditation

2. Read "The Sweet Spot"
3. Natural living

4. Shibashi
5. Big outdoor building projects

1. Love Meditation:

Every month after the full moon, in the quiet-energy yin time of the waning moon, I practice a love meditation that progresses from receptivity, to gratitude, to generosity:

Day 2: Practice a love meditation, and end by feeling and expressing gratitude - send a prayer to the universe of thanksgiving for all I have in my life. 

When I remember to feel grateful for my blessings, my days take on a different tone: I have more vigor, optimism, compassion, and peace. By noticing how I am blessed, my impatience decreases and I realize how satisfied and fulfilled I really am.

2. Read "The Sweet Spot":

I'm reading this book by Christine Carter (2015), about "How to Find Your Groove". The thesis is that when we hit from our sweet spot we have optimum power and the greatest ease; out of the sweet spot we feel friction, exhaustion, and stress. We miss out on the feeling of flow. "Being in our sweet spot is a felt sense; we know intuitively that everything is aligned. Our sweet spot doesn't require conscious thought; our unconscious mind tells us that we are there..."

The first chapter is From Working Overtime to Enjoying the Seasons. She talks about learning to "honor the natural rhythms of our days and our lives. ... We can take a school day approach to life, in which we work and learn and produce and create in predictable periods of time, and then we have equally predictable periods of play and rest and recovery."

We do best when we make consistent, daily progress on a project. She talks about finding the "minimum effective dose", the amount of work that keeps me challenged and joyful, and if I keep at it will get me to the finish line on time. The key is to create a pace and schedule that keeps me excited to get up in the morning, and feels ridiculously easy (so I will do it): It's effective but not stressful.

I want to use this model to re-structure how I approach the thing I'm consistently NOT fitting into my day: Artwork. My plan:

1. Make a new phone alert for artwork; 
2. Schedule a longer chunk (one hour); 
3. List specific goals for the week (on Saturday) - and what to complete each day.
4. Itemize the preparation steps on a check list for each day's work.

3. Natural Living:

I've got a section in my Nature-Culture book called Natural Living, which is about ways to change your paradigm and have integrity with your whole life. I'm working on defining something about slowing down to a natural speed and finding a rhythm for each day, and a personal philosophy of life, that mimics the seasons. 

Use any or all of these tips for balancing with the active and bold energy of summer: 

• Honor the sun energy: Nature gets a supercharge in the summer months. Give attention to a boost in your energy level, and use this extra energy for something good.
• Let the sunrise and sunset guide your days: Get up a little earlier and stretch your bedtime to a little later
• Take a mid-day nap (or rest) when it gets too hot. 
• Fulfill your creativity: Summer is a time of abundance, when nature grows and expands. Find ways to grow with wild abandon.
• Eat seasonal foods: The earth produces foods at particular seasons - eat as many seasonal foods as possible - fresh fruit and vegetables, 

4. Shibashi:

I've practiced shibashi off and on for years but really want to make it a corner stone of my renewal / resilience practices going forward. I've decided to focus on one of the 18 movements every few days for the next few weeks, and today I'm on:

3. Dancing with Rainbows – the shifting of weight from one leg to the other absorbs Earth Qi, which is drawn upwards to the stomach by the raised arms. This movement strengthens the stomach/digestion and heart and alleviates shoulder pain.

Raise arms over head: - breathe in - raise body - draw arms straight up fully extended - turn palms facing each other 

Turn to left: - transfer body weight to right leg - keep knees slightly bent - extend left arm out to left side at shoulder height - left palm up - turn head to left - eyes focus on extended left palm - slightly curve waist over towards extended palm - curve right arm over head - right palm faces down above center of head 

Turn to right: - breathe out - transfer body weight to left leg - keep knees slightly bent - extend right arm out to right side at shoulder height - right palm up - turn head to right - eyes focus on extended right palm - slightly curve waist over towards extended palm - curve left arm over head - left palm faces down above center of head 

Repeat 6 times.

4. Big outdoor building projects: 

My house care theme for this month is to get started on some big building projects - repair a windowsill, clear out the studio and build new shelving, repair the back deck, and reorganize the outdoor storage area. These are joint projects and my role is organizational and visionary.

This week I plan to:

• Re-inspection
• Get paperwork to Tim
• Text about windowsill and broken window
• Clean the driveway and yard and get rid of garbage
• Clear the studio; measure shelf space
• Finish loan paperwork
• Draw plans for outdoor storage.
• Get bins for studio