How to make the most of the shortest month
While playing Uno with the kids after dinner one night, I was complaining about the algae growth in my fish tank to my very proficient saltwater tank friend and guest for the night, Britta. “Oh, snails are great for that!” she said. “They’ll keep it clean for you.” So a few days later my daughter, Kat, and I brought home Jet, the snail.
It’s been fun to play “I spy” every day to see where Jet has moved to, especially since he looks just like most of the rocks in the tank. But, is it wrong to be frustrated at how slowly my new snail is cleaning the tank? I mean, it’s a snail not a Mr. Clean commercial. What did I expect would happen?
As I sit in my meditation spot that overlooks the fish tank, I’m laughing at the irony of my snail expectations. I’m also laughing because my algae fix is the same as my recommendation to you for getting the most out of the shortest month: get more snails.
February is the month of hibernation or as we call it in the Observatory, Nourish To Flourish. This is the time of year to hunker down and embrace restorative dormancy. (And no, I’m not saying you should stop doing cardio for 4 weeks.) I am saying you should seize the season of recuperation by finding a lot of slow and steady algae eaters. By that I mean, find a lot of small and steady self-healing moments. This will help to clear the clutter of stimuli littering your nervous system so you can get the most out of this short month.
Right now, I want you to set an alarm on your phone or in your scheduler do an awareness exercise once a week. Go ahead, set the alarms. I’ll wait…
OK - In that 20, 60 or 120 second moment, simply stop what you’re doing and bring your awareness to a part of your body and breathe. With your eyes closed or open, I want you to really visualize and observe that part of you with curiosity.
If you are the go big or go home type, you can always add another 20 second breathing appointment to your scheduler. But please, ONLY AFTER you’ve done the first. You can even assign the body part in advance so you don’t have to think too much about it when the alarm goes off. Here are some ideas to get you started:
You could pick from the 5 primary organs according to Chinese Medicine: Heart, Kidneys, Liver, Lungs and Spleen.
If you’re a weightlifter you could pick the muscle groups that you focused on the last time you worked out.
If you have a sedentary desk job, you could visualize the ways in which the body has movement and flow: blood pumped by the heart, cerebrospinal fluid nourishing the brain and spinal cord or the electrical currents that flow from sensory systems to the brain and spinal cord and then back out to the connective tissue with the messaging of how to react.
While the real anatomical accuracy doesn’t matter, it can be helpful to google a simple diagram to get your awareness awareness juices flowing. But ultimately, just be curious and observe your imagination. Next week, we’ll discuss how awareness of our actual body ignites unconscious healing processes.
Here to help you activate the healing within,
Aimee
PS – If you check out Britta’s amazing 375 gallons of saltwater tanks, they’re on display at GMS Heating and Cooling in Morton Grove. You can pop in, they don’t mind. She just got a seahorse!