Questioning how I could better serve my community, myself AND the planet
Hello friends,
The summer is finally upon us post confinement and I have noticed my own city getting significantly quieter, which suggests that many of us are gradually adjusting back to a new "norm". However, I have equally talked to students at my recent day retreats & classes who tell me otherwise. Some expressed feeling busier even stressed (work/life balance) than was previously the case, which begs the question, has anything really changed? Are we capable of listening to the warning signs such as COVID 19?
I personally have enjoyed taking the time to rethink in a fundamental way how I want to try to do better (the luxury I had, given I have no kids or huge overhead of bills to pay) and I fail ALOT of the time. Example: when it rains, do I take my car or my bike for personal comfort in that moment? :-) And this is daily for me! Questioning my integrity. Another intention of mine was to find MORE balance in my daily life. This has been key in pretty much most of my decision making for work-related matters. It's only when I stopped and paused for so many weeks, that I realised how much energy I was expending into my work life without thinking through which projects were dear to my heart and which projects just consumed my energy. Time is precious. I am after all in a line of work that is about finding balance. lol BUT part of the process of personal growth is finetuning the cracks and Covid was just that. Time to finetune. Turn down the volume and listen to what my heart / soul / mind / intuition (whatever you want to call it) is actually SAYING!
The bigger question at hand (for me) was to question how my own life/business impacted my humble community and how I could better serve them, myself AND the planet, our home. Balance seemed to shuffle between these three areas rather than just focusing on ME ME ME.
Me
My direct environment, such as work, friends, family
The planet
So I jotted down some daily actions that inspired me to take action to align these areas even more for a healthier me and a healthier world in my daily life. I know my world is small, but every little change seems to make me happier or at least stay curious.
Cooking from scratch and purchasing products that did not involve too much packaging in a more conscious way (apart from eating less meat.)
Taking time to study and plan classes daily, instead of go go go
Not substituting things after chucking out old materials. Just becoming conscious about waste and how to reuse old materials when doing my weekly shop.
Adding the daily ritual of reading less online blogs/news and more books to have more focused BIG ideas generated, rather than scattered.
Thinking through my bigger picture and aligning my daily routines, work engagements, social contacts with this goal.
Writing down (on occasion, not daily) things I am grateful for after I have written down my thoughts, to nourish an actual energetic feeling of gratitude in my body. (Your world is your mirror, which is what makes daily journaling,yoga/meditation so powerful)
Saying "NO" to opportunities and engagements that do not align with the bigger picture
Working and taking initiative but not chasing opportunities. Actions speak louder than words. I have trained myself (unapologetically) to observe people (in business and personal ) by their actions and not their words. Chasing people to carry through a project is the answer in itself. "time/energy-wasting"
To carefully examine who I spend my time with in my free time, without arrogance but for the right reasons. This is healthy boundary setting and saves energy massively!
All this for what?
To have a schedule that does not feel overwhelming.
To win time and experience life with that goofy kid that's inside of me. More joy! I was blamed in the past for not being serious enough. This is BS!
To work hard for the RIGHT reasons.
To find joy in small things. Even cooking or my daily walk and not having to book far away holidays all the time. (Grandpa Mike appears)
Generally trying to do things that have a better impact on our planet, whether it's travel, work-related or my daily behaviours
Would love to hear what has changed for you.
Stay curious! M :-)
Lovely blog you havve