New Year - Back to Basics
Its not surprising that I’m 2 weeks late for writing a New Year’s blog post. This holiday was never my favorite. Perhaps because in the past after staying up all night celebrating to excess I woke up and found everything…the same. Nothing had really changed. Yet. The holiday rush was over and now it was time to guilt ourselves into making resolutions to be better by setting lofty goals and beginning our “boot camp” regimen of eating healthy and high intensity exercise in an effort to achieve some cultural definition of “healthy”.
Blech.
Given that my favorite holiday is Yule/Winter Solstice/Christmas, I prefer the softer love-filled approach of that season. The way we gently honor our darkness and embrace the return of the eternal light within. New Year’s always felt like someone turned on all the spotlights and my eyes just didn’t have time to adjust to the harsh glare of “healthy goals”.
I’m not saying that setting goals aren’t beneficial, its just that for me I always felt some resistance to setting goals or resolutions for the year for some reason. So, it appears that I took the first two weeks of 2021 to wrestle with this resistance to find out why it was there. And after much ruminating, the best answer I came up with is:
I’m tired of trying to be “better”. I just want to BE.
See, I think that we have it all backwards. The health and wellness industry is a multi-billion-trillion-gazillion dollar industry that thrives on the notion that we NEED products and services to be healthy (and of course, get rock hard abs). But what exactly is the definition of “healthy” anyway?
Sure, if you are struggling with chronic diseases like diabetes or heart disease, then improving your diet and adding exercise to lower your risk and improve your cholesterol and waist size would definitely fall into that definition. But I think that health goes much deeper than that - and its an area that we fail to address repeatedly.
The answer is within.
Insert eye-roll here. How pithy of me! But hear me out.
If we spent more time addressing our SOUL health, we might find it SO much easier to achieve physical health. Let’s be honest, the reason those jeans aren’t fitting right is probably because we’ve had a few too many late night conversations with brownies and Doritos about our uncomfortable feelings. (Can anyone else relate?)
Whenever I start to get overwhelmed by all the things I think I need to change in order to be healthy - eat right, exercise right, lift weights, drink more water, ab crunches, protein smoothies, clean up my finances, start my dream business, find that perfect partner, etc. - I am struck by how LONG that list is when really what I need is this: daily.spiritual.practice. That’s the root of it right there.
Yep. I’m talking about going to the Source. Connecting to Spirit (Universe, Divine, God/Goddess, however you define it) and doing it CONSISTENTLY. When I feel that I’m spinning out of control trying to control my weight, control my macros, control my spending - it’s because I’ve disconnected from the Source of all of it - my Higher Power.
You see, I believe that when we connect to Spirit on a consistent basis, we are reminded of 2 very important things:
You are already enough. You are already perfect as you are, right now.
Positive life changes happen when we approach it from a positive perspective.
So, my question to you is: what does your spiritual practice look like right now? Maybe that is the first place to start! Here are some simple and easy ways you can begin to connect that will gently shift you in the direction of TRUE health:
Gratitude Journal. Writing down just 3 things a day that you are grateful for - no matter how “small” it seems - generates a positive vibration that attracts more positive experiences to you.
Daily Prayer or Meditation. Don’t think you have time? You just need 5 minutes - which means you can do it while you’re in the bathroom if you’re that pressed for time (and if you really are that busy, it’s time to clean off your plate…more on that later…). Find a favorite prayer to post on your bathroom mirror or nightstand, or use a meditation timer like Insight Meditation Timer (my fav!). Set it for 5 minutes, breathe and connect to Spirit.
Dance! YES, dancing connects you to Spirit and gets the energy moving in your body. So turn on your favorite Stevie Wonder song and shimmy those hips, Shiva!
Yoga. I find that many people avoid a “regular” yoga practice because they don’t have time to do a 60 minute class. Here’s a challenge for you - get up from your chair and inhale your arms up and slowly exhale while folding forward. Repeat five times while breathing long, slow, intentional breaths. Then stop and tell me that you don’t already feel a shift happening! Yoga means “union” it does not mean “contort yourself for 60 minutes on your mat”. Simple asanas (postures) and breathing for even 5 minutes can have a transformative affect AND serve as a daily connection to the Divine.
Rest. Sometimes our compulsion to DO more leaves us feeling more disconnected than ever. Perhaps its time to take a break - from the news, from people who drain you, from work, from constant busy-ness - true rest for your body and mind creates space for Spirit to show up. The New Moon is a great time to schedule more down-time. Check out my New Moon in Capricorn reading and meditation for more insights and a moment of contemplative rest.
Let the beginning of this New Year be an opportunity for you to get back to the basics - connecting with your Higher Self/Spirit/the Divine/God and watch how easily you are guided to your highest good (without having to sweat it out in CrossFit).