Don't let work define your day

This is something my dear sweet hunk of a spunk boyf said to me before he and I started going out. It has stuck with me since.

"Don't let work define your day" 

Can be interpreted in as range of ways, and I feel is quite important because something I have often waffled on about is how sometimes what we do becomes the main defining thing of who we are. At the moment, what I am mostly doing for work is working in a forensic mental health hospital teaching yoga and fitness- yet I will always say I am a performer before saying anything else.... and yes, the nature of that or many artistic vocations does mean our occupations and identities intertwine, but it's not all.
I'm a performer, I'm also a daughter, a sister, an aunty, a bike enthusiast, a hopeless house plant owner, a lover of journals, avocado and Leonardo Di Caprio. So by choosing these things to define my day rather than what I do for 8 hours of it that I'm being paid for. 

Because my routine is actually becoming a routine (wake up, gym, breakfast, work, teach, come home) I'm trying to add other little things into the pockets of my day so that it feels like I am doing much more than what I HAVE to do, I'm also doing things I CHOOSE to do. 

Like today, I made a different cooked breakfast, watched some comedy and sat in the park (I woke up 3 hrs before needing to go to work)
Some days I meet someone for coffee, even a 45 minute one
Some days I sleep in
Some days I play the guitar
Some days I drink gin*

* not true
**  well, actually true, sometimes, but not before work....after. 

It has been as simple as taking a different route to work, listening to a different podcast, speaking to someone on the phone en route, or leaving 30 mins early to sit in the park to read....or write this. If you have a nice scented candle, don't save it for guests, light that thing up and smell the different spin on the morning- you don't even have to wake up any earlier.

Sure, some people are not morning people at all. The would rather eat their pillow than get out of bed in the morning, and the idea of thinking about whether to have breakfast or not, let alone thinking of something different to do to spice up the workday is all too much. That's ok.
Maybe if this is you, as you are loving your late night scroll sesh, or whatever, you could cue up a podcast or pop a book or even a scrap of the newspaper in your bag...
Or, even spend a minute more to think about what you are wearing and add a splash of colour or that hat you have wanted to wear but are unsure if it's cool or not. (FYI, if "That hat" is a fedora, it is NOT cool, unless you are a drummer in a latino band or Matt Lee judging So You Think You Can Dance Australia in 2010. 


But why?

Because, as they say, change is as good as a holiday. Why not make your world this colourful wonderful place that you enjoy or that people want to be a part of. Also because I hear my friends who work the usual 9-5 Monday-Friday get sick of eworkplace chat being only about what you did in the weekend, what you had for dinner and what you watched on TV.

Change it up with some crochet
Mix it up with some Monet
Be different with some birdwatching 

Whatever- you're clever.

Jj

Sentiments on Sunrises

Monday morning (when I am writing this intro bit) has reared it's head upon me after I enjoyed some late night Sunday reggae and revelry, leaving me somewhat disorganised for the week and also hunting down an almond croissant.

I awoke to the 8am heat stifling through the bedroom, and went about my business.

I don't really get the Monday-itis as weekends are usually as work filled as every other day for me, and I also mostly enjoy what I do for work so this picture kind of does and doesn't apply but I hope it gives you a chuckle.

Below are my sentiments I wrote last week when I was riding to an early morning meditation class and got to experience what I feel is one of the best parts of the day. 

Sunrise gives a special sense of optimism.

The potential for a new day is smeared across the sky in mandarin hues.

A time of the day reserved for tradies, joggers and shift workers, the morning haze lifts on the night before like blurry eyelids lift their gaze to others on the first tram.

The hustle and bustle is slow to wake, snoozing till the last minute then suddenly having to go at record speed to get to work in time.

I have been a fan of sunrises since I was young. I remember getting up super early to head to the mountain to go skiing. Sitting in our sleeping bags and thermals in the car, making our ascent up Mt Ruapehu and seeing the weak winter sunrise yawn over the snowy but sludgy peaks. 

In Cambodia last year my room had 3 walls, and one open side onto the Kampot river. I could glimpse the subtle indigo to peach kaleidoscopic changes through one eyelid and roll over to snooze till the heat crept up on my back and kayakers started becoming a more regular presence. Sigh.

Earlier this year on our road trip from Byron Bay to Adelaide, we saw sunrise atop Mount Warning, just outside Mullumbimby. The ascent in the dark was challenging, and the incoming light was the main motivation to plod with pace to the summit. The clouds distinctly swept away like a magician pulling a table cloth out from under a table and leaving everything un-disturbed, except in this case revealing a stunning view. A few days later, on boyfriend's birthday his first present I gave him was waking him up to sleepily poke our heads out of the skylight of the van to see the vast dry outback sunrise. With no other company but the bugs and birds, he went back to sleep and I enjoyed the coolest (in all senses of the word) part of the day. 

