Mediations on a good week
This week is going to be a good week and I don’t have to prove to you how I know this because I can see it. I see myself – Saturday through Saturday, imagine myself walking to breakfast. I know exactly how my ribs will feel when I take my first deep breath of the day (free). I know that I will greet the morning with yoga and slip sneakers onto my feet – feeling my insoles reach up to my arches. The gym will be quiet and so will I. I never work out to music, I get distracted, I want to feel each muscle firing, because that is a sensation that I was missing, for a while. I know what breakfast will taste like and I know how I will feel when I take my first sip of tea (relief). I don’t yet know how I am going to manage to pack up all my belongings into suitcases and boxes and drag them across campus but I know that it will happen, somehow. I know how it will feel to perform on my instrument – I used to dread performances because I would get so nervous. Now I anticipate them. I am anxious to show people what I have learned. Not how excellent I am – that is relative and everyone judges differently. I am proud of myself and that is all I need to be.
What I write is enough. What I do is enough.
I am enough.
So are you.
If you are stressed, struggling, tired, or just need a pick me up, write yourself into being. It doesn’t matter what you write. Write your thoughts down. What are you doing now? What are you thinking about? Where do you want to go next? Where should you be that you aren’t right now? Let it all go. Feel the stresses leave your body.
Creativity is an act of self-care.
Show yourself that you care.
I care.
Actions for a good week
Sit in silence and study with others. I don't think any of us understands how hard other people work until we work with them. Brains are incredible.
Eat something green for breakfast.
Type a paragraph with your eyes closed. Be mindful of your fingertips. Slow down. Move with precision.
Find something to dance to that isn’t traditional music. Dance silently, if you like. This morning I took a pause in my practicing to dance to the beat of my metronome.
Be aware of the first true breath you take in the morning. It is my favorite feeling. It brings the sunlight into your body and fills you with life.
Rinse your face with cold water.
Track how much water you’re drinking. If you need to drink more, try this – every time you reach for your phone to procrastinate, take a sip instead.
Read a book – that you chose of your own accord and that genuinely interests you – and read a bit before you go to bed.
Find an album of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic and listen to it without knowing what’s coming next.
Get in touch with someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. Send them a video message. Tell them you’re thinking about them.
Perform one intentional act of kindness. Put a quarter in the tampon dispenser in the bathroom. Leave a kind note anonymously in a book at a bookstore. Pay for the drink of the person behind you in line. Smile at the person who holds the door open for you.
Breathe.
You can do this.
I believe in you.
