Tag: mindfulness

Affirmations, focus, goal setting, inspiration, journaling, mindfulness, Personal Development, Personal growth

“What Do You Do?”: Moving Beyond a Work-based Identity

Adele Satori
Me back in ancient times, playing with my pet turtle in our blow-up swimming pool

In the culture I grew up in, training to identify with work started at an early age. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” A lot of kids answers have some element of adventure to it, once you take away the label. Fire fighter, astronaut, faery, explorer. Some are more practical: teacher, nurse, scientist, doctor, parent. For an entire year, I insisted I was a pirate named Maria.

Later, if we go to school beyond the teenage years, it’s “What’s your major? What trade are you training in?” And of course, the good old fall back at social gatherings: “What do you do?”, meaning what do you do for work. It’s a way to compare social status, I suppose.

All of these are identifiers as who we are as commodities, or part of a work community, but not who we are as people. I’ve done everything from cleaning bathrooms, to being an executive assistant to having the privilege to meeting a U.S. President. Those are all things I’ve done for work, but not who I am as a person. They don’t describe how I like to watch the play of light and shadow, stop to talk with birds, feel the texture of beads in my hands, get carried away in meditation, or how creating music will carry me away for hours. For a time I ran a group called “I am not my day job”, where we celebrated what we enjoyed when we weren’t working.

I’ve mentioned before elsewhere how having an event at one of my workplaces changed how different departments viewed and interacted with each other, simply by having a day of sharing what we all enjoyed doing outside of work. It elevated communication and interpersonal respect, and that improved productivity.

There’s so much beyond that practical value, though. I feel in so many cases now, there’s more and more pressure and expectation to produce more, with less time, and give up more of our time to our work. In some jobs, the time it takes to complete a task is monitored, not taking into account that workers are biological beings, and not machines.

This leaves very little time for us to do things we love, spending time with family, and just being. It’s gotten to the point where many of us are expected to be available for work 24/7. Belgium just recently passed a law that government workers no longer have to answer work emails or calls after work hours. Technology’s been great in so many ways, and it’s also accelerated burn out for workers.

It’s time to change how we identify, if we haven’t already. One of the- I suppose you could call it gifts- of the past couple of years is that many had an opportunity to rediscover things they love to do, and the desire to have a better balance in life.

My invitations to you this week are these:
When you meet someone, instead of asking them “what do you do” ask them what brings them joy, where’s the best place they’ve visited, first music they bought. Get creative in your inquiries.

And for yourself:
Write “I ….” and list as many things you can think of. Challenge yourself not to edit. These can be affirmations, such as “I am joyful”, things you like to do “I like wiggling my bear toes in the sand” “I love sinking into my bed after a long day” “I make music that fills my soul” “I am a friend/lover/parent/child”.

Make a list of your values. How do these reflect what you love to do? Who you are at your essence? Does what you do for work incorporate your values, or is it in conflict with them? (Sometimes we have to do what we have to do for work, and that’s OK!) If your work doesn’t align with your values, how can you make more space in your day for what does? Are there changes you can make within your current circumstances to better reflect who you are?

Look to see if there are groups or categories of identifiers. Are there unmet longings? Habits-in-waiting asking for attention? What action steps will you take today to bring these to reality?

I’d love to hear how it goes for you.
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This is a taste of the course I’m developing on defining one’s life purposes that I’ll be offering later this year. If this sounds interesting to you, send me an email at craftingthespirit1@gmail.com and let me know you’d like to be on the mailing list.

inspiration, instinctive meditation, journaling, meditation, mindfulness

Creating Sanctuary in a Busy World

Adele Satori

I saw a sign while out walking the other day: “Access to Sanctuary”, showing a route for those who have challenges navigating stairs.

