In every hero story, there comes a point where the hero she reaches a mental or emotional roadblock in training. It happened to Rocky when he had the chance to fight Apollo Creed (yo!). It happened to the Ninja Turtles when they hid out on April’s farm before Leonardo was able to psychically connect to Splinter and it happens to the best of us, even me.
When you’re short on patience, time and energy here are three ‘G’s you can use to get back on your feet:
1. Go meditate!
The Turtles were hiding out from Shredder, stuck on a farm with Raphael in a coma. What was leader Leonardo to do? The only thing he really could do, meditate. He was able to tap into the wisdom that their sensei Splinter had taught them and find where Splinter was. While you won’t be able to psychically connect to a talking rat, you will be able to tap into your own inner sensei. It just takes a few tries. I can guarantee that after a five minute break, you’ll feel a bit better.
2. Get moving!
You don’t have to run up the steps of the Philly Art Museum to “Fly Like an Eagle” nor do you have to beat up slabs of meat. What you do need to do is get up, go for a quick walk and go sit somewhere else. By getting up and moving, you’re shifting from a sluggish gear to one that will help you feel like you’re on fire.
3. Go eat!
What did you have for breakfast? Was it my favorite, a cup of coffee followed by an “I’ll eat after this email” promise? How many emails ago was that? You don’t need to swallow raw eggs or binge on pizza but go eat something. Your brain needs vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins and carbs to function. It’s brain food.
Do you already know this? Sure you do! But when you’re fighting off swarms of time sucking bad guys the obvious doesn’t spring to mind so easily. Take this as gentle motivation to do what works for you. If you need help with motivation or finding out what works for you, I can help!
Meet Vanessa
Vanessa blogs over at Mixed Martial Arts and Crafts. She writes about knitting, kung-fu and how she kicked cancer’s butt. She’s @MMAAC on Twitter and NessaMcTastic on Ravelry.
I don’t know about the meditating – I guess that’s one of the things where meds really do work better for me than alternative options. (If I’m overwhelmed, I can’t meditate. At all. And yoga will make me feel better but also totally washed out.) Moving and eating, though? Totally know it, totally forget them all the time! This is an excellent reminder.
It doesn’t have to be a “sit and focus on the sound of one hand clapping” for an hour type of meditating. I think that just closing your eyes, taking a few very deep and slow breaths can give you just a quick time out before responding to stress.
EDIT: By the way, I am not the “yoga” type AT ALL. I love doing tai chi and martial arts forms. I get that mental benefit that yogis rave about. I’m a big advocate for finding out what works for YOU, not what other people say should be working for you.
Actually, if I focused on a sound, that might make it more effective! But closing my eyes and breathing in deep has never worked for me either. Not sure what that’s about. :/
Yes! Sound works too! I have pretty bad tinnitus so I sometimes put on a white noise app to meditate or fall asleep. That keeps my ears from ringing and it gives me a slight focus. Mostly, I start to count backwards from 100 as I breathe in and out. It helps to focus the monkey mind.
Oh Vanessa, I am laughing as I drink my coffee and promise to eat! I love you, ninja, and your tmnt references!!
I aim to please, Karen. Honestly, I had rented both movies through Amazon so I had to justify the expense somehow.