EAT Breakfast – PB&J
Here’s a common breakfast for a number of successful TypeEs. ¡It’s fast, filling and fun!
- Grab a whole grain bagel, pita bread or another one of your favorite wholegrain breads.
- Spread with one tablespoon of natural peanut butter or almond butter.
- Top with a teaspoon of whole fruit preserves a dab of honey or banana slices.
- ¡You’re done!
If the five minutes it takes you to make this breakfast is too long, you can make it the night before and place it in the refrigerator.
EXERCISE – Nature Walk
Today you get a break from the stairs. We’re headed outside (or on an inside track if the weather is too cold or inclement). Nature has a special way of returning us to a place of calm. Your only job is to get outdoors and let nature take care of the rest. This exercise is best done outside, but can be beneficial anywhere you go.
Grab your pet or your partner and head for a 15-minute stroll outside. Whether it’s around the block or around a mountain, you’ll return feeling refreshed and revitalized.
Start with gentle stretches before you set out. It warms up the muscles and prepares the mind. As you begin walking, keep your pace even and relaxed.
There’s no need to rush. After a few minutes, pick up the pace a bit until you can detect the slight acceleration in pulse you felt while climbing the stairs yesterday.
With your pulse elevated and continuing to walk briskly, notice your surroundings. Take in the colors, the smells and the shapes.
- ¿Did you eat breakfast within two-three hours after waking up?
- ¿When do you usually eat breakfast?
All too often we equate speed with stress. ¿What’s it like to move along swiftly, without having any particular goal in mind? Become an observer of your body and your world. When you are ready, return to a more relaxed pace, continuing to walk as you breathe in and breathe out. Try to incorporate one of the breathing techniques you have practiced.
EXHALE – Between Breaths
This is more than an exercise in mindful breathing; it is an exercise in trust. Trust is a key ingredient for successful TypeEs. Without it, worry overtakes the creative process and ushers them into the TypeE Critical Zone. Begin by finding that quiet place in your environment where you’ll have a few undisturbed moments to yourself. Yes, if the restroom is the only place that meets the above conditions, then so be it. In fact, you’d be surprised at how many TypeEs take advantage of this built-in corporate or at home quiet space.
Focus on your nose and the air coming in and out. Feel the flow, the temperature. Become aware of the in-breath and out-breath. Breathing in relaxation.
- Breathing out any tension that may be there.
- Breathing out any worry or holding on.
- Breathing in peacefulness.
Then begin to notice the breath just coming and going of itself. Coming from nowhere, going nowhere. Just the moment to moment coming and going of the breath. You’ll begin to become aware of a natural pause between the out-breath and the in-breath.
On your next out-breath, allow the pause between breaths to lengthen just a bit.
Allow yourself to sit in the valley that’s created between the breaths. On the next breath cycle, allow the pause to lengthen a bit more. Time seems to stop for a moment. You have let go of the very thing that has been keeping you alive – your breath.
And yet, there was no doubt or worry that you wouldn’t choose to take another. Yes, each breath is voluntary. It’s a choice. Each thought is voluntary, a choice. And each emotion is voluntary, a choice.
¿What new insights or self-awareness have you had over the past few days?
Trusting in yourself and others is a choice which, like the pause between each breath, embraces peace, enhances success and opens the doorway of opportunity.
EAT Breakfast – PB&J
Here’s a common breakfast for a number of successful TypeEs. ¡It’s fast, filling and fun!
- Grab a whole grain bagel, pita bread or another one of your favorite wholegrain breads.
- Spread with one tablespoon of natural peanut butter or almond butter.
- Top with a teaspoon of whole fruit preserves a dab of honey or banana slices.
- ¡You’re done!
If the five minutes it takes you to make this breakfast is too long, you can make it the night before and place it in the refrigerator.