And it got me to thinking about personal sanctuary. How so many people have difficulty in finding sanctuary for and within themselves. A place to find respite from the every day world, or to relax and do something enjoyable, or to be in blissful silence for a few minutes

We have roommates, live with extended family, are care givers for children or aging parents. Some of us live in situations that are unsafe, where letting down our guard for an instant could bring on harm of some sort. We might be working multiple jobs in order to just survive. We might feel we need a lot of resources (time and money) to experience sanctuary as we see it. There may be attachment to outcome, if one sees an activity as needing to make something, versus the act of making for the pleasure of it.

All of these can seem like insurmountable obstacles to sanctuary. I feel there are small ways we can create sanctuary for ourselves that take very little in the way of time or material resources.

If you can’t create a corner of a room, that when you go there, people know it’s your “you” time, maybe there’s somewhere you can go. I know people who go to their car to sit for a moment of peace, or a few extra minutes in the bathroom. If that’s not an option, maybe you can walk around the block, or have say a hat, that when you put it on, others where you live know it’s your private time. Sanctuary can be created by listening to or creating music, scribbling on paper, journaling. Anything that gives you an opportunity to simply BE for a few minutes.

Or get your whole household involved. Agree to set a time aside that’s quiet, non-device time. Set a timer if need be. It doesn’t have to be something you do together.

If you work where you have a desk, and are allowed to have personal items, put up a picture of a favourite place, or have a rock or shell from a walk handy that you can pick up and hold. If you can, on your work breaks, get outside for a few minutes. When I worked in a retail setting, I often used my time in the freight elevator to find a peace moment. If you’re allowed to listen to music, do it!

And if none of those are options, there is always the breath. Slower, deeper breathing can trigger the parasympathetic nervous system- the relaxation response. Over time, I’ve taught myself to find a focused calmness in one breath. OK. Sometimes it takes a few on days I’m wound up. It happens! Give it a try. Breath in your natural rhythm and simply notice your breath. What is the texture of it, the sound? Are you breathing slowly and deeply, or fast and shallow? Where in your body do you feel it? Try breathing in slowly, hold for a few counts, exhale, hold for a few counts. Does that feel different to you?

One of my favourite things as a kid was blowing bubbles, which now that I think of it, is breath made visible. I just might have to make a bubble wand and blow bubbles soon!

I hope that this has given you some ideas how to find sanctuary for yourself. Try putting it in your schedule if you’re too busy. Two minutes. Everyday. Just for you.

Creativity, inspiration, instinctive meditation, instinctive meditation, journaling, meditation, Personal Development, Personal growth

Creativity as a State of Being

Adele Satori
“Even if you don’t call yourself an artist, you have the potential to be a
dynamic creator who is always hatching new plans, coming up with fresh
ideas, and shifting your approach to everything you do as you adjust to
life’s ceaseless invitation to change.
It’s to this part of you — the restless, inventive spirit — that I address the
following: Unleash yourself! Don’t be satisfied with the world the way it is;
don’t sit back passively and blankly complain about the dead weight of
the mediocre status quo.
Instead, call on your curiosity and charisma and expressiveness and lust
for life as you tinker with and rebuild everything you see so that it’s in
greater harmony with the laws of love and more hospitable to your soul’s
code. ” ~ Rob Brezny

What do you envision when you think of creativity? An artist/writer/musician/performer of some kind? The act of making? Do you feel uncreative if you you don’t have output? Or if it isn’t “perfect”? If it doesn’t get recognition?

To me, scientists, mechanics, gardeners, teachers… anyone really, are just as creative as what is often thought of as such.

What if instead you shift your perspective to envision creativity as a state of being, rather than a state of doing? To being a continual process of making meaning in one’s life, rather than completion of a painting/novel/song/performance piece? To make for the joy of making, how it warps time and space and you get lost in it.

Being willing to seeing things differently.. to reordering routine.. having the courage to try something new… all of these can open up dimensions of reality and possibility that have remained hidden behind old perceptions.

For example, the next time you go for a walk, focus fully on the experience. The sounds around you, and of your feet, step by step. The textures, visual and felt. The smell of the air- the feel of it against your skin. How if the walk is strenuous enough, everything falls away other than the act of walking and your breath.

Do you feel other things arise? A solution? A song? A poem? A dance? Someone you’d like to visit?

