Mindfulness

[Beany Boo]

I feel compelled to post everyday at the moment because I feel a bit like I’m in open waters.

Got some sleep but woke early; but also took steps so I could relax enough to fall back asleep for awhile.

Got my house cleaning under control. Thanks to familiarity and Pilates it seems to get easier every time.

Spoke to my mum and sister about the pressure I’m under. It was a surprisingly chill conversation. My sister has experience and was really helpful.

I spent a little time YouTubing ‘performance under pressure’. Found a good one which made a distinction between stress and pressure. It said that the outcome you want with stress is reduction. The outcome you want with pressure is success. When cortisol floods your system though your IQ can drop 20 points. So you have got to redefine your success outcomes accordingly. In this context ‘success’ is an hour to hour proposition; lots of little successes under pressure.

My sister confirmed that theory.

I started a ‘little successes’ journal so I could record them during the day and remember them when I got home.

The cleaning kept the stress down during today. And yesterday’s insight into not fleeing in shame from awkward emotions got installed quite quickly; although realistically it will probably take many tries before it sticks.

This is the first success plan;

1. Get a good nights sleep

[manuel_moe_g]

That is a very interesting distinction the YouTube video made. Care to share the video link?

Let us know about the “little successes” journal. What I ended up doing is putting up a white board and calling it my “Ta-Dah!” List. I put the biggest thing I accomplished that day and add it to board, to try to force myself into celebrating myself. The old habit I had was when I have an accomplishment I just think “well, I was supposed to get that done, I still am in the hole on the grand ledger of life” and I put myself down. The white board is a place to force myself to see I am a successful person. Some of the things I put on the board would only seem like great accomplishments if you knew me personally; I know what things are really hard for me. I use different color pens, and I won’t erase until I fill up that darn board.

Take care Beany, you are a rock and roll star!

[Beany Boo]

Hi MM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0HSVZwbQpA

[Mental Fairy]

Ta Dah list. That is priceless.

I need a whiteboard! What a fabulous idea.

[Beany Boo]

I stopped doing my ta-dah! list. You reminded me.

I wrote down my little successes today. They didn’t feel like much but I knew they were huge.

[manuel_moe_g]

I wrote down my little successes today. They didn’t feel like much but I knew they were huge.

Fantastic! Yeah, my natural habit is to diminish my successes. But when there was an emotional block to doing something, it really is a triumph to overcome and complete a task.

[Beany Boo]

Thank you MM

[Beany Boo]

The little successes were definite toeholds.

I am doing slightly better today.

I took some action to change my circumstances.

I also felt like I was back to normal today, a little.

Still feeling significant pressure but also like I might be able to leverage it somehow. How? No idea.

[Mental Fairy]

You can only do so much. Do what you can and listen to the body

[Beany Boo]

Thanks MF