This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 11:04 am and is filed under A Day in the Life of Joelle, Blogroll, Inspiration, Integrity Experiment, Uncategorized, make your life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Hello!
I’ll tell you, my integrity experiment has provided some interesting insights so far.
This weekend I discovered that to be my "best self" I need to sleep more, take time to do nothing, plan for alone time and probably get a second TV.
With my husband on a sailing adventure, swimming with wild dolphins in the Bahamas, it has been a perfect time for me to get in touch with what will best serve my experience of life.
Left to myself with all the time in the world, I flowed through my days satisfying the needs that presented themselves; from working out, eating and sleeping to movie-watching and shopping.
Thursday evening marked the first hours of total “Joelle Time”. I was called to 6:30 core training at the gym and then hit the mall until they kicked me out. Uninspired by the prospect of cooking, it was off to the patio at Chipotle for a delicious black bean salad and a twilight phone-chat with Jeff as he excitedly shared the events of the first day of his trip. Perfection.
After a couple of full days that included work, a wedding and a rocking "Bucket List" facilitation, Sunday was my next totally free day. I started with an invigorating morning run and then retired to the couch, giddy with the prospect of total television domination! There would be no “Meet the Press” this Sunday, oh no! It was going to be all chick flicks all the time!
I grabbed some Teavanna “spice of life” tea with frothed almond milk, put on my sweats, hunkered down with a pillow, blanket, and a cat in my lap and went on to watch no less than 3 movies!
As the hours passed one pure thought kept rising to the surface. I was repeatedly struck by how completely and blissfully happy I was curled up on the couch, with no commitments, being entertained without a thought of productivity in my head.
By 6:00, replete with my movie marathon, I was moved to tidy up and make dinner (free range turkey burgers and a fresh vegetable salad made up of produce from our organic CSA.)
At 9:00 I went out to the deck to meditate, candles lit, aromatherapy on hand, another cat in my lap, wind in the trees and a red sky in the west.
As I sat there in the flickering light I felt more connected, more happy and more grateful than I had felt in a very long time.
I realized anew that the path to enlightenment or inner peace or whatever you want to call it is not necessarily found through activity, intense thought or spiritual reading.
This weekend illuminated for me that, much like Maslow’s Hierarchy, I need freedom of time, space to explore, and mental and physical rest to be able to fully get present, connect and engage.
As you take on your Integrity Experiment, give yourself permission and space to get in touch with what will feed and nourish you, what will make you happy and what needs are begging to be met.
With love,
Joelle
