The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but rising every time we fall. ~ Nelson Mandela
Okay. Now for the fun part: exercise. Not the physical kind, but the far more challenging mental kind. Here, I want to help you, over the next few postings, learn to recognize where you are in your personal ego-Rhythm, and where you hope to be. These exercises can point the way.
Exercise One: What’s going on in your life?
The purpose of this exercise is to assist you to embrace the idea that many stressful events and routines are only temporary. This exercise will make you realize that stuff happens to the best of us, but that we’ve always managed to move ahead. The thing is, we’re often unaware of how far we’ve gone, or what we’ve put behind us. TThis exercise will help you to examine what is temporary and what is permanent as well as what you can do to alleviate some of the stress you might be feeling when you’re in the thick of something that feels difficult.
How to do this exercise:
Read the two questions below. Take a sheet of paper, or use your journal, and begin to keep a daily log for the next couple of days. After at least two days of logging, list your daily events and routines in a column on the left. In the right column, note if the particular situation is temporary or permanent.
Ready?
Question #1: What events in your life are experiencing that stress you right now? Are these permanent?
Question #2: What are your daily routines? How much are you trying to fit into the course of a day?
Chores are a part of life, so it is often best to not think about them too much. As you review your daily chores, see if more careful planning might relieve some of the stress you have when you face them. Let’s take cooking, for example – are you able to plan ahead and make a big bath of something to freeze so you’re not worried about what to serve each night? In other areas, think of keywords such as delegating, streamlining, consolidating and efficiency.
Example:
Events & Daily Routines | Temporary/Permanent |
Child teething | Temporary |
Terrible twos | Temporary |
Give baby a bath | Temporary |
Drive the kids to school | Temporary |
Cook meals | Permanent (can cook double meal On weekends) |
Laundry | Permanent (break it up, whites on Saturday, colors on Sunday) |
Being unemployed | Temporary |
Finding a job | Temporary |
Bad experience with a client at work | Temporary |
Break-up | Temporary |
Being alone | Temporary |
Are there other areas of your life that aren’t covered on this sample table? Add them.
Let me know how you’re doing with this – and feel free to ask me any questions! I want to help guide you through this process – and I’m deeply interested in your journey.