Believe In Bunnies

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routines

Believe Coaching Purpose Teacher Life

An Interesting Time

The idiom “worried sick” has been around since the 1800s. Worry, stress, anxiety, and fear can lower your immune system. It’s reasonable to concerned as there are so many unknowns right now… but worrying yourself sick over the current situation (or over anything) does not serve you or serve the world!

As schedules and settings change for the upcoming weeks, it’s easy to feel displaced, uneasy, or even distressed. I’m sending lots of love and strength to those who have to make big decisions, like closing schools and canceling events or seasons. I had to decide to postpone a school event last week and it was not an easy choice—and I’m typically the most decisive person in the room!

I, like many of you dear readers, have a change to my regularly scheduled programming for at least the next week. The school where I teach will be closed. I’ll still have some work to do (those research papers aren’t going to grade themselves!) but my days will look and feel vastly different from the typical work week. Peanut will be happy to have me home… at least I tell myself that.

Now… to find the balance between “wasting” the whole week and pressuring myself to do all the things while I’m homebound. And if I feel this way, I’m sure someone out there feels this way, too.

You’ve heard me say it before: You can’t manage time but you can manage activity. So, let’s capitalize on this time of different routines by maximizing our self-care and productivity.

Daily Must-Dos

  • Rest and good nutrition
  • Personal development and study
  • Move! Go for a walk, hop on the yoga mat, whatever works for you
  • Laugh, have fun, dance (if you want to… and you know you do)

 

One a Day for the Next 8 Days (in no particular sequence)

1. Clean off your desk or your coffee table or your dining room table… whatever that one area is that collects everything. Nature’s first law is order.

2. Make 2 phone calls you’ve been putting off. Mine: Grandma and rescheduling the dentist. I’m telling you to keep myself accountable.

3. Clean out the freezer or that one cabinet that needs order in the kitchen.

4. Time for a dream-walk. Tap into your wildest imagination, grab a piece of paper or a journal and plan the ultimate, most over-the-top dream vacation. Nothing is off limits, as long as it doesn’t hurt any other beings! Visualize and write about every little detail… who is there, what do the towels at the resorts feel like, what does the air smell like… take this luxurious exercise in visioneering. The more clearly you see the vision, the more likely it will be that you’ll be sending me pictures from this trip at some point, thanking me for inspiring you. #humble

5. Read. For 10 minutes, 10 pages, 10 magazines… just read, please.

6. Open the closet, the drawers, and wherever else you stash the clothing and accessories. Find 2 pieces you can donate, sell, or repurpose.

7. Curate a playlist of the songs that fire you up. If you already have a playlist like this, take a moment to edit it or add some new jams.

8. Unplug. Especially as the days go on, we’ll be checking obsessively to see what happens next… Will my job close for another week? Are we back to hugging freely again? Take some conscious time away from tech, an amount of time that feels right for you. Unplug from the screens; connect to you. Just get quiet… no phone, no tasks, just you. Bonus points if you can do this first thing in the morning.

 

We are living in an interesting time… cheers to using this time to grow, to heal, to catch up and to shine! Much love.

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March 15, 2020
Believe Bunnies Coaching Energy Purpose Rescue Teacher Life

I’m Not Busy

Don’t get me wrong—there’s lots of activity happening at headquarters but I do not feel busy.

Last week, a dear friend posted a graphic on Facebook, prompting scrollers to describe her life using only GIFs. I have a GIF obsession, so of course I was into this. For this friend, I posted a Green Acres GIF (don’t be surprised that those are sparse) because she’s a Glamazon who lives on a farm.

Several dozens of us reposted the graphic for ourselves. I was having a Valerie Cherish moment, so I picked GIFs from The Comeback for most. Then I waited for mine to roll in.

Of course, most featured rabbits (side note: that overly populated “rabbit island” in Japan isn’t cute to me—those poor rabbits have no care, no food and no shelter. But I know your intention in posting that one wasn’t bad!) and some others featured a theme of Zen, rainbows, unicorns and yoga mats. Then, there were the ones that got me: the ones that looked or even said chaos or chaotic.

Radical honesty: my life does not feel chaotic from the inside. And I sincerely hope I don’t portray that it is chaotic or unmanageable.

I used to feel tired all the time. I used to feel like I had no time for anything, like I was always busy, like there wasn’t enough time in a week to do what I had to do in a day. Ironically, that was when I was working one job, living with my family and not volunteering. I perceived my daily life as one of overwhelm and exhaustion. It didn’t help that I was hanging around with a lot of people who spun that same story in their lives, doing little more than just getting by, complaining the whole way through.

