It turns out I like the flurry - tending to stay in motion

Yesterday was a crazy day in my life. I had to complete two vastly different projects. First, I was presenting my "Let's Talk Clouds" workshop at a local middle school.

As the Earth Lady, I work with schools to help students jump-start their interest in science, specifically Earth Science.

Then, I switched gears and released my interactive Tarot reading ebook. As part of the project, I had to finish the programming, create the cover, and upload the entire thing to amazon.

I'm excited about this project because it allows the reader to choose a new card every day from a random selector set. Then, the reader sees the interpretation and a special call to action individual to each card. I've been working on the interpretations for years, but I had never figured out exactly how to create the interactive portion of the book.


And here's how the title of this blog post relates. I didn't try to focus on both projects at once. They are too disparate. As I've gotten older, I've seen the wisdom of limiting multitasking. Although it seems efficient, it isn't. It's a will-o'-the-wisp. It leads you down the primrose path of thinking you are being efficient while all the while your brain is operating at a slower speed and lower level.


Here's what I did do. I completed the workshop with the kids, and I gave it my all. I left it all on the classroom floor, as they say. We had a blast. Their transformation from before the workshop to afterward startled me. They went from post-lunch food coma to shouting about how much fun they'd had in just under 40 minutes. I can't wait to go back.

And after I got home from the workshop, I jumped into the Today's Tarot project. I created the cover. I finished the programming. I uploaded everything to amazon, and I released the entire thing.

It was exciting and energizing. I didn't feel my exhaustion until I was finished. And then I dropped like a stone.

Why did I just write up my entire day for you? Well, it's because I've had a realization. If you work hard, if you commit yourself to excellence on each project, you will succeed. And here's the most important thing. The key to that success lies in maintaining the level of focus and activity on each project while you are working on it. The Law of Inertia comes into play here. "A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion." If we take a lot of time between projects, we will fizzle out on them. If instead, we rev those engines, blast through the projects with full dedication and focus, and only take the foot off the gas for a bit between them, we will fly. And we will fly because we are already in motion. We are already doing and creating so it becomes easier to keep doing and keep creating.

To refocus my brain on a new project requires almost no time if I do it correctly. I've started taking the time to recharge by doing a quick breathing meditation. It is simple, and the best part? It's only a minute long. I've created a small video of the meditation. The next time you need to recharge between projects, go ahead and try it.

And let me know how it works.

A call to action: Let's take back our calm

So many of us all over the world are feeling squeezed in a pressure cooker.  So, I am calling for a moment of breathing all together. Are you willing?

I invite everyone who reads this to join in and share it wide. 

This afternoon at say five pm (EST)? Who will stop what they are doing and do some military breathing* with me? 

If you want take back your calm, comment here. I will post it live here and guide it. 

Share this if you want. Let's take back some of our calm all together. 

I send you peace. 

Here is the link tot he facebook post where I will be guiding the breathwork

https://www.facebook.com/izolda.trakhtenberg/posts/10153313460779895?ref=notif&notif_t=like

*Military breathing is a stress-reduction technique used by first responders and people in the military to remain calm in high stress situations.

Finding Strength In Weakness

My thoughts this morning turn to finding strength in my weakness.

I was working with clients over the weekend. One of them talked about how he felt weak and that he wanted to go back and be strong how he used to be.

I said, "Wait, don't try to go backward to find that strength. Look forward to the strength you will find as you move through this time of weakness. That is where we find our strength, when we feel the most weak and vulnerable. We have to go through each step, good and bad, in order to find ourselves."

Then, I talked to them about my violin. It is an old instrument, from 1872. I have owned it since I was nine years old. It had a beautiful sound. About 20 years ago, I was walking with it down a flight of stone steps. I stumbled. It fell and cracked. My heart broke along with it. I took it to Violin House of Weaver (now Potter's Violins), which is one of the best Violin Houses in the world. 

"We'll take care of it," they promised. "You won't be able to tell the difference."

I had my doubts but I left it with them. In the meantime, to prepare for upcoming gigs a friend was kind enough to lend me his violin while mine was being repaired.

