A Day at a Time – Taking Care of Ourselves – 28/03/20

https://yestolife.org.uk/day-at-a-time-a-daily-blog-of-life-in-lockdown/

I very rarely listen to the news now, preferring to read the newspaper so that I can choose what I take in. This now tends to be the reflections or commentaries on what’s happening rather than the details and figures. This helps me maintain a larger perspective on things. What’s the use in becoming over-whelmed with the sadness of how this is affecting so many people’s lives or letting the fears for mine and my family’s health take hold. This just impacts my functioning and ability to be present for others. I can still empathize with the suffering but not be carried away by it. I’d even noticed myself, as Covid-19 started spreading round the world, having difficulty breathing, feeling like I had to concentrate on my breathing to get enough oxygen!

Just writing this journal is changing how I live my life as I reflect more on the choices I am making and how those choices affect my mood and then spiral out into my day. I am becoming more and more discerning about how I live my day. Meditation and exercise come first. My personal meditation practice builds my sense of inner calm and strength and I find that I have more space to choose how I respond to things during the day. The exercise helps release tension in my body and naturally increases my awareness of my body, how it is feeling and the sensations coming and going. I am also finding it helps me remember to keep bringing my attention back into my body if I start getting caught up in the mind.

Meditation

• Just sitting and being
• Hoovering (a little bit of retail therapy, new hoover arrived today)
• Gardening
• Walking the dogs (appreciating that I can do this because I live in the countryside)

Exercise

• hoovering (feeling my body moving and stretching, noticing the effect on my breath, appreciating the effect on the floor)!
• Gardening
• Walking the dogs

Enjoyable activities –

• Gardening
• House-Party with my sister (get.houseparty.com)
• Zoom cocktails with friends coming soon at 6 pm (possibly alcohol-free although who am I kidding?!)

This reminds me of Bridget Jones’s Diary, although I won’t be sharing my calories and weight and how large my knickers are.

Hint: What you do affects how you feel. This is important because this means You can change how you feel by changing what you do.

Practice:

Ask yourself the questions: How am I spending my time? Are the choices I am making helping my well-being and that of my family or friends around me? You could choose right now to pause for a while and reflect on your typical day since lockdown started. List the activities from when you wake up to when you go to bed. Then go through the list and mark next to each one whether it is nourishing (energizes, lifts your mood) or depleting (drains your energy, lowers your mood). You will quickly start becoming aware of the habits and patterns that enrich your life and those that don’t. It is then easier to see what changes you want to make. Of course, there are some activities that just need doing but are depleting, like say cleaning. However, it is possible to explore ways of making even these activities enjoyable, for instance by playing your favourite music, making it your exercise or doing it mindfully (seeing how present you can be with just the activity).

Resource: If you want to find out more about mindfulness please go to https://oxfordmindfulness.org/for-you/