What You Need To Know About A Positive Mindset When All Things Are New
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Getting to Paris and Resetting
Have you ever experienced rushing to get somewhere, only to feel like you are not fully there?
I notice this phenomenon the most when I am in a hurry to get to a class, be it college or a yoga class. It is as though my life force needs time to get there too. My complete energetic body has yet to arrive.
Travel Abroad
Traveling to Paris has accentuated this experience all the more for me. The way we travel, however, is unlike most people.
Many who travel have an itinerary, a schedule, or a general idea of the must-see sights they want to visit. Time at a place or location is short: 3 days, 5 days, 10 days, even 21 days. I think the name tourist is valid and true. Most people visit far away places to take a tour, to get an overview of their destination.
This is not exactly the case for us. Our intention for our Paris trip is to chill and absorb. We arrived last week on Monday, and plan to stay for 13 weeks. Decidedly, it is like a make-shift “semester abroad education” for DIY adults who want to explore.
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Experiencing Paris for 13 Weeks
And so, our pace has been different here. It is our 2nd week in Paris and I am barely catching up to this time zone. As we are from the States, and our business is still in the States, we are constantly wondering what time it is back home. 😂
Today is day 10 and I feel like I am alas emerging... almost caught up and ready to truly our new life on this new planet we call Paris, France.
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Newness Requires Recalibration
Everything is different and the line between delightful and utterly inconvenient is fine. Accordingly, I remember to keep the open and positive mindset my living requires.
DIET, EXERCISE AND REST: THE TRIFECTA OF SELF-MASTERY
Everywhere you look, the prescription for optimal health and well-being is the following trifecta: eat right, exercise regularly and get plenty of rest.
There has never been an article I’ve ever read that promotes the other extreme of all three: to eat crazy amounts of anything, to exercise till you drop (or not exercise at all), or to oversleep (or get minimal sleep).
Moderation is Key
The trifecta of moderate diet, regular exercise and adequate rest is an age old prescription for optimal health. These three practices provide a foundation on which to live life in homeostasis, so we can have the best experience possible of this one precious life.
Not only does proper diet, exercise and rest literally support our physical heath, metaphorically, this trifecta also provides an engenius pattern to self mastery and a positive mindset.
It is no different in America or France. For me, exploration and new experiences offers a reset to ordinary life, changing my experience of life from mundane to interesting.
The Privilege of Travel
That is what travel offers me: opportunities to experience different cultures and lifestyles. Travel expands my horizons, helps me (pushes me to) grow and most importantly, reminds me that in every moment, however life unfolds, I get to choose my experiences.
Finding myself in the unfamiliar, the unknown and limited in knowledge of language or culture is a great breeding ground for deep appreciation...or frustration!
Response is Everything
As I know that I made the conscious decision to go on this travel quest, I decided to reply with “how fascinating!!” to everything and anything that I may be frustrated with, that I might find strange or even taboo. After all, anything new to me is not new at all, but that I am simply conscious I am seeing things from my limited perspective.
I find myself saying “how fascinating!” to many things these days! ☺️. They are all truly interesting, and all conspiring to open my noggin and broaden my horizons.
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A Positive Mind Set, Nirvana Itself
There is a psycho-somatic relationship between mind and body. Whatever it is we think in mind manifests itself in our body. The concepts of diet, exercise and rest can thus be adapted and applied to master our emotional, mental and spiritual health.
Doing so allows us to maximize efficiency, functioning and productivity in what-so-ever we engage, be it in a project, relationship, or other endeavor.
The sweet spot where diet, exercise and rest meet is Nirvana itself. Some may never reach this sweet spot - the perfect balance of the trifecta. Others may never know it, and for the rest us who are awakened and not quite there yet...well, we are none-the-wiser, aiming for that spot or bust.
Self-Mastery Practice #1 :: DIET
What are you feeding your body? What are you feeding your mind?
In the same way, we must look at what we are feeding our Mind. Is it a well balanced diet of positivity, affirmation, right thought and action? Are we getting enough nutrition for our mind to sustain positivity and productivity as we curtail our appetite for what might feel like junk food for our mind?
