Take back the pride in your stack!

I was talking to one of my dear friends about social media and as usual my friend had a great deal wisdom to bring. Here's a little story (based on true events):

Ziggy's father went out and chopped some wood. When he had done so he was proud of himself and his accomplishments. Later on he saw an image in social media of a greater stack of chopped wood and the proud owner of the stack, yet his feeling for his accomplishments remained the same. Why was that? He told Ziggy that although that pile is much much greater than his and they both exist in this same world, the other one is not a part of HIS world. He did not make it and it has no impact on his life. It's not real to him, only an image from someone else's life.

Now me and many of you may not have much experience with chopping wood, but haven't we all seen accomplishments that we have valued as "greater" than our own? Haven't many of us felt pride over something just to suddenly have it overwritten by someone else's display of greatness?
This can be applied in all aspects of life. In work, self-expression, creativity, appearance, physical and spiritual state of being. I'm not saying deny all that is not directly linked to you. Be inspired, but take caution so it doesn't backfire into the crippling state of jealousy or feeling like "I could never do that". Social media can be a bit one sided sometimes as many use it to enhance their best sides and show the results more often than the road there, flaws and mistakes.

I think this is a great reminder for us to remain proud of what we do. To take caution in comparison, because let's face it there may be someone who's greater than you in some way. But here's the great news: Your greatness can exist at the same time! It does not cancel each other out. It's not a competition. Your journey, your progress, your time and effort should always remain more valuable to you.

Take pride in your stack, whatever it may be.
You have made this.
You've come a long way my friend and I am proud of you.
KEEP DOING YOUR THING!

The challenge of the ZZZs

So if you're like me and go into energy save during the winter... well you can avoid total hibernation!
Here's a few good tricks to keep your energy up and help you stay on track:

Join challenges
No matter what your practise is it's always good to join a challenge and motivate yourself by keeping the day count and just sticking to it. I'm currently doing the Yoga Camp challenge with yoga with Adriene. A Hatha yoga experience, and this one has a bit more elements of mental wellness than her previous "30 days of yoga" challenge (which I also highly recommend!)

Get by with a little help from your friends

When it gets tough it might feel like a failure (IT IS NEVER) to ask your friends for help. Actually it is a very strong thing to do and when your friends know where you're at and what's going on it will be much easier for them to help you. We don't have to be so goddamned independent all the time! So ask for advice, ask for support, ask for a bit of cheerleading or gentle reminders. Or better yet... why not join a challenge together?

Seize the day

Carpe diem might sound like a massive cliché, yet as the days become shorter it becomes all the more important to get outside and gather as much sun as you can. Even when it's cloudy it's still brighter outside than indoors. Also the fresh air will do you good. In our family the outdoor minimum limit is at least 30 minutes per day, something I am grateful for today.

Recharge

During the wintertime it's easy to be *yawn* a chronic sleepy head. So one way to go about it is of course to sleep more. This however does not work for me, in fact it makes me more sleepy. A bunch of other options might be

Cold showers. Yep you heard me. A brilliant way to wake the body up and although it might not feel too inviting on cold days it actually gets your circulation up and you will be less cold afterwards. I've written a little more about hydrotherapy in a previous post.

Power naps. If you're feeling sleepy, set your alarm and give yourself a good powernap. I usually feel better and more alert if I'm surrendering to a couple of zzz rather than forcing myself to stay awake.

Keep doing what energises you! When winter comes (and it will, as Snow so eagerly points out) it might be tempting to cancel everything and stay under a blanket. I advice you not to. By keep going you will let your body (and brain) know who's the boss. And by doing what you set out to do you will get a kick of "YES I DID IT" and coming home afterwards to a cup of tea and the blanket will be all the more rewarding.

Play. Ok, I'm sure some of you are feeling a bit of resistance with thoughts of playing being just for kids but I assure you that getting your sillies and giggles up will boost you in so many ways. So invest time and energy in having fun, because it will give so much back.

