FINDING OURSELVES AGAIN

I'm really noticing how little attention I have been paying to myself in the past week since leaving Guernsey. It's been non-stop traveling, unpacking, recovering from feeling rotten, socialising, cleaning, organising, decorating and not a lot of breathing.

I think that far too often we get caught up in our daily tasks, hopping from one thing to the next, and we don't give ourselves enough time to just stop. And breathe. And figure out where we are, and how we're feeling.

Although a weekly yoga class is usually my opportunity to stop and reflect and be in the moment without thinking about the next thing I have to do, I've been too busy or too poorly to get my yoga mat out and have an hour to myself just yet. But now I'm thinking, why do I need to get my yoga mat out in my bedroom, or attend a yoga class, to stop and refocus and re-energise? Can't I just do that now, sat right here at my desk?

Well actually, yes I can. Except I'm blogging about it, rather than actually doing it (oops). Who else is guilty of procrastinating to put off the things we must do but can't face up to doing just yet? I think we all are.

And the strange thing is, taking time to sit and just be, just breathe, and think, and find your lost-in-the-next-thing-you-have-to-do self is actually a beautiful thing. It will bring us peace and clarity, so why can we not find the time? Or, rather, why are pretending that we don't have the time?

It's SUPER important - I can't stress just HOW important - to find ourselves again, to forget all that's just happened and all that lies ahead, and to just sit presently and consciously and calmly, and figure out where we're at... where we're at mentally, emotionally, physically, perhaps even spiritually. How are you feeling? How are you really feeling? What are you feeling? Why are you feeling?

As a society, as a species perhaps, we're pretty rubbish at listening to our bodies and our minds and taking time for ourselves to focus on our wellbeing and do it in a way where we don't feel guilty.
But if we can't do this, well that's when we crumble.

Sometimes all we need is to give ourselves a good talking-to and pay attention to our own existence, to feel stronger, be more alert, more organised, more motivated, more awake. To just take a minute - or as long as it takes - to ground ourselves, to refresh, to prepare to carry on carrying on.

To realise that things aren't as bad as they seem, that we're braver and kinder than we give ourselves credit for, and that we have the strength to get through this moment, and the next, and the next.

Do whatever it is you need to do to find yourself again. Do it often. Do it guilt-free. Do it with the intention to better yourself and forgive yourself and believe in yourself, and get up again, feeling energised and more you than you've ever felt before.