I was doing the Peaceful Warrior position in Yoga, and the instructor was having me hold it for much longer than usual. My arms and legs started feeling shaky and it was getter hard to hold the position and I began thinking, “I don’t know how much longer can I hold this!”…
As I was focusing on my tired and shaking arms and legs, the instructor said, “Put your focus back on your feet. Think about how your front foot is solidly connected to the ground and how the outer edge of your back foot is pressing firmly into the ground. Focus on your foundation.”
Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling like I couldn’t hold the position any longer. I was feeling stronger just by changing where I was focusing.
I stopped focusing on where I was feeling weak and tired and shifted my attention to where my foundation was strong.
I had this ah ha moment.
Focus on your foundation.
I began asking myself, what is my foundation? What is it that makes me feel stronger?
This immediately brought to my mind a meditation I had done a week or so earlier.
The one doing the meditation suggested finding a spot in my body that felt tight and to put all of my focus there. So, I did that for a few minutes, trying to relax that tightness.
Then he said to move my focus to a spot that didn’t feel tight. So, I did that.
I kept my focus on that spot for a few minutes.
He had us go back and forth between the two spots for the rest of the meditation.
I started to see that when I changed my focus from the tight spot to the relaxed spot, I no longer felt the tightness of the tight spot. Wherever my focus went, was what my mind was feeling.
Again, I realized that when I chose where my focus went, I felt stronger.
I can change my focus.
I can focus on my foundation.
When something is hard, we tend to focus in on the hard which in turn makes the hard thing feel more intense.
Instead of focusing on what you can’t change or what isn’t working, focus on what you CAN change and what IS working.
Ask yourself helpful questions like:
-What do I want to accomplish?
-What is the next thing I can do today?
-What can I learn from this?
-What does a good outcome look like for me?
-What can I do to create the result I want?
-How do I want to feel in this situation? Take what everyone else is choosing to do or feel, and take control of the one and only thing you can control and that’s your thoughts and feelings.
This is easier to do when we are experiencing good mental and emotional health.
Everything is easier when we are in a good place.
But that is when we stop doing the things to help us stay strong.
We get lazy in our routines when we feel good.
But that is when it is most important!
It’s the good times that help us get back to feeling strong when the hard times come.
Good routines that help us practice the skills that strengthen us.
May I suggest developing your own routines.
Notice what you are doing when you are feeling the best.
Create a routine from those practices and rinse and repeat!
My morning routine is created from the things that help me stay in a good place longer but I know that the hard times will come again.
My routines help me to get back up quicker than if I didn’t have them in place.
A few of my favorite parts of my morning routine are:
-journaling as soon as I wake up
-exercising
-studying the scriptures and praying
-Thinking through my day and deciding how I will show up for the different events on my list
-Meditating and
-Working in my garden
What would help you to stay in a good place each day?
Write down a few right now and then start doing them!
If you notice that something you’re doing isn’t really helping you, try something new!
But don’t give up!
You will find the routine that you will begin to look forward to doing every day.
When you show up for yourself first thing every morning, you begin to teach yourself that you are important. That you are your most important relationship. And when that relationship is strong, all of your other relationships get stronger too.
If you find yourself needing some extra support in creating a routine that works for you, I’d love to help! Set up a free 30-minute consult with me and we’ll get one going. I’ve got lots of ideas that are backed by principles that really work!
Register at hunkeedori.com/consult for a time that works for you.
I’d love to meet you and help you create a relationship with yourself that will change all of your other relationships too.
Thanks for joining me here today and remember:
I see you. I understand how hard you’re trying, and I’d like to help however I can.
Have a wonderful day and I’ll see you back here next week.
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