When I teach writing, I remind people that writing often is a good thing because it helps make your writing skills more available to you when you need them.
And I often compare that situation to doing kicking drills in Taekwondo. The drills aren’t just about exercising/adding strength they are about making my kicking skills more available to me when I need them.
Over and over I have proven to myself that doing the thing often makes it easier to do the thing when I need/want to.
Soooo, why do I have trouble remembering that fact when it comes to relaxation exercises and meditation?
I’m not a stressball at the moment, nor do I lack opportunities for relaxation, but, I do feel that my base level of stress could be a lot lower.
And I have some small practices in place:
I do a very, very short meditation every day and I do a longer one on occasion. (Every time I do a longer meditation, I ask myself why I don’t do them more often.*)
And I have relaxation music/visualizations that I listen to sometimes and I have relaxing drawing practices that I usually only remember to do when I am already feeling a little frayed around the edges.
But, even though I know that doing important practices more often makes them more available to me, I don’t apply that rule to relaxation practices or to longer meditations.
I know that if I practice relaxation exercises (visualizations, music, drawing) more often, I will have a deeper well of relaxation to draw from.
I know that meditating for longer feels better in the moment AND brings me more ease overall.
I know that lowering my base level of stress will help me to be responsive rather than reactive when something goes awry.
And, yet, my brain still manages to convince me that the practices are too long or too much trouble to do on a regular basis.
Irritating, hey?
So, Fit is a Feminist Issue friends, I officially declare that it is time for me to make a change.
I am fed up with this flaw in my thinking and I am going to correct it.
I am going to turn my relaxation/meditation practices into another example of skills that are available to me because I use them often.
And I’m starting today.
Feel free to join me!
*I know that my ADHD brain is not a fan of starting something that feels like it will take a long time, even if I know I will enjoy it/find it useful. Meanwhile, though, I figured out last summer that the effort to start a longer meditation is the same as the effort to start a short one but the longer one is more enjoyable. Did I remember that lesson? No, I did not.
