During these days if we have anything in excess, it is time. Time to do things we always wanted to do, something that we can tick off from our ‘list’, learn a new language, study online, draw something, do more exercise, yoga, learn how to meditate, connect with family and friends, sleep an extra hour (if you are like me, who sleeps 6 hours daily), eat home-cooked food, bake if you like, read, catch up on movies etc etc… These are just some ideas but I am sure we can come up with more and if you need inspiration, simply check Instagram to see what’s trending. Last I saw, people were posing with pillows and yoga mats, very very original.
My journey is already at a pause, taking break from a working career to learn and progress in my passion for Yoga and Ayurveda, to live a healthy lifestyle and share with others holding a common interest and in need of some inspiration. While we all get the same hours in a day, how we utilise is up to us and mostly our surroundings. Some are busy managing home and kids all day, they have limited or no time for themselves and then there are people working from home, totally understandable and big 👍 for staying strong and positive in these times!
Those who know me, know well how structured I am, everything has a time, to do morning yoga and meditation, breathing exercises, breaky, reading, being online, studying, spend at least one hour in the day to an exercise or do a yoga session that’s experimental and so on. In all of this, I try to cook meals at home, experimenting on healthy foods, like adding pomegranate to quinoa ‘biryani’, ghee to morning oats or turmeric to home-made popcorn (made original style). My breakfast and lunch is always a quicky with under 5 ingredients, preparation starts at noon and ready to eat within half an hour. Every day I have a list of 5 key things I want to achieve from today, something that is new or ongoing and will contribute to my journey, like this story to add to my blog. Having said that, not every day is the same, some days I land up doing very little, not because I am tired or lazy, but those days are filled with blessings, as I chat with family and friends, near and far, for hours. It’s like we have so much to catch up on and so much to share. Some days, we even watch a movie or latest series together (Four Shots Please!) matching our time zones while typing our comments in the what’s app group… Crazy girls!
As I write my journal and reflect on the days, I often wonder if I could have achieved more or was it a ‘content or happy’ day to achieve what I wanted to? One thing I would like to highlight is that, I am on a break so this is the time I have to work on my personal front as well. While I miss meeting friends and family around or physically going to a yoga studio for a variety of classes, I do feel this is the time that has to be well-utilised for several personal reasons. In all of this, I wonder if too much is too less or too little is too much? What does this mean? When we have no time, all we think is if I had time I would do this and that, now that we have time, we want to do everything, reach everywhere virtually and personally, but are we really able to do this? When we want to do everything, do we do anything at all? I am sure some of us are making the most of this time and learning new skills, painting at home, doing more and more, while for some it is a question of where to start from or would rather prefer to rest it out. Possibly, we need to prioritise of what is more important to us, visualise what we want to look back in few months and reflect on, where do we see ourselves moving forward and what can we add to our knowledge and skills to work better? For me, it is the time to bridge the gap. I must admit, am loving how the yoga world has come together in giving free classes online, as far as the Sivananda Vedanta Centre in Tyrol, Austria. Over Easter, we had 3-day sessions with around 850 participants daily from all over the world. Locally, it is a great way to connect with like-minded people to exchange new ideas and best practices. I spend some part of the day looking at Instagram posts and visualise how I would like see my brand -HappyFeetYogi develop, what is the purpose, my WHY. Even the fitness world has come together, personal trainers are posting videos of their workout and suggest WOD (workout of the day) along with tips or schedule group workouts, the running community now run long distance in their homes, from kitchen to the garden, as they cross the living room with folks sitting around and maybe someone recording their efforts too. In all of this, we are grateful to have our health and happiness, food and home to live in.
On the flip side, this is also the time to see what doesn’t work for us, to consider what we can remove from our lives and daily schedule or even food wise, see if the outcome is any different? For example, since there is no social life, there are no dinners, this is a good time to consider intermittent fasting and balance the mind, lifestyle and of course weight. I have noticed when I don’t eat dinners, I sleep better and wake up fresh too. This has always worked for me, am sure everyone has a difference concept for their life, maybe for some not having breakfast works, either ways it is about seeing what changes you can make for good. This could also be the time to maybe relook at our social media, our digital life. Do we really need to stay connected to all the pages we have liked in Facebook? How can we be more productive on Instagram, if that is our focus? What are we learning from what we see out there? Is it draining us or inspiring us? Can we direct our energies to something more constructive or are we going to take it one day at a time and pass the day with whatever we can achieve?
It’s a long journey ahead, and I hope this time I have helps me cross the bridge and achieve what I aim to aspire in life, with one step at a time, one day at a time and one dream at a time. It is also about knowing whether in these daily routines I am getting too much done or too little.
