A year ago I took a Blog Triage class to spif up my blog.  One of the assignments was to set up some Google Alerts on relevant key words/phrases.  I completed the assignment and set up my mail tool so they would go directly to their own folder and not clog up my inbox.  And promptly forgot all about them until some of them came up in a mail search yesterday.  Wow!  There’s some interesting stuff out there!   I could go to a place of what I might have missed; instead I remember one of my current mantras, a quote from The Matrix: 

“Hello, Neo.  You’re right on time.”

Gather.com has some posts about the Lane Bryant Ad that FOX and ABC have refused to air because it is deemed too racy.  I especially like the comments that there is more cleavage weekly on “Dancing With The Stars”.

Cleavage seems to be a popular topic this week.  In response to a quote from a n Iranian prayer leader that the increasing incidence of earthquakes is caused by women dressing immodestly, Jen McCreight suggested Boobquake.  The idea is for women to wear their most cleavage-revealing  outfit on April 26th to disprove the assertion.   The original suggestion may have been a little tongue-in-cheek, but the Facebook event has almost 162,000 attending and another 51,000 as  “maybe”s.  I think I’ll probably dress in my usual Boulder casual, but it made me think.

Finally, in perhaps the most disturbing story, Us Magazine resports that Jillian Michaels, one of the trainers on the Biggest Loser,  wants to adopt a child because “I can’t handle doing that [pregnancy] to my body”.   Ironically, this story appears under a “Healthy Lifestyle” heading.   Hmmmm….

A favorite place to stop and ponder on my favorite trail in Boulder

I was walking on this path a few days ago enjoying a beautiful spring day (unlike today which has dawned gray and snowy.  alas!) – feeling the burst of spring energy in a happy-go-lucky mood.  Feeling the surge of “I want more of this!”  More of this happy-to-be-alive-and-walking-this-path feeling.

It led to the question of what inspires me to action?  What would inspire me to get outside and on one of the numerous open space paths on a more regular basis, not because I should, but because I find joy in the breathing of the fresh air, the movement of my body, the magnificent sights and sounds of nature.

A Big Hairy Audacious Goal! And that’s when the Countdown to 60! Half-Marathon program was hatched.   Completing a half-marathon to celebrate my 60th birthday.  A destination half-marthon, probably somewhere in California, and  inviting friends from all over to come play with me, walk or run or dance with me, whether it’s a shorter distance or the half-marathon distance, whether we are geographically co-located, or you do it in your own hometown.

So that a year from now, I am proclaiming, “This is what 60 feels like!  Vibrant, gutsy, bubbly, strong!”

Who’s in?

On the Front Range of the Rockies, March does it’s lion-and-lamb thing all month long.  On Wednesday, I was shoveling 8 inches of wet spring snow off the sidewalk; today it’s sunny and mild.

I was inspired to take a walk along one of my favorite open space paths, the South Boulder Creek trail.  Lots of people walking with dogs, or with kids, or running. Lots of smiles, everyone feeling sunny on this gorgeous day.

A recent email asked ‘what inspires you?”   This.  This walk on a sunny day in spring inspires me.  So full of promise – not just the promise of warmer, longer days.    As I walk and reflect and dream, I’m inspired to all kinds of possibilities.

My 59th birthday is in 10 days, and has had me reflecting on what I want to create in my 60th year.  On the walk this morning, I was inspired to create a Countdown-to-60 challenge for myself and any friends and followers who want to join in.  Stay tuned for details!

A dharma buddy re-entered my life a few weeks ago, and I was swept into a vortex of intense opening, unfolding, and practicing presense.  It was as exhilarating as any other period in my life when I felt like the paradigms were shifting so fast I could hardly keep up with them.  Layers of old story were shed like a snake shedding a skin to allow for new growth.

So DB and I were having breakfast on Sunday before we went in different directions to spend the holidays with family.  And I was relating a practice that I learned from Angeles Arrien.  The period of December 21st-January 20th is a microcosm of the year to come;  how we are during this month can set the tone for the next eleven. 

Impulses followed, connections made, actions taken in this period last year completely shaped this past year.   It has been a time of letting go of what other people’s advice about the way to make “it” happen (whether the “it” is about losing weight, or body acceptance, or building my coaching practice or writing a blog) and relying more and more upon my own intuitive guidance, and inspiration.

At the conclusion of the breakfast conversation, DB and I encouraged each other to “go for it, buddy!” during the next month.  (Interestingly enough, the snake sheds it’s skin about once a month).  I am left with the inquiry of what “going for it” means in this relatively new perspective of allowing.  And what is the skin that wants shedding next?

A smarter person than myself would have known better than to tempt the gods (or whatever) with that last post about shadow-work.  Batten down the hatches; the gremlins are having a field day.  I’m feeling a bit like Tippi Hedren. 

 Fortunately, I found this in my inbox:

How to Survive a Bad Day
by Christine Kane

 
Let’s face it. No matter how much progress we make, we’re still going to have “bad days.”

You know the ones. When the old critical voices are milling about drinking martinis and eating crab puffs in your head. You try to send them all away with your favorite powerful affirmation, but only a few of them even look up – and one of them turns away and lights a cigarette.

What do you do when no matter what you do, you just feel awful?

Very few success-gurus talk about the bad day, or even the process of following your dreams and the persistence it takes to shift old patterns.
Truth is, sometimes it helps to hear someone be honest about this stuff. Not so that you can indulge in self-pity about how hard you have it. But so that when the bad day strikes, you have some leverage.

So, how do you survive a bad day? Here’s a few things that might help…

WHAT TO REMEMBER:

1 - The voices do not tell the truth.
They’re just your old voices coming up to feed. Do not feed them. This is what makes them stay. Even if you’re already hooked in, the best way to begin the unhooking is to rest, or to be very kind to you.