Sustainable diets, in the other hand, are lifestyle choices. To lose sight in the long term and improve overall health, a diet must be sustainable.
Whichever diet we choose, then, must support our digestive health so that we are not on any sort of crash diet, but in a long term lifestyle of choice.
LIFESTYLE CHOICE or CRASH DIET? Are Your Physical and Mental Diets Sustainable?
For most people, diets equals crazy crash eating regimens. Crash diets are short term commitments, resulting in quick visual slimming of the physical body.
Diets promise that if you take action to change your behavior for X number of days, you will get a certain result. For example, if you go on a watermelon diet for 2 weeks, you will lose 10 pounds.
Ultimately, the allure of these diets is to look good, to fit in that outfit, and, because we look good, we feel good.
A problem with feeling good as a result of looking good is that our experience of life comes from a source outside ourselves. When we live life strictly from the outside in, we are depending on what is outside of us to dictate our inner world.
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What Sources You?
Do you know who or what your source is? We may become dependent and addicted to this outside source as we allow circumstances and situations outside of ourselves to influence who we are.
When this source becomes absent or runs out, we think that we are at the end of our rope. Essentially, we have given our power away, and are not even aware of the injustice we have committed.
What we need to do is to shift our awareness and be present to an intuitive dynamic. We must remember that life, like breath, has an inhale and an exhale. It is an exchange!
Taking a Moment
When we feel good as a result of looking good, we may stop to acknowledge the soul that has taken the steps to be strong and do the work necessary to “get there.” All it takes us to be present to what’s just underneath the surface is an awareness of recognition. Stopping to acknowledge our own power, will and perseverance will empower us and enable us to better appreciate our own power. We become our own witness to the miracle of the present moment.
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Popular Trends and Questions for Dieting
Fads and trending diets promoted in the market today such as high fat or low carb diets offer improved physical appearance and a quick fix. Perhaps you have tried one, or currently on a diet of some sort right now?
Some Questions to Stimulate Awareness
What does your current physical diet comprise of? Are you receiving an adequate supply of nutrition for the needs of your body? Do you have a condition that requires special dietary needs? Might you have a food sensivity today which you are not aware? Are you eating a balanced diet that is right for you?
For a deeper conversation, ask yourself whether you see food as fuel for your body? If so, are you feeding your body unprocessed whole foods? Or are you a fast food junkie that, when hungry, will eat up a whole bag of potato chips?
The purpose of these questions are to (1) insight awareness of the physical needs of your body in terms of diet and (2) foster self-inquiry to your personal eating habits. This is but a process of discerning what is right for you.
The awareness of our physical nutritional needs and associated practices can be applied to the dietary needs of our emotions. Just as our body needs energy to power our movements, so too does our emotional well-being require an adequate diet.
What You Consume, You Become
The old adage: you are what you eat applies.
Junk food may feed a momentary need, but in the long run has no nutritional value. Junk food does not truly feed you but satiate a craving.
Trash in, Trash Out
Remember this rule of thumb: what you put into your consciousness will result in how you think and what you think about.
If you are around negativity, you will be exposed to it and what gets expelled from you is the same. Be it television programming, what you intake during your time online, or the people you choose to surround yourself, you will simply regurgitate what you are fed.
Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Mental Diet
Are you feeding yourself what you need? Do you tend to get on trendy diets (doing what gives you bliss in the short term) but that in the long term, are simply unsustainable? Might you feel like you’ve failed if you are unable to stay on the chosen emotional diet that was sure to be the thing for you? Does your emotional diet feel like roller coaster ride, as does your physical diet?
These questions, although rhetorical, can help shed some light and bring reflection to your habits: what you are feeding your mind on a daily basis.
Our emotional diet comprises of the energy we take in. This energy, positive or negative can fuel our emotional body as food does for our physical body.
