Bejeweling Television

I have a confession. Sometimes my mind just needs a break. Sometimes the inspiration needs some time to find me (read last week's blog here for more on this). Sometimes I just have a need to do activities that really have only one effect and that's to help me tune out. I really wish that weren't so, but right now, it's the way it is so I've decided to embrace it. I'm also learning a lot from it. So I thought by exploring this with you here a bit, there might be some information and/or insights that would help you uncover some truths about you and your journey.

Even though the activities I choose aren't horrible, I still sense a lot of judgment around these activities on my part. I wish I chose things like meditation and yoga. And while these might be my choices at certain times, my current choices are TV & mind-boggling games on my iPhone.  Whew--that feels good to admit! When I have had some downtime lately, THOSE 2 things are what I have chosen. It's really not very like me - I'm certainly NOT a video game person & the last few years, I've been much more picky with my TV choices. But this is what I've noticed and learned from these habits of late:

1) It didn't really help when I resisted doing these things because it always ended up that I did them anyway. So I stopped resisting & told myself this was just where I was right now. I reminded myself that I wasn't going to become a lazy hermit because of this. As a result, the judgment dispersed & I let it be what is was.

2) I've noticed that I have been really tapping into my creative energy lately. I'm not sure which came first - needing to tune out a bit because I have been more creative or being more creative because I have tuned out more. It doesn't matter. Right now, I'm LOVING the creative energy and following this flow.

3) I've noticed a pattern that I have a need for this sometimes before big events. I'm going off on a 3 week trip in a couple of weeks and it feels like I'm preparing myself in some way. I would like to find other ways to prepare myself, but this is the one I know now and I seem to be going with it. So I'll just go with it AND I'll be thinking of other ways that I might like to explore in the future.

We all have ways to 'turn off' and tune out. With awareness, this can be a way that we re-charge our batteries. However, it is important that the awareness is there. Without it, we might choose activities that are destructive OR we might choose them at the expense of other things such as relationships and connections. This can lead to isolation and loneliness.

So there you have it...my confession of the ways I choose to tune out these days. What does this bring up for you? Are there activities that help you 'tune out' that lead then to a re-charged battery? Are there some of these activities that you'd like to do less of or do you have a good balance? I invite you to explore your 'distractions' and see what comes up for you.

Tetris, anyone?

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How is YOUR Self Care?

The idea of self care is something that we hear a lot about in many different ways - it's a rather broad concept & encompasses lots of different things. Most often, we hear about the topic in terms of exercise, sleeping enough & eating well. The self care that I'd like to talk about has a different focus. It's all about listening, looking within, exploring & BEING with YOUR self.

Self care looks different for all of us. Some of us do great in some areas and completely miss others. What's important is that we see where we can develop our own self care & nurture that part self in some way.

One of the parts of self care that I notice many people miss is compassion--not for others but for ourselves. This is one that can be quite challenging. Many of us have a lot of compassion for others, for our friends & loved ones, but not necessarily for ourselves. We often have a lot of judgment & resistance to those parts of ourselves that aren't quite 'good' enough. There can be a lot of beating ourselves up. 'Why did I DO that?, I knew it wasn't right and I did it anyway!' we can ask ourselves and sometimes in a voice we would most likely not use for others (what does YOUR voice sound like?).

When you offer yourself compassion, you stop using that voice. And the compassion isn't self indulgent; it's just...compassionate. When you offer yourself compassion, you're saying 'Let's look at this...Why is this showing up right now? What's it here to teach me?'

This is something that can take some practice (that's why having a coach to help you in the beginning works well :) ). When we offer ourselves compassion, we can step back a bit. We can let go of the judgment. Stepping into the compassion allows you  to accept that quality of yourself and with that acceptance, whatever you were judging, whatever wasn't 'perfect' often gets much weaker; sometimes it disappears.

 
There are plenty of other parts of self care  to discuss, but that's enough for now. How are you doing with the compassion you offer yourself? Do you use that critical, judgmental voice when you do something that is less than perfect? What would it be like to be curious instead - to use the voice of curiosity & discovery? Why don't you give it a try this week and see what happens...

<p>Image: <a href="http://www.freedigitalphotos.net" target="_blank">FreeDigitalPhotos.net</a></p>