Meeting Your Very Best Friend Forever in 2015
Holidays can bring emotional turmoil from loneliness to painful memories to the sense that time is running out as another year winds down. It is a moment for gathering with your very best friends and family to share some mutual support and tender, caring words, and deeds. But if you have no best friends or family nearby, why not try to be your own very best friend? Someone who is always there and maybe knows you better than anyone else.
What would it take to become your very best friend?
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Step 1:
Imagine that you are really needing a good hug when your BFF shows up. It is a dash for a huge hug…a very real hug…long and with feeling…one that can even bring a tear to your eye. Now Do It!! Reach all the way around as far as your arms will go. Close your eyes. Be the recipient of that hug. Pat your back and stroke your shoulders. Hold on until you are smiling and slowly release yourself.
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Step 2:
Imagine that you are upset about the way things are going and on a typical harangue about how you could/should have done things differently, when your best friend arrives. What does your very best friend say to you about your situation? I bet it doesn’t sound anything like what you were saying to yourself! Imagine that you are your best friend and choose your words as a good friend would. Many years ago my older daughter stopped me in my tracks, “Mom, listen to how you talk to yourself.” She didn’t mean the fact that I was actually talking out loud; she was upset with the words I chose. I have never forgotten that valuable lesson, even though I have to repeat it from time-to-time. Talk to yourself like a very loving, caring friend. Tell yourself all the things you did right and what talents you have to help resolve the problem. Don’t waste energy looking for someone to blame…yourself or anyone else. Just switch the energy to taking care of you and reminding you how wonderful you are even when the results don’t seem to work out.
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Step 3:
Imagine your best friend calling you to go somewhere…a new restaurant in town, an art opening, a concert…maybe something you would never think to do on your own. Many years ago, I was working for myself and realized that I worked late every evening, came home from the office, had a bite to eat, and went to bed with a book. It was a treadmill and taking a toll. I made a list of all kinds of things that I had enjoyed doing in the past or had wanted to do…10 minute things, an hour, 3 hours, and some might take a whole day. I cut the list into strips and put them in an envelope; every Sunday evening as I made my plans for the week ahead (mostly business tasks and goals) I pulled 3 strips out of the envelope. I accepted these as things I absolutely had to do and assigned them to their time slot in the week. Sometimes I had to research local facilities or offerings to find the item on the strip, so I got to know my community better. Sometimes it challenged me to do something I was not familiar with and a little nervous to try. I gained so much from that experience and had so much fun. Take yourself out on a date or do something totally new on a regular basis.
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Step 4:
Take yourself out for a treat. For me, breakfast out always seems a bit decadent. I don’t mean a quick 2 scrambled with coffee on the run! Some place special with music or a view. Hide a $20 in your planner and don’t look to see where you hid it. When it shows up, that’s the time to do it. Like a long-lost friend suddenly popping in and wanting to take you out for a special breakfast spur-of-the-moment. Give yourself a big hug on the way out of the door.
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Step 5:
One of the things we do in Organic Stretching has so much power for me to connect with myself in a physical way. It is sensual, but it is not intimate. I teach it in the first class of the two-month series…a basic move that connects everything else. We always stay in contact with our bodies so no part is flying around by itself out away from the body. This means, for example, using one hand to move slowly along the body surface someplace. Try it on the opposite arm. Close your eyes and let one hand slide up the other arm very slowly and with tenderness, in a caring way. Let the hand and the arm roll over and slide the arm along hand. Exhale and pause, feeling the connection you are making with yourself. Absorb the sense of wellbeing this can produce. Taking time for yourself makes such a difference.
Enjoy this time of the year with your New Best Friend whether you are alone or not. Look for ways in the New Year to reconnect and cherish you.
A Gift for Your Body
Meet the Amazing, Beautiful Chaos Below Your Skin
Part of the uniqueness of Organic Stretching®: bodymind movements is the material it is stretching…Connective Tissue. This little considered, all pervasive structure supports body, life, and the ability to move. The status of this system gives us our flexibility and freedom of movement or not, depending on how we have cared for it. It doesn’t ask for a great deal, but movement is at the top of the list.
Without movement Connective Tissue becomes thick and immoveable, stagnant, trapping toxic fluids produced in normal day-to-day life, but intended to be removed by the system. It blocks free movement of joints as the unmoving tissues build up the surrounding area. Even if we eat well, but do not move, we are contributing to the failure of this system to perform properly…reducing our potential to enjoy life fully. Of course, there are more things we can do to enhance its functionality…adequate fluids, adequate rest, reduced stress, and a healthy emotional life all will contribute. But first MOVE!
It does matter how we move as well as whether we move, but more on that in the future.
