Day 3
Welcome to Day 3.
When things are important to me, I can get REALLY SERIOUS about them.
And when I’m feeling high levels of stress, my stress sends my seriousness into overdrive.
Which makes me walk around stressing very seriously about something that often had simply started out as something I loved or was excited about. Things that were joyful at the beginning. Things that held so much promise.
And then just feel … heavy.
For many years, I literally had this written reminder on my bedroom wall: “Lighten up, Francis” (a quote from some old movie, not worth googling because I think it’s a bit … outdated, to say the least). And I wrote it down as an affirmation during my recent birth prep for our son George.
(Another pro tip from my birth prep — if you say '“I LOVE YOU” it automatically loosens the jaw. Next time you feel your jaw clenched for any reason, just try saying “I love you” out loud a few times, no matter how silly you feel. Keep going till you feel tension melt away and maybe even a smile appear.)
I think this is where the seriousness comes in:
We can spend so much of our time trying to control — trying to stay comfortable.
The truth is: there is SO little we can control.
And yet, we burn a ton of energy focusing intensely and seriously on what we can’t control.
Loosen your grip!
So often what we care about, what we’re trying to control, we hold onto so tightly.
But imagine what it would feel like to hold what we love in a softer way?
Especially for my fellow “hard workers” and perfectionists in the group. What would it feel like to hold this beginning of 40 Early Mornings — no matter how it’s going — in a softer way?
DAY 3: EARLY MORNING MEDITATION (11 MIN)
LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW:
What would it feel like to “work gently” in 40 Early Mornings?
ahh yes, to gentle work today,
Cath
p.s. As a reminder to lighten my mood even more, I often picture a big old pick up truck (not sure why, but it’s always a pick up truck), with its back tires stuck in the mud. And me, sitting in the driver’s seat slamming the accelerator down hard, jaw clenched, teeth gritting, revving the engine and burning a LOT of fuel going nowhere, fast. Oh, and probably getting my wheels stuck in the mud even more. Usually this visual is enough to make me laugh and find some levity. And believe it or not — laughter is a research-backed, evidence-based way to move your nervous system through and out of the stress response (you may know it as “fight, flight, or freeze.”). But if you’ve ever felt instantly better after a good, shared belly laugh, you didn’t need any data to back that up!