journaling

                    

It can be hard to remember everything

In the quest to reveal & express our individual uniqueness in our daily life, it can be really hard to remember to do all the things we are trying out, or adding to, our life.

I read once, & I don't know if it's true, that Albert Einstein did not memorise his phone number, & that he preferred to use his brain/mind for other things. It became another of my mottos: I stopped trying to memorise this & that, & simply wrote it down in my diary. And I recently forgot that this is what has always worked for me, so I decided to resurrect the Ancient Practice of Writing It Down.

I've tried using computer records, but I forgot, always forgot, to look at the computer each day, so I am so not going to use my cell phone in that way either. The computer thing was a disaster for me, as are leaving notes, making a list on a sheet of paper, post-its on walls......

And recording after the fact? I have never remembered that this is what I'm supposed to be doing, so....no.

I make lists in my diary

What does work for me, & I offer this as a maybe for you to try out, is to make a list in my diary.  I've tried to use special books, but I then forget to use the book so that doesn't work for me, but my diary....I look at it morning & evening, it's a good habit that I acquired a long time ago, so diary it is!

I make rough lists, in code that I understand, in the order to be done, & tick off each day as I do each thing. So on the left side of the paper is my scrappy list, 1 line per thing/habit/etc, & on the right I just do a tick, & at the end of the week  I start again. So 1 line going down for each thing, 1 tick per day going along the line as each thing gets done. I do this list just 1x per week & tick off during each day, as I know full well that I won't write it out each day. It's written messy & I don't care, because just doing it is the main thing..

I have a morning one, & an evening one. 

Le morning routine:

• weigh, & I write the number on the list....I know that people say you shouldn't weigh but slender people always know what's happening with their weight, so I'm copying this
• then meditation
• a special prananyama (breathing exercise) for winter cold prevention & clear sinuses, which is an addition to my yoga routine as I got a heavy cold, as did the rest of the city, apparently, & this simple pranayama is miraculous. I simply forgot to do it as winter approached
• then what I'm doing with the morning yoga, & this never changes from 1 year to the next. It's basically 3 different types of sun salutes & the number of times for each....if I'm not feeling too good I can cut these back & just do 1 round of each, but the idea is to work up to quite a few rounds..... Again. 
• 3 specific postures 
• more pranayama
• relax
• open windows
• & now the day can start.

This sounds a lot but for me it isn't much at all, & I'm guiltily resuming more serious, but not too strenuous, yoga, after quite a longish break. It makes me feel good, it's who I am, & I prefer to do it.

Le evening

My evening routine is not quite down so pat but the list is: 

• clean off make-up...I don't use much but it does need to come off each evening, & this is another thing that I simply forget to do, not always, but sometimes, which is not good as it's ageing to leave make-up on overnight
• put out tomorrow's clothes
• do a quick, short tidy up
• meditation
• hand cream. 

How hard is all that? 

Le new habits:

I have another list on the same page, of habits that I want to include, & I'm feeling that it would be best to add a new habit each week, rather than make dauntingly long lists that overwhelm me.

The thing is, we generally do the same things in the same order each morning & evening, & for me, I feel that because these are autopilot times, we can nip in & add & subtract till we have a really beneficial system:

• short & easy to do.
• and smart, making sense.

This used to be called discipline but I do recall that now we are calling it "habits"...& I like that, it's more user-friendly.

So you can look at what you do, & see what can be tweeked...a bit at a time. And remember that it should suit you, this is all about you:

• I know that if you have a family that is a priority, but still you can have a system. When my kids were younger, I was always up first, & showered, before they got up...it was what worked for me personally, & it worked for my kids too.
• I met a woman once who always got up & walked for 40 minutes each morning. Always. 
• A friend likes to do more for herself in the evenings, but this doesn't work for me as I'm often working in the evenings, teaching yoga. 
• By the time that I get home each evening, I don't want to do anything much, but my new evening routine, I'm hoping it will slow me down for sleep so that I can get to bed earlier.

So that I can get up earlier. Again. I miss not getting up early, it's the loveliest time of the day for me.