- - - - - - - -

When it's evening, weekend or you just feel like watching something there's a brilliant korean film I saw yesterday. It was both visually and emotionally beautiful as well as fun and the right kind of weird (for me atleast.) 

Kimssi Pyoryugi (2009)

in english known as The castaway on the moon.

That's all I had for now, but I'm sure you will find your way to power up during the winter. 

Get out there. 

Do good. 

Reward yourself. 

And see you later!

The winner & perfect mindset.

To succeed one has to have the right set of mind. Just like the Swedish ord "lagom", which means "just right" your perfect mindset is something individual. There are a few things however that I find work for me and if you'd like you can try them and see if it works for you too.

- Staying truly positive. This also means no complaining, although constructive criticism is sometimes in order! Complaining brings your energy down, focusing on negative things and usually making others do it too.

- Eyes on the prize. All the little stupid or painful or hard things that happen throughout the day are just little obstacles or distractions. They're so small it's really nothing. Solve them if you can. Let them go, it's not worth your time or energy. Keep your eyes on the goal at all times!

- Tap into the infinity within. Ok, this one might sound like spiritual humbug to some, but I find that I can achieve and even stretch past my limits if I use an affirmation that "unlocks" my infinite resources. One of my favorite sentances to bring me into the moment and gain immediate strength is

I'm more than human, 

I'm an infinate being of power &

anything is possible.

- Make it a game.  This is the secret I wanted to share yesterday. It won't be a secret anymore, but it's too good to keep for myself. Be the change you want to see in the world, right Mahatma Gandhi?

So you have a challenging task before you. It could be anything from paying bills, to responding to emails or just something quite repetative which for a creative person like me... isn't that motivating. I found a way to love basically doing anything. Let me tell you about yesteday when I tried it out for real...

So as some of you might know I'm working as a "cleaning lady" at a hotel at the moment. It's a tough job because you have to make it look perfect. I can do perfect, I love it, but when time is limited... That's difficult for me. The two previous days of working 5am to 4pm I had been so tired after work I just thought I was going to die on the third, but on the third I decided I was going to win.

What, there's A CLEANING LADY GAME? Yes, in my head. The good thing about visualizing it as a game is that you're kind of stepping out of yourself, taking control, gaining distance towards the tasks and a good overview. I wasn't working. I was playing a game for 11 hours. 

I imagined it like this: This game is of course time based, you have to clean the rooms on a certain ammount of time, most important are the rooms which we are expecting arrival, then the rooms of the staying guests and lastly the departure rooms. Then there are some "bonus levels" which are the spa area, corridors and helping team players on their levels. You unlock the bonus levels by finishing your levels on time or beating your own high score. 

On the side of your screen there are three different bars which are energy, social and mood.

The energy is refilled when you drink water, get positive feedback and eat.

The social is when you interact with the collegues, the boss and the guests.

The mood is when things are going well.

There are more things to do than just clean the rooms. You have to make it look nice. This is when bed making technique, paper folding and arrangement comes in to the picture which allows you to earn style points. Style points are collected at the finish of each room and level when it is overviewed and valued in time, cleanliness and presentation. I always like to gather as much style points as possible, because I find they affect the energy bar as well as the mood. Then the boss comes and gives you a compliment on your speed or room presentation? Then that's more on the social and mood. Style points are also gained when all three bars are aligned at their fullest and when you smile out of joy and gratitude.

It's always a competition with yourself. Only you make the high score. If you want to play and win it's entirely up to you. Me? I'm a winner.
What's your challenge right now? What game would you be playing?

I managed to do more than I thought I could, more than my boss thought I could and beat the high score big time yesterday with two bonus levels.

Also, don't forget to reward yourself. No matter how it goes. It's actually especially important if it's not going so well. Give yourself a break from time to time. You deserve it.

Today is my day off. Ahhhh....