The video above, Connective Tissue Talk No. 1, is the first in a three-part series that examines the Connective Tissue system–its nature, function, needs, and the benefits it provides. Future segments will look at how what we do in our lives creates the conditions we are living with in our mobility or lack of it, and what we can do about it.
This video is part of a playlist on the Organic Stretching: bodymind movements You Tube channel with two additional videos that provide a view into this system that you never find in the diagrams showing the musculo-skeletal structure. They leave out the support network responsible for holding it together and facilitating movement. It would seem we are full of empty space!
Well, actually, as you will see in Strolling Under the Skin by Dr. Jean-Claude Guimberteau, there is space, but in tiny, chaotic pockets that create a valuable mesh from the top of our heads to the ends of our toes in continuous “trains”…the Anatomy Trains of Dr. Thomas Myers. That system is tied to everything else inside to support it and to move it. The third video in the list is The Fuzz Talk by Dr. Gil Hedley…a look at what happens to that open network when we do not move. It is a graphic film that may get you up and moving faster than anything else will!
Here is to healthy movement! Please share this post with someone you care about who is losing their flexibility and becoming stiff and uncomfortable or in pain. You can help them reverse this process. And if that is you…check out the Programs in the menu for something that fits your needs.
What Flexibility Did Linda Want to Regain to Surprise Her Grandchildren?
When Linda Linder arrived in Puerto Vallara in January, 2014, she had one flexibility goal and a ten-hour workshop to reach it. She is fit and leads a busy life with tennis, walks, time with her grandchildren and a host of other activities. Her close friend and tennis partner Gayle James is a childhood friend and classmate of mine, and together they escaped the cold Ohio winter for an Organic Stretching® Weekend Workshop.
Early in the workshop, I asked everyone what area they wanted to release for greater flexibility. We took measurements and photos to record the starting point. Linda loved to play a game with her young grandchildren, but she couldn’t touch her right shoulder with her right hand, as the game required. Her hand stopped about 4″ above her shoulder and would not go lower. And that was her goal. Six hours or so later (the following day) we checked-in for new measurements and photos. Surprise! See what happened to Linda…
Linda, I would love to know how surprised your grandchildren were when you arrived home. This was Linda’s experience, and there is no guarantee that others will have the same results.
In accordance with the FTC guidelines concerning use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising, please be aware of the following: Testimonials appearing on this site are actually received via text, audio or video submission. They are individual experiences, reflecting real life experiences of those who have used our products and/or services in some way or another. However, they are individual results and results do vary. We do not claim that they are typical results that consumers will generally achieve. The testimonials are not necessarily representative of all of those who will use our products and/or services.
Additionally, these testimonials are not intended to make claims that these products can be used to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate of prevent any disease. These claims have not been clinically proven or evaluated by the FDA.
What would you like to be able to do with your grandchildren, but can’t? Leave a note below the video!
The Bucket List Challenge
Tell me what is on the top of your Bucket List? When do you plan to do it? What keeps you from doing it tomorrow? You don’t have to be retired, you know. I read about a guy 28 who realized that if he didn’t get started, he wouldn’t accomplish much. He began then to do at least one thing each year.
Maybe you don’t even have a list yet! Here is a resource guide from an award winning Bucket List website. Annette, the author has started at a young age, judging by her photo. She’ll need it for her list which is over 600 items now, but she has checked off somewhere around 200 already!!
And if you need some inspiration to create your list, this quote from the author Diane Ackerman might spur you on:
I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well. –Diane Ackerman
Once you have the list, it is time to start living it. Don’t let the usual excuses slow you down: not enough time, not enough money, no one to do it with, I’m not ready…Research? Study? Or how about: My body isn’t ready?
Are there things on your list that look daunting? Maybe even just getting up in the morning is already a challenge, let alone taking on the major travel plans that inhabit most Bucket Lists…remember the movie with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson? Any decent Bucket List needs lots of travel!
It might be a good time to start some conditioning so you’re ready for item No. 1. Maybe a visit to the hillside villages of the Mediterranean Coast or the top of St. Peter’s or an old Viennese castle?
Or even to the top of a mountain! How about Kilimanjaro–my daughter Tamara and her daughter Kira in 2010!
Is taking up a hobby or sport you used to enjoy on the list?
Maybe more time playing with your grandchildren, if you can still get down to join them on the floor?
Make that list, loosen up those joints, and hit the road! Or the course! Or wherever it takes you.
PS: Organic Stretching is the perfect conditioning program to get you ready!! More options coming soon. Subscribe for the latest news.
Leave a note below and share a few of your Bucket List items to encourage and inspire others.
Wellness Defined!