Now, I don’t feel busy because I am clear on what I am doing, why I am doing it and I am faithfully judicious with my time. Time hasn’t changed. I’ve learned to manage my activities. My Green Acres Glamazon is the one who taught me that you can’t manage time but you can manage activity. But even before I knew it in those terms, I was making it happen. The key, for me, is routine and consistency. It’s setting up systems to make it all work with efficacy and ease. I now work that same job, run two businesses, volunteer daily, co-manage a household and sleep 8+ hours a night. I don’t say this to impress you; I say this to impress upon you that you can feel at ease and get it all done. Manage the activity. The time is going to flow on its own.

A typical weekday looks like this for me:

4:30 am: Meditate, write, reflect, sometimes yoga

5:15 am: Get ready for work

6:45 am -2:30 pm: Work the day job

3:30 pm: Reflect, regroup, straighten up the house

4:30 – 7:30 pm: Volunteer work, business work

8:00 pm: Sweet dreams, babies.

 

With routine, I can get everything done and feel a flow, feel at ease. There are days that vary from the quick list above, for sure. Things come up but since I have a solid routine that works for me (my way is not for everyone!) I’m able to manage special events, the unexpected or whatever else life can throw at us.

I know many of you, dear readers, are still retching at the thought of getting up at a time that begins with a 4, unless it’s to catch an early flight somewhere. You don’t have to follow my way! This is what works for me. I am far less effective at anything I attempt to do, particularly writing and “brain work” in the evening. Remember there’s nothing wrong or weird about being a night owl or an early bird. Know thyself and soar.

I promise that there’s little chaos, and when it does creep in, I know how to breathe, step away and manage it. You too can feel at ease and feel like you’re getting it all done, whether you do one thing or all the things. Overwhelm and exhaustion does not have to be your story any longer.

 

Ready to set up your routine? I’m here.

Click here

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October 20, 2019
Bunnies Reiki Uncategorized

Rituals

I describe myself as highly routinized. For my own good, I’ve loosened up a bit over the past few years and more markedly, over the past few months.  I do attribute my massive success (and I define success as happiness and daily bliss) to my habits and patterns.  This way of life, as rigid as it can be sometimes, just comes naturally to me.  It’s the way my system was programmed.  Even my downtime, my free time has rules to it.

I start my days by stepping outside and taking a few moments to be present.  Up until very recently, I would start my days by grabbing my phone, starting the cycle of checking and obsessing.  I’ve worked to replace that habit with taking myself out to the deck and listening.  Some days, I do find myself on the screen before I’m on the grass but this part of the routine is a work in progress.  Starting the day by taking a few moments to just breathe and be outside sets a different tone—the intensity to do, to go, to be somewhere else drifts away.  Try it.  A gift I got from my meditation coach and friend.

I come in from outside and flick on the diffusers, usually Thieves in the bathroom and today it’s a combination of tangerine and orange in the kitchen/living room.  The oils have become just as integral to my routine as coffee.  On work days, I hop in the shower; on non-work days, I feed boys, then fed myself.  Breakfast is a piece of Ezekiel toast with peanut butter and a dark roast coffee with sugar and MCT oil. Work days: I eat, ready, dress and leave.  Non-work days: I eat and shuffle between housework, Rescue work and catching up on completely junk television.  I check my phone too often (working on it!) and I beat myself up for not reading more.  I always say: the more you read, the better looking you get.

I’m profoundly a morning person, so whether it’s formal work or not, the best of it happens early.  The day flows methodically.  Accomplishments abound.  Even the downtime is structured.  But it works for me.  Example: I don’t leave the house on Sundays.  The bunny-daddy started that tradition.  If there’s an absolutely unavoidable exit of the house on a Sunday, another day of house-arrest is substituted.  Adding this to the rituals has made me carve out time for self-care and a clear boundary that I can’t overload myself with more “stuff” for anyone or any institution.  It’s my day around the Manor.

My days round out with a short Reiki session for each of the boys and I’m always in bed early.  I need a lot of sleep.  It’s just a fact of who I am and I’m grateful to know myself and meet those needs.  And yes, even the extended vacation on the horizon from the day job will be filled with structure, routines… the rituals that make this success continue to flow.  It’s difficult for me to “do nothing,” sometimes to the point of torturous, but that’s something I’m working on for sure.  I need to give myself permission to just be, to restore.

Adding to the routine this summer: more outside time, more books, more quiet.

Subtracting from the machine: checking my phone as much as I do, negative self-talk when I do “nothing.”

Now, go do something for you.  Get outside.  Or come wash my dishes so I can…

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Take some time to relax!

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June 12, 2016