CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL, RELEASE THAT WHICH YOU CAN’T. This has been an important mantra for me which has helped me through many challenging or frustrating times throughout my life. Usually, my suffering during those times comes from wanting a situation to be different and also not controlling the things I do have control over. During this interesting time in the world where there is a lot of uncertainty, I have found it even more important to control what I can and let go of everything else.
My days look very different than they normally do since I cannot do in-person training like I love to do. My days can be broken down into three facets, most of which I have found an educational bucket to place them into.
1. Movement
2. Emotions
3. Mind
I believe movement is the best form of medicine that we have, and if we can be in balance with our moving than we can prevent a lot of things we typically use traditional medicine for. If this is something I believe then my actions should back up this belief. Daily, I spend time on strength and power throughout the day. All I have at home is a pair of kettlebells in which I will sporadically do squats, swings, Turkish getups, overhead pressing as well as some bodyweight movements. I don’t think about a workout more so a daily movement practice. Also throughout the day, I will do some martial arts using Kali sticks as well as shadow box and kickbox. My mobility is sprinkled in from the time I wake up until the time I go to sleep which includes inversion or going upside down on my inversion table. One of my favorite things that I have been able to do during this time is hiking on the mountain and club swinging out in nature. This is the most meditative movement I can think of, sprinkled in with a little bit of tai chi. None of these are random, they are all purposefully selected to help bring and keep me in balance.
Along with hiking and club swinging, I do many other things in the day to train my emotions or to make sure I am driving the ship and not my anxiety or anger or grief or whatever emotion tries to get involved to protect me. I have been meditating a few times per day simply as a baseline of how I am doing at the moment and as a reminder to tell myself that I am alright. I have meditation music and Rife Frequencies playing all around me throughout the day unless I am in nature then I let the loud silence of the forest fill me. We, humans, are social beings no matter if you are “introverted” or “extroverted”, I make sure to have some socializing through text, phone calls or facetime every day. This is a huge part of keeping our mental healthy. I have also been writing and encouraging others to journal if they don’t already have a practice of getting what’s in their head out on paper as a way of purging and clearing the mind.
Each day I continue to feed my mind. I read a few different books throughout the day, one of which has been extremely powerful for me at the moment. It is called The Seat of the Soul I highly recommend it. I have also been reading old manuals from workshops I have attended throughout the years, and notes I have taken over time. Listening to interviews and people tell stories is a way I like to self reflect and grow and learn more about myself and the other person so I have been watching a lot of interviews. One that opened my mind was an interview with Kendrick Lamar and Rick Rubin. Listening to people at the top of their craft talk about life, their creative process and inspirations is a great tool to help you grow as a human and to realize we are all the same. Also, I have been able to catch up with students individually, online programming for some and trying to figure out ways to still feel connected.
All of these are pretty consistent in my week even before the crisis hit as I always know the only thing certain in life is change and all of these habits help me cope with change. If I neglect this self-care then my anxiety takes over which leads to me being frustrated, lethargic and angry, a place I do not like to be.
One thing that doesn’t fit into a bucket but I have been doing consistently throughout is fasting. I am only eating two meals per day in which I am making sure there are greens, fats, and proteins each time I eat, my carbs are generally coming in the form of vegetables or rice depending on how active I was throughout the day. I am also having a lot of waffles and have absolutely no shame about it because I LOVE WAFFLES. I have also shamelessly been getting a lot of couch time. Watched some crazy Tiger King show on Netflix and wtf?
What have you been doing to control what you can and letting go of that which you cannot?
Where you can find more information:
Binaural Beats
https://www.healthline.com/health/binaural-beats
Indian Clubs
Meditation