I’ve been doing Choose Your Life Monday posts for awhile now. I’ve blogged about being aware of various patterns, I’ve shared Life Organizer questions, and now I’m doing this post a bit differently.
One of the most delicious things about the interconnectivity of on-line life is getting to learn from people you would never have met.
Falling in love with their particular brilliance.
It is so precious and endlessly wonder producing to me. It’s why I blog. It’s why I created the Comfort Cafe. It’s why I Twitter. I know it’s not a replacement for real life connections and I cherish my on-line relationships.
One such extra-delicious connection for me is with Char, the force behind The First Step, an extraordinary patient advocacy service that simply blows me away.
It’s so needed and she is doing it so well! If you, or someone you love, is ill, check out Char’s website.
And I utterly wildly dig the questions she creates (she shares them at the Comfort Cafe forums regularly) She is better at creating questions than me!
This recent blog post of Char’s shows her question genius in action.
I’ve been wanting to explore these questions myself so here goes:
What’s not working for me?
Char says: A hint for answering this question is to do it in your sloppiest most inarticulate way without trying to “figure it out”. Whatever falls off your pen and onto the paper is perfect.
Feeling overwhelmed by projects and the holidays. Having to trek to Seattle again and again for doctor’s appointments. Feeling pressured. Feeling stiff from not exercising.
What are the signs that something isn’t working for me?’
A feeling of tension in my body. Noise in my head. Pain in my upper back.
How many of these things have actually happened in the last 24 hours?
All of the above.
What are some possible steps I can take to make things run smoother?
Return to my body. Always, always, always, for me, it’s about getting out of my head – which means stepping away from the friggin all holy computer – and coming back into my felt embodied experience…. I just did that. Here is what happened:
I felt my body, scanned it, what am I feeling? Feel it, feel what is here, drop completely into it, stop pushing it away.
I noticed intense dark blue energy around my solar plexus, down the front of my body. Heavy, pulsating. Go into it.
I explored it, dropping my story about what the energy meant or where it came from. Be with it, be in it, follow it and also witness it, I am not just this energy.
After a moment, the energy exploded in roars and growls and rapid movement…. Let it move how it wishes.
Then it fell away. I paused and rested. Ah… Give yourself time to observe how you feel now.
Other possible steps: saying no to any new commitments for the rest of the year. No phone calls or radio shows or interviews! Continuing to plan each day the night before with only three main things to do, firmly commit to those three priorities, no secret “But if I have time, then I will.” Also, allot blocks of time for each priority – otherwise, I end up screwing around and wasting time and not actually resting or having fun. Keep it clean and simple!
Thanks Char for a Choose Life Monday check-in. You rock!
What to play? Join in the comments or on your own blog. Be sure and link back to Char’s!
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Char Brooks Dec 7, 2009
Jen:
Thank you for – well, the list is endless how many things I want to thank you for – but the biggest one is thank you for being the amazing beautiful humble person that you are.
You model self kindness and self questioning with gentleness so beautifully.
I am honored that my questions were helpful to you and you were able to drop your stories of “where energy comes from” and all of the other things you know about yourself – and find out where in your body you really feel what’s true for you.
You are amazing at tracking things back through your body Jen – that’s a real strength of yours.
Then, that you could translate that into possible actions you could take that might create more ease in your life – nothing short of miraculous in my opinion.
And that pretty much sums up my learnings from you that occur on a continuous basis – nothing short of miraculous.
Thank you again for this – ya made my day!!!
Love Love Love!!!
2 Suzie Dec 8, 2009
Thanks Jen and Char for helping me stop myself in my tracks. The last two days have left me swirling. And that’s even after deciding not to decorate for the holidays this year! To imagine–again! and again!–that peace is just a moment away. I have no excuse, now, to let myself muck around in excess action.
Wow!
Suzie
3 Tara Benwell Dec 15, 2009
I find the holidays stressful because I have moments when I feel like I need to do it like other people do it. One way I relieve stress is to draw or paint with my kids after work. (A painting of “my brain” graces the fridge right now. It looks lovely in glitter.) Instead of buying advent calendars and fighting over chocolate my kids and I draw a picture each evening of December. We staple the photos together and put the calendar facing out in the window for others to admire. Then we each have a chocolate chip. I loved pulling out last year’s calendar to see how our drawings have grown up in a year.
Happy Holidays Jen and everyone at the Comfort Cafe!
Love Tara