EXERCISE – Nature Walk
Today you get a break from the stairs. We’re headed outside (or on an inside track if the weather is too cold or inclement). Nature has a special way of returning us to a place of calm. Your only job is to get outdoors and let nature take care of the rest. This exercise is best done outside, but can be beneficial anywhere you go.
Grab your pet or your partner and head for a 15-minute stroll outside. Whether it’s around the block or around a mountain, you’ll return feeling refreshed and revitalized.
Start with gentle stretches before you set out. It warms up the muscles and prepares the mind. As you begin walking, keep your pace even and relaxed.
There’s no need to rush. After a few minutes, pick up the pace a bit until you can detect the slight acceleration in pulse you felt while climbing the stairs yesterday.
With your pulse elevated and continuing to walk briskly, notice your surroundings. Take in the colors, the smells and the shapes.
- ¿Did you eat breakfast within two – three hours after waking up?
- ¿When do you usually eat breakfast?
All too often we equate speed with stress. ¿What’s it like to move along swiftly, without having any particular goal in mind? Become an observer of your body and your world. When you are ready, return to a more relaxed pace, continuing to walk as you breathe in and breathe out. Try to incorporate one of the breathing techniques you have practiced.
Day Three Continued….
EXHALE – Between Breaths
This is more than an exercise in mindful breathing; it is an exercise in trust. Trust is a key ingredient for successful TypeEs. Without it, worry overtakes the creative process and ushers them into the TypeE Critical Zone. Begin by finding that quiet place in your environment where you’ll have a few undisturbed moments to yourself. Yes, if the restroom is the only place that meets the above conditions, then so be it. In fact, you’d be surprised at how many TypeEs take advantage of this built-in corporate or at home quiet space.
o Focus on your nose and the air coming in and out. Feel the flow, the temperature.
Become aware of the in-breath and out-breath. Breathing in relaxation.
- Breathing out any tension that may be there.
- Breathing out any worry or holding on.
- Breathing in peacefulness.
Then begin to notice the breath just coming and going of itself. Coming from nowhere, going nowhere. Just the moment to moment coming and going of the breath. You’ll begin to become aware of a natural pause between the out-breath and the in-breath.
On your next out-breath, allow the pause between breaths to lengthen just a bit. Allow yourself to sit in the valley that’s created between the breaths. On the next breath cycle, allow the pause to lengthen a bit more. Time seems to stop for a moment.
You have let go of the very thing that has been keeping you alive – your breath. And yet, there was no doubt or worry that you wouldn’t choose to take another. Yes, each breath is voluntary. It’s a choice. Each thought is voluntary, a choice. And each emotion is voluntary, a choice.
- ¿What new insights or self-awareness have you had over the past few days?
Trusting in yourself and others is a choice which, like the pause between each breath, embraces peace, enhances success and opens the doorway of opportunity.
ENJOY: Steer Clear of Excessive Routine & Utilize Positive Creativity
Excessive Routine:
Excessive routine is poison for most TypeEs. Changing small patterns at work or home can have a powerful positive effect.
¡Be on the lookout for boredom! One way to allay boredom is to engage Positive Creativity.
Positive Creativity:
Remember creativity comes in two flavors: let’s have fun or let’s be stressed.
Ensure that you are spending most of your time creating in a positive way. Go back to Week 2 and look at your HAVE to and GET to lists. Add to them anything you’d like to. The HAVE to do, are the things that make you groan at the mere thought of having to deal with them. The GET TO list are the things that you can hardly wait to do, because they’re so exciting!
Your GET TO list should be at least twice as long as your HAVE TO list. If it’s not, it’s time to take a long, hard look at your life and ask yourself how you really want to be playing in it.
Make a list of 4 small changes to your daily patterns or ways of doing things.
o
o
o
o
Choose one and do it for a week, then choose another.
Choose something from your GET TO list and spend at least 30 minutes (or as much time as you can manage) on it today – or sometime in the coming week.
- ¿What did you choose?
- ¿How did it feel to finally do something on your GET TO list?