2 – This is not who you are.
The voices like to tell you that this depressed person is who you really are and that the rest of the world doesn’t have these same flaws. Not true. This is just a temporary set back. That’s all.

3 – Mochaccinos don’t take the voices away. It just makes them go faster.
Bad Days are not a call to rush out to Starbucks, hoping that if you move faster, it will all go away. If there’s any action that needs to be taken now, it’s probably a nap.

4 – You don’t have to be productive today.
It’s okay to put down your goals and to-dos for one day. You can return to them tomorrow. Today, make it your goal to just get through the day being kind to yourself. Think of it as a sick day. Maybe there’s no PROOF – like a fever. But your insides are sick. Let them heal.

5 – Everything seems worse when you’re tired or hungry.
Eat something yummy. Take a nap. Or go somewhere and sit quietly.

WHAT TO DO:

1 – Stop feeling bad about feeling bad.
If it helps, make today a container. Know that you’re allowed to have this stuff and that nothing horrid is going to happen with this one day of getting thrown off.

2 – Make no decisions.
The late Richard Carlson, author and psychologist, gave this great advice: “Never make decisions when you’re in a low mood.” His belief was that low moods are a natural occurrence and that any low-mood decisions are typically not healthy. Put off all decisions when you’re having a bad day.

3 – Don’t read fashion magazines. Or the news.
4 – Take a 20 minute walk.
Bring a gentle affirmation along with you. On days like this you don’t want to say, “I am master of the universe!!!” On days like this you want to say, “I am loved. I am safe.”
5 – Don’t try to fix yourself today.
No need to rush to the Self-Help section at Borders. Maybe steps you can take toward being healthier in the big picture, but not today. Today, let yourself stop.

6 – Lower your standards.
If you get out of bed, or eat a good healthy meal, be proud. Tomorrow you can have your old high standards back and be productive and evolved and all that. Not today.

7 – Say NO to anything if it’s motivated by the word “should.”
This is a good rule to follow on good days too!

8 – Ask yourself what you feel like doing.
Sometimes the answer to this can be surprising. Maybe you’ll want to begin a fiction audiobook and clean your closet! Maybe you’ll just want a nap.

9 - Don’t do anything destructive.
Don’t overdose on sugar or indulge in alcohol. Don’t call anyone who drains you. It will not make this better.

WHAT TO BE:

Be very, very kind to yourself.

Be the way you would be with someone who is sad or hurting or scared. Because today, you are.

WHAT TO KNOW:

That the victory is not about not having bad days anymore. The victory is that you can get back up after having one.
 

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?
Please do! Just be sure to include this complete blurb with it:
Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

I was ten years old the first time I heard fat talk from “friends” – one of them my “best friend” — on the playground at school.  And not long after that I went on my first diet.  It was a defining moment.  As long as I let it be. 

Sometimes I have a hard time describing what the Authentic Body Project is about.  Until I see a video like this.  This, this is what it’s about.  It’s about not letting the fat talk we’ve heard, the fat talk we’ve internalized, define us, stop us, hold us back.

It’s about recognizing that I can protest about the ubiquitous photoshopping of every image I see, complaining about those people, and how they are the problem, or I can start right here, right now with the woman sitting in my chair.   Taking it to a new level of awareness, being more present to the self-talk, and in so doing, shift it and shift the way I define myself.

This is the third in a series on space-clearing. Part 2 is here.

The last component of my space clearing process is adapted from the Clearing Your Clutter for Clarity process in Ask and It Is Given. In this process, you start out with a bunch of boxes (20 banker’s boxes is a good start, they say) and as you pick up something you’re not sure what to do with, you put it in a box. There’s a whole cataloging process in the book, which was a bit much for me. The idea is that you store the boxes neatly for a year or so. If you need something from a box, you know which one it is in and you retrieve it from the box. At the end of the year, you can give everything still in boxes away because you haven’t needed it for that year.

I think I’m doing a pretty good job of giving away and throwing away – several boxes went to a rummage sale for a co-worker’s child’s school, and ARC came to pick up a second load last week. And I’ve considered getting a larger recycle bin from my disposal company. Most of my stuff going in boxes is either stuff that goes in an area that hasn’t been cleared yet, or projects that I want to get to. I’m doing a major sort as it goes into boxes (e.g. a set of boxes has fiber art stuff in it, another set has stuff from the office). My intention is that once I’ve gone through each area of the house and have cleared it, and organized it, I can tackle those boxes one at a time.

One of the real advantages about this strategy is that when I hit a point of overwhelm (and I did, especially when I first started on the unfinished basement space), I could calm myself by saying, “I only need to deal with 27 things today: give-away, throw-away, or into a box.” I could stay with the overwhelm that long, and then go relax, knowing that it’s been there for months and it’s not going anywhere.

I loved being able to take all the stacks of papers off my desk in about five minutes and put them into a box. And they provided a nice project while I watched the NY Jets lose to Miami on Monday night and spoil my prospects of winning the football pool at work.

When I was at the Farmer’s Market early in the summer buying basil, tarragon, oregano, parsley and thyme in 2″ pots for my herb garden, I also purchased what was being touted as a “mosquito buster” container.  It had citronella, basil, peppermint and lemon balms – all scents that repel mosquitos supposedly.  I can’t say that it worked all that well, but I enjoyed the scents of the various herbs as I sat at the table on the deck.

Friday night,  I brought this pot and a pot of mint in ahead of the hard freeze, and noticed this little tendril of lemon balm escaping from a drainage hole in the bottom of the pot.

It tickles me to see this sprig finding anyway it can to grow towared the light, to grow with such determination toward that which will nourish it.  It reminds of the lines from The Summer Day by Mary Oliver:

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

With your one wild and precious life?