365 Day Challenge-Day 31 Awareness of the Body
In sitting meditation, the first thing is to be aware that you are in a sitting position. Then, you can sit in a way that brings you calm, solidity, and well-being. We can notice the position of our body in each moment, whether we are sitting, walking, standing, or lying down. We can be aware of our actions, whether we are getting up, bending down, or putting on a jacket. Awareness brings us back to ourselves, and when we are fully mindful of our body, and living in the here and now, we are in our true home. Your True Home, Thich Nhat Hanh
Sometimes all of this awareness, mindfulness, and consciousness is exhausting for me. I know that it is good for me like vitamins or daily exercise, but there are days when I just want to binge on Netflix and popcorn accompanied with a good glass of red wine. Am I a bad person? Am I lazy? Honestly, I don’t think so. I do think that I can tend to overthink, just about anything, and I can tend to want to do all of these ‘good for me’ activities perfectly.
Okay, I just had my breakthrough moment, ready for it…Perfectionism is exhausting. Yes! Oh my goodness, it is funny because you figure things out then you forget then you have to remind yourself-or at least I have to do that. Yes, I forgot how exhausting and frankly, joy-sucking perfectionism is. In my experience, perfectionism does not allow of spontaneity and can completely suffocate the learning and growth we get from FAILURE.
I have been watching my fair share of Netflix this summer. One of my favorites right now is My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman . In the episode with Tina Fey, she discusses her background in improvisational comedy and the freefall of failure. She describes the moment when you realize you are tanking, you are failing, then you land and you are still alive. It did not kill you to fail.
There are so many great moments in this conversation between Dave and Tina; I just want to share one more. They reflect on success and failure and the power of failure to make a much more significant impact on your psyche, your memory, etc.
Here is my second breakthrough moment of the day: Success is easy, failure is harder. (At this moment, you may be thinking, Kristan, this is a breakthrough moment? Really?!) And failure provides that fertile ground on which to enjoy your next success. I am going to be encouraging myself to fail this week, a lot. Who wants to join me?
Share your thoughts, ask me questions, order Spaghetti on the Wall, hire me for coaching, AND have a terrific week.
In gratitude,
Kristan