In India for my Yoga Teacher Training, I probably experienced my most consecutive sunrises in my life. We had to be up at 5.15am to have tea before morning Yoga Asana practice. That time in the morning, can be a bit shocking for some and rarely experienced unless going to the airport, waking an extra 30 mins earlier was completely worth it when I could go to the rooftop and watch the morning rouse itself over the base of the Himalayas we were below. The subtlety between each day, the sounds of the birds and view of other rooftop dwellers, some local families or other early morning yogis, are a few of the things I will never forget.

There have been times when I have stayed up all night till sunrise, read my post- "A Vampire's Diary"  to hear how seeing sunrise after seeing daytime, nighttime, daytime, has this strange energy to it that masks your sleep deprivation and makes it all worth it. 

As my Monday rolls on to the rest of the week, I'm going to consciously cherish the mornings, the smiling sunrise and sunbeams shining out of my smile from seeing it.

In the words of Roald Dahl : 

"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely." 

I hope I have painted some pretty pictures for you. All it takes is setting your alarm for 5.30am (or probably 10am if you are in the North Pole) and you can experience them for yourself. Trust me, it is magical.

Jj

Ebbs and flows

Ahh the feeling of coming back to this blog after a long hiatus is probably what someone who has been cancelling on their personal trainer feels like- It hurts, because of the guilt of being away and the perceived pain of starting all over again. 

Often in this blog I like to share cool new lessons or things I have been doing. 
Lately, I have struggled to write a good solid post as the things I have been doing have seemed pretty trivial, such as:
- I snapped my bike handle in half.
- There have been many attempts to put up a spice rack in my house but as my house is really old the walls crumble, finally found a solution by hanging the spice rack and suspended spices is the newest home wares trend, I'm sure. 
- I stopped writing for a while as Melbourne Fringe Festival was on and I was writing a ton of reviews and I went to NZ and I have been tittering away at some new bits of script for "Banana Jolie- Gone Bananas" variety show. 

Underneath all that biz is the constant hum of the ongoing quest for a work-creative-spiritual-social-making the most of time- getting enough sleep-life- balance. 

Diving into everything with full gusto has terrific rewards, yet can leave one a bit miffed when others don't prioritise things in the same way. What I have to step back and force myself to see is that we can't be "on" in a constant state of flow (when you are managing to balance everything and get a million things done all whilst having perfectly shaped eyebrows) all the time.....you need to have some ebbs (being seen at the supermarket buying a packet of scotch fingers by that cutey from the gym as you empty the contents of your bag on the counter (yoga pants, receipts, your journal, a half eaten carrot) to find your wallet.)

AND although this feeling can initially cause lament, if you look at the ocean or the stream, if it constantly pushed in the one direction- eg flow without ebb, then it is nowhere as beautiful or INTERESTING to watch as a stream or ocean that is dynamic and dashing. 
The reason Phil Collins' hit song "In the Air Tonight" is such a gnarly banger is because it starts off quiet (ebb) and then the epic drum solo comes in (flow.)

or vise versa.

That makes me think about how my own yoga practice constantly reminds me this- there was a time when I didn't feel like I had had a proper yoga sesh if I wasn't doing tons of chaturangas, balances and planks in a hot room. I was pretty misguided and was putting too much pressure on myself and the class - my approach was all wrong (I used to even get angry in class- umm, completely the opposite of what you would expect but that's actually quite common)
Thankfully I have come to learn that that is not yoga- it's a westernised "lean, mean, expensive machine" version of it. Sometimes, the hardest thing in yoga asana practice is not moving from downward dog to warrior- a genuine flow, it is the slow beginning, the child's pose that goes longer than you want it to or savasana (corpse pose lying down at the end.) 
Similarly, when you are all go at work and have plenty of things on the list it is easier than having to slow down and get back to the drawing board, and actually be bored. 

Since it is a while since I have posted, I feel I have lost my writing rhythm a bit, and am self-consciously writing this section to say that I hope you are picking up what I'm putting down- catching my drift about the beauty in ebb and flow and just going with it.

To finish, I shall leave you with what Martial artist and founder of Japanese martial art Akido; Morihei Ueshiba says:

Consider the ebb and flow of the tide. When waves come to strike the shore, they crest and fall, creating a sound. Your breath should follow the same pattern, absorbing the entire universe in your belly with each inhalation. Know that we all have access to four treasures: the energy of the sun and moon, the breath of heaven, the breath of earth, and the ebb and flow of the tide.

The ebb and flow of the tide and life is a treasure my friend. Look after it.

Jj