I quit. Ha! Just kidding. But it was really hard to get out of bed. The cold I’ve been fighting since New Years Eve tells me to stay in bed and rest. I compromised and slept in a little then got my butt up and started on The Path…in my jammies. Gratitude one: I am so thankful to have this ambitious project to make me accountable and stay motivated.
I don’t trust myself to start on the floor today – way too tempting – so I’m staying upright to start. Standing with feet about hip width apart and knees slightly bent, simply turn your upper torso from left to right, allowing your arms to swing naturally around your body. I call it the washing machine, but if you’ve ever done any Tai Chi, this is a standard warm-up in that practice. I find that I have to keep my head focused straight forward or I want to vomit by the fourth round, so use that info as you see fit. I’m sticking with Daily Om and Sadie Nardini‘s Tabata Yoga Challenge. Honestly, it’s easy, I don’t have to think about it, and those ninja lunges really motivated me yesterday, so I’m hoping it’ll do the trick again today. This course also starts out easy and gets more intense as you go. Easy sounds really good for today.
Since we finish on the floor, I just stay here for my meditation. And speaking of…
I did a little more digging about the meditation audio I used yesterday. Turns out it’s part of a program called “15 Minute Manifestation” by Eddie Sergey. Seems there are three different tracks that progressively help you retrain your thoughts. There’s a whole workbook that goes into the science of Neurolinguistic Programming, which is basically how these tracks work. It says to use our audio from yesterday “Your Natural State” for seven days to help clear out limiting beliefs and set the groundwork for ushering in new ways of manifesting. So, great! I guess we got our meditation option covered for week one. Sweet. I’m not sure if it interferes with the science of it, but I got a little extra sound mixed in today – Sybilla’s purring. May not be part of the program, but that sound is nothing but pure joy, so I’m gonna count that as a bonus. Gratitude Two: I am grateful for bonus sounds.
I hit the shower, put on my face, and do a little imagination work for a self-taped audition I have today. Hubby is my reader, and if I can get him to stop using silly voices for the other parts, it’s a pretty decent part. The laughter makes it fun and gets me relaxed and out of my head – and I’m playing a villain (which is totally unusual) so the irony is appreciated. Gratitude Three: I have the best reader for self-tapes in the business. Once the audition’s in the can, I switch hats to my consulting work. I do some event planning for local nonprofits, and one has a really big community event coming up on MLK Day. The company is LA Works, and they do great volunteer work across LA County. (If you ever want to do a little giving back, they have a calendar where you can pick a date, click on it and see every volunteer opportunity in the county.) My role this year is training the project leaders and being on site for the day to make sure it all runs smoothly. This is always part of my job with them, but I usually have a lot more of the details on my plate so this is a low-key event in comparison. I put together descriptions for each project, explaining where on campus they’ll be, what exactly they and their team of volunteers will be doing, and give some basic leadership guidelines. It’s fun knowing this is a giant community event, that we have no idea who our leadership team will be or their level of experience, but that everyone leaves the day feeling like they’ve contributed something meaningful to the neighborhood. Besides, being of service really makes me feel good too. Gratitude Four: I love doing work that makes me feel as good as those I help. I’ll share some pics of the event when it happens – around Day 14.
Since I’ve been sitting at the computer for a few hours, I decide to take a quick break, move a bit, and have a shake. Today I’m going full on suicide smoothie – whatever I have left is going in! That means some strawberries and blueberries that are left from New Years, a carrot, a little avocado, a frozen banana, flax seeds and chia seeds, dried cranberries, some cold coffee, some cashew milk, and a little vanilla hemp protein powder from a company called Vega.
Confession: I bought it because I’m a huge Carl Sagan fan and I loved the name. But I’ve used it in smoothies now for a few years because it isn’t cloyingly sweet and they have several flavors. Confession #2: this is NOT the most appealing looking smoothie I’ve ever made. It kinda looks like brownish sludge with orange chunks in it. But it tastes good! And it makes my healthy meal for day two. Gratitude Five: I am grateful for leftovers I can mush together into a smoothie instead of throwing in the garbage.
The rest of the day is fairly nondescript. Dinner with the fam, watching a few shows on my SAG screeners so I can make an informed vote next week, and a quick mindfulness meditation with the hubs before sleep. All-in-all a good day, and a successful Day Two.
Until tomorrow…
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