All of this is creating and being creative.

We are, from birth to death, through all our experience, the embodiment of creativity.

You can listen to a podcast version of this post here:

https://anchor.fm/adele-satori/embed/episodes/Creativity-As-a-State-of-Being-e1cs9l3

Personal Development, Personal growth, Uncategorized

The Importance of Showing Up

Adele Satori
It came to me that a good part of being, regardless of what we are doing, is about showing up. Being present with What Is, even when it’s not always what we hope or expect. Being open to what might be waiting to be heard, or done, or felt.

I recently made a committment to myself to do a blog post every week. It’s part of my resolve to get myself out there- to inspire others to join me on this grand adventure of discovery called life.

I didn’t feel words come through me the way I often do, so I looked through old writing of mine. Much of it good, but not the message I want to carry currently.

And sat here some more. Brain bouncing all over the place- flitting from concept to concept like a butterfly. Landing for a bit on light and shadow. Deciding that’s a topic for another time.

It came to me that a good part of being, regardless of what we are doing, is about showing up. Being present with What Is, even when it’s not always what we hope or expect. Being open to what might be waiting to be heard, or done, or felt.

It might not be our best work, or even feel like we’ve done The Thing, but we show up, nonetheless. We sit. We let the mind meander on its own journey. Thoughts surface. Some of them are merely shuffling together of information. Some are seeds to be planted and nurtured for the future. Some are distractions.

And here it is. I showed up. I learned that I can honour a commitment with the best I have to offer in this moment. Sometimes the best we can do is the next right thing.

Will you join me?

focus, journaling, meditation, mindfulness

Meanderings of the Mind

Adele Satori
I dreamt my brain went flying through space on its own adventure. I made this collage to honour the occasion.

When I have the luxury of waking up naturally, I like to lay in my bed and follow the meanderings of my mind.

Today I woke up excited to choose a topic for meditation. I already had chosen a theme for the week- senses, from my reading in training to become a certified meditation teacher- and landed on movement. I like sometimes to choose a topic and tell my brain “today is… run with it”. I landed on the sense of movement for today.

I lay there for awhile stretching.. dancing with my hands, enjoying moving and noticing the flow and connection with my breath.

I thought of light, and sound, and how object are all vibrations of molecules. How in one way or another, all is light and sound. All is vibration.

My worth thinking paused, and I played mind movies of some of my favourite light and sound moments. The play of light and shadow on leaves. Music, The sound of a beloved person’s voice.

I thought of movement and stillness. About how the extremes impede growth. too much movement can become chaos or exhaustion. Too much stillness can become complacency or stagnation. I gave time to thinking about how I could present these concepts in a corporate mindfulness setting.

I thought about paper being a vibrational transformation of the plants it’s usually made from. How paper is both an offering and a sacrifice. Unless it’s 100% recycled, most paper in its origin was a plant that was sacrificed to become paper. It becomes an offering to be written on, created with, exchanged as a means of value, and so on.. Every time now when I use paper, I will take a moment to thank the trees.

I jumped more to thinking about vibrations; thinking about the vibration of thought itself. I thought of brain furrows and how they remind me of the plowed fields behind my house growing up.

Suddenly I’d found I’d made myself small. My kidhood self. Hooded jacked, rainboots… walking the fields/brain furrows. Stopping and bending down looking for treasure, which were I grew up was usually agates.

I thought of how I could use this image….. wandering the furrows of my brain… as a device to bring me deeper.

I wondered if my Mom still has a particular large agate. On I remember being as big as my hand, and to ask her to take a picture of it to send to me.

My brain gradually slowed until there was simply the process of waking, and thinking it was time to get out of bed.

I stretched and said out loud “Thank was beautiful. Thank you.”

There is no requirement to still the mind, or sit just so to meditate. It’s more about a deeper connection with Self. You can lay in your bed, sit in a chair, get up and dance, go for a hike, get lost in creating art, listening to music. Let your mind show you the adventure of the moment.

Ah! That was beautiful. Thank you!