During that time, burglars broke into our house and stole a bunch of stuff. They stole my friend's violin. We tried in vain to find it at local pawn shops, but we never did. Luckily, we had insurance and while we weren't able to retrieve his violin, we were at least able to get him money for it. I still feel badly about that, but there was nothing we could have done to prevent it.

Meanwhile, my violin was still being repaired. In my heart of hearts, I knew it would never sound the way it had. I knew it would forever be broken, but I waited it out until the day came to go pick it up.

"Play it," the man behind the counter encouraged me.

I ran the bow across the strings and it was magic! The instrument sounded better than it had before.

"How did you do that?" I asked as I put my lovely violin away.

"The glue we use now works with the fibers of the wood on a molecular level," he replied. "It fills the cracks perfectly and then vibrates with them the way the wood itself would. Like a broken bone, where it was shattered will now be stronger than before. You lost monetary value when you dropped it, but you haven't lost the instrument."

I thanked him, and I left. 

It was only much later that I realized that if I hadn't dropped the violin, I would indeed have lost it and sooner than I thought. If it hadn't been in the shop when it was, it would have been the violin stolen when the burglars broke in. Instead, I still have it and played it just yesterday.

So now, when things fall apart, I remember my violin and how the moment it broke was the moment it was saved. 

And then, I breathe.

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/nmcphc/Documents/health-promotion-wellness/psychological-emotional-wellbeing/Combat-Tactical-Breathing.pdf 

Productivity Tuesday: Feel Free to Forgive Yourself

Sometimes, despite our best efforts to be productive and to complete projects on time, we get overwhelmed. Too many deadlines loom. Too many to-do items beckon. Too much has to be done right this instant.
I just had this happen yesterday. I returned from a weekend away to a mountain of projects that ballooned into emergencies through no fault of my own. I could not get them done no matter how hard I tried. There was only so much of the ten pounds of poop my five pound bag would hold.

I stressed out. Immediately, my stomach clenched, my jaw ached, and my head pounded. I started the hamster-in-the-wheel race to get everything done, but I eventually admitted defeat. I was not going to be able to complete everything on my plate for yesterday. And then, on top of that realization I also heaped on a huge helping of guilt for not being super woman and somehow eking out a miracle. Talk about a double-whammy!

After a couple of hours of this double-whammy of stress and guilt, I took a break. I sat down in my chair. A cat climbed into my lap, and together, we closed our eyes, breathed deeply, and relaxed. I didn't rest for long, but I needed a breather. I needed to center and relax if only for five minutes. And most of all, I needed to release myself from the prison of guilt for not being able to do the impossible. I put down that burden, opened my eyes, and then proceeded to kick butt on everything else I could do for the day.

I'll be honest, I would not have been able to proceed nearly as well or as productively if I hadn't taken those few minutes to unwind and release my guilt. The guilt would have continued to weigh me down. I would have labored under it for the rest of the day and not gotten nearly as much done.

It has taken me something like 40 years to learn that particular lesson. And it is this: Forgive yourself and recommit to the plan tomorrow.

 

Communication Thursday: Just Exactly How Do You Inhale? (part 2 of proper breathing)

In the previous post, we talked about proper posture when standing or sitting to communicate. To recap: stand with your feet hip-width apart (draw an imaginary line from your second toes, through the center of your ankles, the center of your knees and then up to the hip points [the parts that just out to the front]). Stack your spine so that it maintains its natural curvature back to front but is stacked straight up and down from side to side.

To breathe and stand properly, imagine that your belly is a submarine. Now imagine the hollow tube of the periscope going up the spine and through the lungs and up into the mouth. Your mouth then becomes the viewfinder. If a periscope isn't straight and curved where it is supposed to be straight and curved, it won't work. In the same vein, if your spine isn't straight, then the breath won't work, or at least it won't work efficiently.

Now, practice inhaling. Let the breath come into your belly. In other words, allow the belly to expand as you inhale. Imagine a balloon where your organs would be. If you filled that balloon with air (like taking a breath), it would expand. And your trunk needs to do the same thing when you inhale. So, when you inhale, let the lungs expand, and then your diaphragm (the muscle below your lungs) will flatten out and down and will by necessity move the organs below it out of the way to make room. That's why your belly expands on a proper inhale.

