virtual question: how can i feel even better today?

thanks to katie raver (ENFJ extraordinaire!) for suggesting i write about this. (this post is also posted on my facebook notes.)

today i am still feeling the consequences in my body of working a 70-hour week last week sitting at a computer under deadline pressure, so this request is timely since i have current actual experience and not just advice to share.

so...read this and apply it to your own issues. the structure is given here, along with examples of dealing with my own state.

the starting place is tuning in to your body. this means switching your attention from a Visual External Narrow focus to a Kinesthetic Internal Narrow focus. (see 12 States of Attention posts on my blog.) in other words, pay attention to each part of your body. notice sensations of pain, tightness, energy feeling stagnant or blocked, numbness, rigidity, breathing, heart rate, and so forth. notice whatever makes itself known to you at whatever level of sensitivity to your own body you have. the more aware you get, the more sensitive you become.

you could start with your head and work toward your feet, or go from most demanding to least. map where you are feeling okay and not so okay in every part of your body.

also notice the big picture (Kinesthetic Internal Broad). how are you sleeping? do you feel rested when you wake up? how at ease are you at various times throughout the day and doing various activities? what is your dominant energetic direction--towards, away from, expanded or contracted? how is your appetite--compulsive, craving, relaxed? are you enjoying your life experience? what are you feeling emotionally? what thoughts and feelings cross your inner movie screen? is this situation part of a pattern in your life and if so, when is it activated and when did it start?

if you are not at whatever your experience of optimal well-being is, you have magic to perform! (magic is what it may look like to others--magicians know it takes awareness, intent, and action.)

my intent is: i would like to transform this experience of suffering into learning how to maintain a great sense of well-being.

so where i like to start is what will make the most difference in the least amount of time. what would that be for you? trust your intuition and knowledge base on this, and be willing to experiment and learn.

my foremost experience was stiffness, tightness, soreness, numbness in the upper back part of my shoulders and the back of my neck. this part of my body was just screaming for relief. it was fairly constant, worse when i left work each day, maybe because i could fully tune into it. overall, it was a strong sense of contraction centered in the shoulders and neck.

i noticed that my meditation (when i was able to do it) was not as relaxed and deep as i prefer. i was not sleeping the night through, having more sugar cravings than usual, and fantasizing about quitting my job to go walking in the jungle, daydreaming about going to cuba.

here are some things i did to make a quick big difference to the sore places:
--lying flat in bed with a heating pad under my shoulder blades and neck
--stretching (arm circles, squeezing shoulder blades together)
--rolling head (instead of rolling it back as far as possible, stretch the front of your neck--it's better for your neck)
--having a massage therapist work on me
--applying arnica to the sore muscles
--hanging upside down to let gravity work in reverse
--draping this area over an exercise ball (back to ball) and rolling it around

activities for all-over relaxation included:
--taking a 30-minute warm bath with dr. singha's mustard bath
--shaking my body out all over
--going to bed early
--drinking lots of fluids and detox tea
--listen to a CD of coleman barks reading rumi, hafiz, and lalla, which shifts me into expansive right-brain awareness and opens my heart

another way of viewing "how i can feel even better today" is considering what changes you can make today and continue that over time will amount to a big difference, i.e., how i can feel even better tomorrow and in the future.

here are some things i did to change habitual patterns that got me into this situation--these have to do with how i interact with my immediate environment:
--inflate the exercise ball i sit on at work--they lose air slowly--this turned out to make a big difference!
--sit on ball with good posture and adjust my monitor's level and tilt for optimal viewing--another big difference
--consider whether i need a higher strength of reading glasses
--switch from regular mouse to roller-ball mouse
--pay attention to location of sitz bones and sternum when sitting--pull shoulder blades back and down
--set up appointments with myself in my email program to actually take a break mid-morning and mid-afternoon and use this time to walk, stretch, breathe, tune in, release muscle tension, focus my vision differently

and in becoming aware of unconscious beliefs (going wider and deeper), i looked at times in my life when i experienced stress like this and noticed beliefs that were active--"everything will come crashing down if i don't push myself really hard"--"no one else can do it but me"--"it (i) must be perfect"

i began to reframe beliefs thusly: i accomplish tasks AND take care of myself, both at the same time; i meet challenges with grace; healing, learning, growing energy is available in abundance; i am worthy of experiencing a sense of well-being all the time; perfection is a goal, not a demand; i deepen my awareness of well-being and move toward it every day.