Friday 8 April 2011

This week's lesson...

Ideas in unexpected places - John Lennon or Jesus?
Here are four things I have learnt this week, in no particular order:

Anticipation is a big issue for me.  I worry about what I may or may not feel like after I do something, to the point where I end up not doing things that would probably do me good.  This is common with ME patients, and may even be part of the 'illness thinking' mindset that doctors speak of in relation to sufferers of chronic illness.  Awareness is the first step to changing, and the mindfulness practise I am doing at the moment is really helping with that.  I have a difficult weekend coming up, and I am aware that my anticipation machine has kicked in, so I am being mindful and its helping so much. 

Incubation is good.   I was reading something the other day on having an ideas incubator.  When you come up with lots of really good ideas, tuck them away and let them mature.  I usually announce fabby new ideas on this blog and then get bored with them and move on.  Instead, I am going to put them in my incubator and let them mature.   And focus on my main project at the moment, which is 'The Butler Did It...' 

Running away is important.  A friend came over on Thursday, when I was feeling really stressed, and we ran away for the day to the seaside.  We ate fish and chips, got smeary with ketchup, walked on the beach, then huddled behind the beach hut kiosk out of the wind, to keep the sand out of our ice creams.  When I put the key in the front door at the end of the day, I realised I felt so refreshed and renewed.  A day not thinking about my current worries had enabled me to get some perspective.  I now feel much more up to coping with what life is throwing right now.  That said, after my father died, my mother and I used to run away for day trips together when things got too  much for us.  She would ring the school and tell them I was sick, and then we would scoot off somewhere to visit a castle or walk on the downs.  It was one of the best gifts she could have shared with me at such a tough time for both of us, and its a habit I have retained.  But I had forgotten how refreshing it can be until yesterday. 

Life is too short to spend clicking.  My name is Rebecca and I am a blog addict.  I spend way too much time on the internet, especially when I am researching an idea.  I mean, I am losing hours, whole chunks of days, here people!  Time to cut down.  This weekend I am going cold turkey.  Wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. It's quite painful just how much time I waste on the internet. My Dad once described it as an endless stack of magazines - little distracting things which will 'only take a minute' to read but which end up eating hours of your life when in combination. Whoever invented the 'blog has a lot to answer for.

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