The other part of this? Your shoulders have to stay relaxed. If they rise up on the inhalation, you are doing bang-up job of breathing into the top third of your lungs, but you are not getting any air into the lower two-thirds. And in order to breathe fully, the lungs have to be fully or nearly filled. Try another inhale. Did your shoulders rise up? Yes? Well, in that case, we need to bring out the big guns, as they say. 

For this next part, you will want to be somewhere you can comfortably lie down, and you will need a book. If you need to wait until you are at home, go for it. I'll be right here when you come back ...

Okay, now that you are some place where you can lie down, grab the book, and lie down. Lie flat and comfortably. Place the book on your belly and take in a deep breath. Now exhale. Do it again. What happens to the book on your belly when you inhale?

With any luck, you said, "The book rises when I inhale." That is exactly what should happen. The book should rise on an inhalation and it should fall on the exhalation. Take another few breaths and get accustomed to the feeling of the book rising and falling on the inhalations and exhalations. Next, take note of your shoulders. What's happening to them as you breathe while lying down?

What I'm hoping you realize is that they don't move. When you lie down to breathe, your shoulders have no choice but to remain still because they are resting against the floor or the bed, etc. That frees you up to allow the trunk to expand outward properly since the shoulders can't rise. Please remember that when the shoulders rise on inhalation, we are only filling up the top parts of our lungs, and since what we are after is a full breath, we need to remove the shoulders from the equation. The, "Lie down and put a book on your belly," technique is a perfect way to practice that.

Take a few more deep breaths lying down and try to remember what that feels like. Then stand up and try it that way. See if you can maintain that same feeling of keeping the shoulders down and relaxed while the belly expands.* 

Once you have that in your body and are comfortable with it, you will be one giant step closer to breathing fully and deeply. And you will be far more able to breathe properly. The next technique we will discuss will be the exhalation and the supported breath. Now that you know how to inhale properly, next week, we will learn how to exhale and use your supported breath to speak and communicate more effectively.

 *Bear in mind, this sort of deep breathing might make you a little light-headed so be careful as you deepen your breath. If you do get lightheaded, sit down and put your head between your knees until the feeling passes.

Change, sacrifice, and what I eat

Rich informed me last night that Thanksgiving is the official National Day of Overeating and that he plans on doing just that. I have not known this fact. And in fact, I don't plan to overeat. Why? There are a few reasons. First, as I get older, I can't brush off overindulging as easily as I used to. There were days (and some of you who've known me a long time will attest to this) where I overdid to extremes. And slowly, over time, my body has told me that those days are over. I can't eat like crazy anymore. I can't stay up all night (unless it's a *very* special occasion and then I pay for my indulgence later). I can't drink until I see that blurry haze, like a misty rain that covers everything.

I spent time in that world and I can't anymore. Nowadays, my desserts tend to be fruit. My drink of choice is herbal tea or my own homemade ginger ale. My mood-lifters are yoga, swimming, or hiking with Hatha. I've changed, and I am grateful for the awareness that has led me to this place. It's actually pretty instant feedback. If I overeat (especially the wrong things) my body lets me know in no uncertain terms. When I am overly full, I have some trouble taking in a full deep breath. A yoga breath or a prep breath for singing become impossible while the food is working itself through my system. And you know what? I *like* taking those deep, healing, cleansing, relaxing breaths. So, I don't overeat to keep that ability. In the end, I'd rather sing and breathe.

The sugar: I gave up sugar as a sacrifice. It was a deal I made with the universe back in April when Kimba was missing for five days. Some may think it's ludicrous to make these kinds of sacrifices in a prayerful effort to make things better. To me, it's a profound "put my money where my mouth is" opportunity. If I want things to be better, I have to do something to make them better, universally better.

It doesn't matter to me whether or not the things I do are in the exact same topical arena as what I am trying to achieve. If I add to the good in the world, and I'm doing it holistically, then the net "good" in the world is higher and that works for me. Here's my rather circuitous logic about the sugar. I work regularly to help kids learn how to save the Earth through environmental literacy and education. It takes just about every bit of energy out of me to do it (and being hypothyroid, I don't have that much energy to begin with). So, I need to do everything in my power to maintain my energy levels to do the work. Sugar, especially processed sugar, is a drug to me. Once I start eating it, I have an awful time stopping. And it saps my energy. I know it does. I can feel the sugar high/crash cycle every single time I pop some delicious sugared/processed bite of food into my mouth.

