This was an anything-but-boring year for me. Plenty of changes went on — and continue to — and plenty of life-changing lessons have been learned (at least I hope). As I think about my favorite things this year, I realize I continue to become a more structured and conscious human being… and I like to think that I’ve become a funnier person, too.
Here are 5 of my favorite things of the year. Next week I’ll tell you about the other 5.
1. Reducing my carbohydrate intake.
Before I elaborate on this, I want to remind you that this is about MY journey and that what works for me won’t necessarily work for you. However, when I apply these principles to my work with clients, the results are consistently positive. So, take it with a grain of salt — that’s always good to do with any nutrition-related information anyway — but be open to experiment.
Having said that…
I am highly sensitive to sugar. I can’t eat a dessert without getting a headache and feeling miserable afterwards. At some point, it occurred to me that something that troublesome for my body really wasn’t worth eating (remember that ALL carbohydrates become sugar in the body).
So, in the last few years I’ve been studying low-carb diets — paleo, primal, GAPS, SCD, Atkins — and have been steadily reducing my intake of carbohydrates. At the moment, my consumption of refined sugar, grains and legumes is close to zero. (I do eat the occasional arepa.) I’m also eating very little fruit; I’m living in Colombia where most fruit is tropical, which means it’s super sweet so I don’t need much.
There’s no doubt this is good for me. I notice a huge difference in my level of energy: I don’t get as hungry as I used to, my moods are much steadier and my digestion is remarkably better. My weight hasn’t changed — doesn’t really need to — but my body composition sure has. I am much leaner than I was just 2 or 3 years ago.
I’ve written a little about this, but in the coming months you’ll hear much more because I believe this is important. There are many factors at play when you’re looking for your “ideal” diet but carbohydrate intake could really help you reach a different level.
2. The Work of Byron Katie
“An unquestioned mind is the only suffering.”
~ Byron Katie
My husband and I separated this year. The split was as uncommon as pretty much everything else in our relationship during the almost 6 years we’ve known each other. Not a lot of drama. We continue to be close.
The thing is, living faithfully to your own truth requires a lot of questioning of yourself and continuous assessment (hey, just like with diet!!). Does this make me happy? Is this really what I want to do? What is it that I should be doing?
We assume something should make us happy (money, beauty, fame) or sad (separation, illness, struggle) because, well, that’s the way it is, right? It’s what we’ve learned, what the collective Zeitgeist has established. But we neglect to take a second look at a situation and in doing so we sacrifice our soul. Over and over again.
The Work of Byron Katie is a wonderfully handy tool to help you reassess. You take a stressful thought and you submit it to a process of inquiry. It’s a meditation you can do whenever you are suffering. It can help you crack your head open and break through inertia and pain. I’ve been familiar with the process for several years, but this year I’ve been practicing it a lot and it’s just… a beautiful thing.
3. Morning pages
“A mind too active is not a mind at all.”
~Theodore Roethke
As soon as you wake up in the morning and are conscious enough to hold a pen in your hand, write. This is not journal, novel or blog post writing — it is stream-of-consciousness or automatic writing. That means you write whatever comes to your mind. Like, whatever. No judgment, no editing. There’s no way to do it wrong.
The idea is to decongest your mind, removing all the stuff you’ve got in there when you wake up. It’s a meditation.
Originally from Julia Cameron who first described it in her bestselling book “The Artist’s Way,” Morning Pages is a good exercise not only for writers or “creative” people but for anyone — hey we’re all creative anyway! Once you write that thought, it takes up less space in your mind, so there is more space to focus on what you want. Clever, huh?
Julia recommends doing 3 legal-size pages of longhand writing every morning. I don’t write longhand, so I do shorthand on only one legal size page. It takes me 10 to 15 minutes and I still get a lot of benefit from it, aside from the fact that I get to have fun. It’s just amusing to witness the stuff your mind comes up with when you’re half-sleep and your guard is down!
4. Complain-free contracts
I learned the concept of complain-free contracts from the amazing Christine Kane. I took her “Uplevel Your Life” class this year.
Going complain-free is not an easy thing to do but it is one of the most profound, life-changing things you can do as well. Complaining is incredibly energy-depleting — it doesn’t help anyone, it doesn’t fix anything. It’s just bad vibes thrown out there to the detriment of the complainer and everyone around them.
So, in a complain-free contract you commit to giving up complaining, criticizing, gossiping and whining, in the case of Christine’s class, for 49 days. Does signing such a contract mean that you instantly overwrite these negative traits? Hmmm… I wish. But as you practice, you become more conscious of what you think, say and how you react. You then have the choice to act differently, to contribute instead of diminish, to solve instead of add to the problem, and ladies, this is what growing up is all about.
I still complain, criticize, gossip and whine. But I sure do it much less and I also feel very different about it, like, my body rejects it when I do it. Occasionally, I catch myself and think twice before I say something. In the midst of what is probably the most intense and challenging time I’ve lived through, this practice helps me remember that I easily forget how happy I can be.
5. Short bursts of intense exercise
The only physical activities I enjoy doing for over an hour nowadays are dancing and hiking. This from the woman who, once upon a time, would spend 3 to 4 consecutive hours at the gym. No more.
Short bursts of intense exercise seem to be that much powerful anyway: You can get more done in less time — this type of workout lasts anywhere between 15 and 45 minutes, you can work only with your body weight, which is perfect for those who hate the gym, you can mix and match exercises so you don’t get bored and, according to many studies, short bursts of intense exercise might burn fat faster and with less effort. What else do you want?
Nowadays I workout this way 3 to 4 times a week. I always look forward to exercising, because it energizes me and it really helps me keep my sanity. Hey, I can do all the meditation-type exercises in the world, but if I don’t get a good sweat, I will go crazy.
So, what’s one of your favorite things this year and why? C’mon, don’t be shy and share with us! You might end up inspiring someone else…
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