Grassroots
(Page 8)
Let's talk about treats. As I sit here, enjoying my Russian red wine, I wanted to touch on our tendencies to 'treat' ourselves to the 'finer' things in life, the ones that in fact do not (usually) 'treat' our health. This is something I've often thought about. Why do you suppose we engage in such counter-productive activity? My opinion is this: Due to constant and exasperating barrage of attacks on our food choices, lifestyles, behaviour expectations, we ignore it to give ourselves 'a break' from it all. We eat the whole bag of Cheezies, delight in one more brownie, add whip cream on our lattes, finish off that last beer, drink two glasses of wine instead of one, sneak a candy from our kid's stash…it's only this one time anyway right?
Routines get boring, monotonous and dull. If we can't get out with friends to socialize to have silly fun, we choose more convenient entertainment. For many of us food and drink become our entertainment and we end up at the gym; running in one place, join a club, lift man-made weights and really, pushing ourselves into yet another routine. It's hard to be that busy person isn't it? Believe me I know this. I work roughly 5 to 6 days a week with 9 to 12 hour days and I belong to the Arts Council. Officially right now, I've hit my 12 hour mark. But, how do we stop?
Take it from my dog: Sit. Stay. Lie down. Play dead. I'm sure you're laughing, but it's the best way to slow down. Artists literally need to sit still and stop thinking. It calms our active, creative minds and gives us peace. It gives us the mental space necessary to create what we have visualized. For me, it slows my freeway of a mind down to a pace that allows clarity. After I've relaxed, I'm suddenly aware of my heart beat, my breath. This awareness allows reason to relax more often. Try it sometime. Sit still for 5 minutes and just stay there. Lie down and close your eyes. Visualize somewhere you've felt calm. Smile. Breathe. Now breathe deeply. Count from 1 to 5. Open your eyes. Now that's a treat!
~Love and light from The Real Robin Thibodeau
RobiN Thibodeau
allseasonchick@gmail.com
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