Each person‘s emotional diet is tailor-made to suit the needs of its host. Are you giving your mental facilities what it needs to run optimally? Are you metaphorically burning more emotional calories than you can consume? Do you need to go on an emotional diet?
Presence of mind in evaluating your mental diet can bring awareness as to what you are feeding your mind.
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Self-Mastery Practice #2 :: EXERCISE
The US Department of Health and Human Services recommends 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week, or a combination.
Exercise does wonders for health! It improves our circulatory system, enabling blood to flow fluidly within the various systems of our body. It also increases lung capacity and oxygen intake.
Exercise utilizes the food we take in as energy to fuel our day. Practice and application of concepts we learn are similar to the exercise we undergo in our bodies.
Like exercise, practice puts what we know to use. It is easy to forgo and neglect exercise and practice. If we allow ourselves to forgo this vital step, we would be doing a great disservice for ourselves: we do not improve, gain or get better. When we do not integrate, we would become stagnant, and even regress.
We might ask ourselves: how we might we exercise our Minds? How do we put into practice what we intellectually know?
Application is Everything
To exercise our mind is to practice what we have learned. We must apply the knowledge. Even those of us who are born within inherent raw talent, be it physical or intellectual talent, require practice to hone your skills. (Think of the athlete or the surgeon!)
When we learn about a new concept, perspective or principle, we must be willing to practice this new way of thinking so that we can integrate it into our way of life. The concepts, perspectives or principles need to be useful to us in the way that nutrition is useful for our bodies.
This emotional and mental way of taking in energy through new ways of being fuel us like food fuels the body.
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Practice and Application
Practice and application of new concepts, perspectives and principles allow us to process and integrate what works for us in life. We are always free to take what works, and leave the rest.
Do we practice what we learn so that what we have learned will be integrated into our daily routine? How many times have we learned a new concept that, when not practiced, goes by the way side? We may say we know a concept, but until we demonstrate it through our living, we still do not have mastery of it.
What exercises do you practice daily to integrate fuel of body and of your Mind? In what ways are you practicing the concepts and principles you are taking in? In what ways are you integrate my them into your life?
Self-Mastery Practice #3 :: Rest
Proper rest includes actual sleep, self care and relaxation.
When we sleep, we allow some of the systems of our body to slow down, and even shut off so that the body itself can regenerate.
Sleep improves memory, impacts longevity, strengths your immune system, spawns creativity, sharpens attention and lowers stress. Benefits of sleep includes reduction of obesity, heart disease and infections.
How much sleep do we need a night? Many of us think we can get by with 6 hours of sleep. However, experts recommend adults get a full 7-9 hours of sleep for optimum results.
In a similar light, are you providing adequate rest for your mind? Or, do you find yourself constantly “on” to a point of burn out?
How much time do you give yourself to truly rest your Mind so that your system has time to regenerate?
In what ways do you rest and relax? Are you a spa person? Do you require periodic massages, facials or otherwise self indulgent excursions? Do you require silent meditation? Or a periodic dance party? Only you know what you need in order to totally rest.
Explore what proper rest means to you, and give it generously to yourself!
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Closing Words
A proper balance of nutrition, calisthenics and relaxation improves both physical and mental health.
Feeding our minds through a diet of new concepts and perspectives may give us energy. Yup. Seems I am getting plenty of new concepts here in my new space! 😅
Applying practice to our mental state of being is likened to the exercise we give our bodies. Living each day in this new space requires that I practice and apply every resource I know (🙋🏻♀️).
Along with proper rest, we can integrate a positive mental diet with mindful presence for sustainable health and overall well-being. Yes. I am breathing deeply and finding stillness in every day indeed. (Thank you God, I know it’s good!). 🧘🏻♀️
Please Raise Awareness and Share The Love ❤️
What do you think, Loves?
Is your emotional diet sustainable? On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself on your physical AND emotional diet, rest and exercise. Are you where you want to be?
If you are not satisfied with your self-score, what will you do to improve your score?
What kinds of things do you do to stretch and grow?
What are your tips for a positive mindset?
How do you find balance?
