Day 3, let's do this wide open space community! You are on Day 3 with 60+ people from around the world. Channel the energy of the community around you that is taking time to play, explore and reflect alongside you. And, I am the first to name myself your cheerleader, here to empower you to create what's possible for you.
Recap. The main ingredients to channel for this 7 day experience:
Play: Smile, laugh at yourself, be messy, and open to the possibility in your life. One way to be messy and play is with the post-its: Use color, different shapes, move the post-its around, sketch, use your creativity because this is also about having fun as we learn about ourselves!
Honesty with self: Bringing internal awareness to your choices and feelings. This is the first step to sustainable change.
Vulnerability: Sharing it 'out loud' on your post-its and bringing the awareness to life. Seeing what we think and feel in words is powerful. This is the second step to sustainable change.
Today, we are going to zoom in and focus on our relationship with Physical, one of the seven categories in our lives, shared yesterday from the wheel of life template.
Our physical wellbeing dictates and has so much power over the way we makes choices and live. How I treat myself is how I show value to myself. How you treat yourself is how you show value to yourself.
One of my favorite parts about Judaism is how intentionality is valued. The idea that everything mundane in our lives can be elevated and made meaningful with intention. Simple things in life like: eating, going to the bathroom, getting dressed all have rituals or blessings that help bring awareness to our relationship with our physical wellbeing and intentional choice. "Shmirat HaGuf - taking care of your body - is viewed as a spiritual as well as a physical act."- Rabbi Elyse Goldstein. Everyone focuses on their physical wellbeing differently so this this is an opportunity for you to consider that relationship.
There is another aspect around our physical, our physical bodies that is! I am newly discovering how much my body tries to communicate with me. I get certain stomach aches when something does not feel right about an interaction or choice. I get the chills when I experience something powerful or someone else's authentic vulnerability. I know people who have gut issues and also have difficulty expressing their feelings and tend keep everything inside.
A few years ago, I was engaged. It was a messy situation and the first time in my life that I compartmentalized and kept a lot of my experience to myself, not knowing how to process what was happening. I lost a lot of weight and was hospitalized for the first time in my life because of a burst ovarian cyst. Now, three years later and my strongest self to date, not compartmentalizing, I am free of all cysts. I believe that because of the way I was handling that situation, my body was trying to tell me something but I was not listening [this is the first time I am sharing this story publicly].
Today, I notice and listen to my body all the time. That situation made me realize how much I have lived in my head and have forgotten that my whole body has a purpose, more than keeping me alive in this world. My physical body is constantly trying to engage with me, I just need to listen and be aware. Breathing and taking moments to pause and check-in with my body has helped me do this. How I physically carry myself also impacts how I feel, act and attract other people. If my physical energy is closed off, that is what I attract and put out, but if I have an open stance and stand a little taller, then that is who and what I attract from others. There is so much depth to our physical wellbeing.
*If you have more time, consider this, otherwise go straight to today's experience*
Food for thought as we explore how we take care of our physical wellbeing:
"The purpose is to keep ourselves and our surroundings clean. Only then can G-d's spirit dwell among us: "Your camp must be holy" (Deuteronomy 23:15). "The cleanliness of our bodies and surroundings is one of the principal foundations of purity."
I am fascinated by this idea of God/Divine/Higher Power only dwelling in a place that is 'clean'. What does that mean to you?
Experience Day #3: It's All About The Physical
I want to invite you to take three deep breathes before beginning your reflection. Connect to your body and form a bond with it as we are going to explore our relationships with our physical wellbeing.
This might be a vulnerable topic for you. If it is not, what would be meaningful for you to explore on this topic today? Check in with yourself. If this is a vulnerable topic for you, know that you are not alone and we are here as a community engaging with this together. These categories around physical wellbeing might involve feelings of shame, guilt or embarrassment.
Every day I work to become my own best friend and one place I know I need to focus more attention is in the category of my physical wellbeing. I push it off because it makes me feel ashamed. I have shame around my posture and shame around my lack of flexibility and feel really bad about myself after I do yoga, a practice I love. So this is a reminder that we are all works in progress and I celebrate all my imperfections and your imperfections. When I talk about the things I have shame around and name them as shame, they get smaller almost automatically. So let's celebrate our strengths and acknowledge where we want to become stronger.
Post-its in hand- check!
Designated spot for your storyboard- check!
1. Our lucky number is 4 again today! Take 4 post-its and write #3 and Kindness on a corner of each post it.
Everyone focuses on their physical wellbeing differently so what do you want to explore today? Tomorrow, it might be something else, that's great too, we are dynamic human beings!
Some aspects that come to mind for me are one's relationship with: food, body image, exercise, technology use, sleep, physical health, emotional intelligence, expression, finances, movement, mental health, hygiene, time management, posture, meditation, stress, other?
2. On post-it #1 Choose one of the above categories that you feel confident about.
Write what your relationship is with the above category you chose? Write single words that pop into your mind [channel words that are feelings]. Don't filter, write what comes to your mind and we are not judging it or interpreting it, just recognizing what comes up!
3. On post-it #2 Choose one of the above categories that requires effort for you/ is a category that brings up shame/fear.
Write what your relationship is with the above category you chose? Write single words that pop into your mind [channel words that are feelings]. Don't filter, write what comes to your mind and we are not judging it or interpreting it, just recognizing what comes up!
3. On post-it #3 write what you want your relationship to be with the category you chose.
Single words about what's possible for this relationship. If you have a great relationship with your physical wellbeing and can't think of anything, is there something you want to do to reignite the relationship or deepen the relationship?
4. On post-it #4 write down one action that will get you from where your relationship currently is, with chosen category from post-it #2, to your response about where you ideally want it to be from post-it #3.
5. On the bottom of post-it #4 write an affirmation of any kind.
Make up your own or take one of these that resonate. "I got this!" or "Let's do this!" or "I believe in you!" or "[your name], I love you and accept you just the way you are!" or "You are strong!"
Add those post-its proudly to your storyboard and you have completed Day #3!
No matter if this is a category you excel in or not, it is important to share affirmations, and the most important person to get love affirmations from is always yourself. Thank you for going there today, for yourself, your friends, your families/future families and for this community. Your awareness has a greater ripple effect than you might realize.
I do value physical activity because it is a family value of mine. Here is my family on a paddleboard experience, arranged in age order!