The same goes for bread. About 20 minutes after I eat bread, I become soporific. And, I don't just mean a bit tired. I mean I have trouble keeping my eyes open. I sit and I don't move and my brain shuts down. This lasts anywhere from an hour to three hours depending on what else I've eaten. So, if I want to maintain any kind of energy level, I need to stay away from bread. But, get this: I love bread. I don't just like it. I LOVE it. Like potatoes, I could eat it at any time, day or night. Toasted with a good cheese or some butter or better yet with some Nutella is my favorite way to eat it (and now that I've gone vegan, those aren't options anymore, either). And yet, I've given it up. It's not wheat that I have to give up. It's, somehow, bread. Maybe it's the yeast. I don't know. What I do know is that tortilla wraps, especially whole grain ones, don't sap me the way bread does. Other grains: quinoa, brown rice, etc. don't sap me either. It's bread that's the culprit, and bread had to go in order for me to have the energy to do my work.

The same goes for french fries. Notice, I didn't say potatoes. I said french fries. They are probably my biggest bane. I can eat potatoes at every meal and be content. I can eat hash brown for breakfast, fries at lunch and a baked potato at dinner and be perfectly happy. But, while potatoes that aren't fried add to my energy level, fries sap me also. So, I've given them up, too.

All of this stuff was given up in sacrifice so Kimba would come home and so I could do my work. I made the deal with the universe. "I'll keep myself as healthy as possible to keep being able to do the work of helping kids to care about the Earth if you'll help me find my lost kitty." Giving these things up is a hardship, believe me, but it is way more than worth it, even if there is no causality in the "real world." I don't care about rationality here. I care about the outcome. The outcome? We found Kimba. I'm eating better. I have more energy to do the outreach that is so close to my heart, and I feel better and healthier (when I get enough sleep).

There is an additional side benefit to eating the way I am eating. And don't get me wrong. This isn't a small side benefit. It's a big one and it's one I've struggled with since I was nine years old. Those of you, who know me in real life, know that I am shaped rather like a mushroom (as opposed to some who are pear shaped or apple shaped, etc.). I have small hips, and large shoulders and very large breasts. It's taken me many years to come to terms with the way I am shaped and it has provided many challenges: everything from not being able to run easily, to back issues, to having all sorts of trouble finding clothes that fit.

Yesterday, I discovered I now fit into a smaller size shirt. No way am I buckin' that trend. ;) Thing is, I haven't particularly been dieting. I've given up some bad-for-me food (processed sugar, fries, bread) and I've gone vegan, but other than that, I eat what I want, when I want. Interestingly, my body feels more like it's changing shape than that it's getting smaller. Things are moving. Muscles are building in certain areas and fat cells are shrinking in others. I have no idea how much I weigh since I haven't stepped on a scale in forever. But, I can see that my body is changing. And it's in a good way.

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to run more than a third of a mile before things start killing me, but I used to not be able to run more than a block, so I guess that's progress. The back issues? Well, they are easing up as my body changes and as I do more and more yoga. So I've set myself another challenge for the next year. My challenge for the next year? Yoga. Every single day. No matter what. I like these challenges. They help me compete with my self. I'm never going to be one of those non-competitive types who does something just because it's the right thing. I need a reason, a goal. If I don't have something to strive for or push against, I tend to lose interest. I need to motivate myself and these challenges do that.

The yoga will help in my next two steps. They are: stress reduction and more sleep. Once I achieve these two, I'll be even better prepared to do the work that calls me. If I want to write more books, create more music, teach more kids about ancient civilizations, ancient music, and saving the Earth, perform more, play more, sing more, travel more, and love more, well then, I need to be at my best and that means giving up the things that stand as obstacles.

So, I guess, in the end, I am not truly sacrificing anything. I am making an investment in my next book or song or experiment or class or hike or new place visited, or new connection forged. To me, that's what it's all about.