2026 - Mindful Living and Connection

leftatthetrafficlights

Hi everyone! 👋 hope you're all okay!

RL had taken over and I haven't had the time, energy or headspace to be on the boards so I apologise for my absence. However, it's calmed down a little so hopefully I'll be able to re-engage again now 🤞

I feel that I have been running around like a headless chicken for months - we've had bereavements, relationship breakdowns and a variety of other things to deal with and as a result I've just abandoned everything I was trying to achieve. It's not a major issue but I've had enough of ignoring my own needs and feeling ungrounded so it's time to get back in control and focus on myself again.

Tomorrow I'm restarting my yoga and meditation practices, my walking and my self-care. I'm going to eliminate the rubbish food I've been surviving on and get back to healthy eating patterns. Tomorrow is basically a reset day - I know that I'll feel a whole lot better for it. I genuinely feel that being on this mindfulness journey prior to the poop hitting the fan helped me through some of the more challenging days even though I haven't maintained regular practices.

Financially, it's been a brutal year so I really need to get back in control of that too - thankfully, we're not in a bad position but it could be a lot better 🙄

Anyway, that's a lot of doom and gloom but I'm actually very happy - I may not be where I thought I'd be but I have a mountain of wonderful things that I am constantly grateful for and the opportunity to get back on my path so I really can't complain - although my muscles probably will when I restart asana tomorrow! 😳😂😂

Have a fab slow day! 🐌

Brie

Nice to here from you and that life is sorting itself out ok.

Wednesday2000

Hello again! I'm sorry you have had such a tough time this year xx Hopefully your reset day will help you get into a better frame of mind.

I have had a couple of slow weeks (apart from my book group and a concert) but mostly I have stayed in and rested. I even started meditating at home again, mostly chakra clearing meditations on YT.

I did have a lovely Manual Lymphatic Drainage massage which was wonderful. I usually stay away from massage as I find the pressure too firm but this was blissful!

leftatthetrafficlights

Thank you for the welcome back @Brie and @Wednesday2000 ! 😁

@Wednesday2000 - your massage sounds nice - I’ve never had one (hate people touching me so don't do hairdressers either! 😂) but my son loves them and finds them really beneficial 😁

My reset day is not necessarily going to plan - I had a lie in this morning which was lovely but has put me on the back foot somewhat so I've decided just to clean my house, get up to date with the laundry and then just relax. I like to do my asana and meditation first thing in the morning but I can't enjoy it when the house looks like a shambles 🙄

One of the major changes in my life over the past few months is that I have become a foster parent for 4 indoor cats - I'm not a cat person and I like a clean and tidy space so why I agreed to it is beyond me!! 🤦‍♀️😂 It's only a temporary arrangement (although I've had them 50% longer than I originally agreed to already! 😳) but they have destroyed my carpets in the yoga room, stairs and landing; smashed lamps, destroyed an upstairs blind etc and my house needs vacuuming a minimum of twice a day 😔 it's a great deal more stressful and time consuming than I expected - I know that doing it has prevented them from ending up in a rescue and their owner from losing her pets but I'm very much looking forward to them going home!! 😱😂

Dinner last night didn't happen - we just weren't hungry - so I will make a salad later and we will have it tonight. I need to spend some time planning some meals and actually eating them - I've thrown out more food in the last couple of months than I have for years and that's totally unacceptable to me.

Anyhow, my plan for the rest of the day is to finish the house and laundry then have a spa shower and do a yoga nidra practice afterwards- I may have started the day slightly chaotically but I'm finishing it in tranquility! 😁

Have a fab slow day! 🐌😁

Brie

Cats do take over! Shame they haven't been more careful guests but they don't have that mentality.

Personally I like a massage and have had more (aka 3) in the last couple of months than I have had in the previous couple of years. I keep meaning to get on to someone's roster to iron out the kinks in my back brought on by either using the computer too much or slumping forward while doing my art stuff. I tend to take my glasses off to see better (despite them being varifocals) and thus end up with my nose about 8 inches from whatever I'm painting or drawing.

As for food waste….I've been cleaning out the cupboards after finding a far bit of stale cereal and leaving it out for the birds. They seem perfectly happy with muesli etc so I figure that's a win for me by not putting things in the bin instead.

Spa shower sounds delightful!!

Wednesday2000

I was thinking of fostering cats (or a 🐈‍⬛) when my dog passes away and we can move away from a main road. They sound a bit of an imposition, but good for you for taking care of them.

leftatthetrafficlights

@Brie - I'm glad it's not just me who takes off their varifocals to see better! 😂 Get that massage routine sorted - if it's something that you know will help, there's no point in being in pain! 😉 feeding creatures with stuff from your cupboards isn't food waste in my eyes - I spend a fortune on feeding the wildlife so it would be a saving in my opinion! 😁

@Wednesday2000 - think very carefully about cats if you have carpets - I'm looking at a £1500+ bill to replace mine once they've gone back home! 😳🤦‍♀️ Don't get me wrong, they are very sweet and funny and I care for them but I certainly wouldn't do it again!

Yesterday was a bit of a mash up - ended up having to be away from the house for most of the day so managed to do nothing I planned! Today is going to be a decompression day - just my dailies to get sorted and then I'm chillaxing until I need to make dinner (no idea what I'm making yet though!).

This weekend is the return of the football so I'm going to have a lot more time available for meditation and asana practices - however, the cats have taken over my yoga room so I may have to do the asana outside as it's difficult to concentrate when you've got moggies climbing on you! 😂 Other than that - my weekend is free so I'm looking forward to a very slow one!

Happy slow Friday! 🐌😁

Brie

Had the gardener here the other day and he warned me that there were wasps nesting in the grass at the back of the garden. Had a look and there was a patch that was crawling with them which surprised me.

After he left I remembered that that was a spot where I had dumped some very out of date raisins I'd found at the back of the cupboard. So not such a surprise as I know that wasps always went for the windfall apples & pears in the orchard at my mom's farm. It wasn't a problem as such as it kept the wasps in the orchard rather than around the house and broke down the unusable apples to mulch. Only issue was the resident doberman Beasley was a greedy pig and would try to eat anything at ground level which occasionally included some random wasps.

leftatthetrafficlights

@Brie 😱 on the wasps!! I'm not good with wasps and would probably be looking at moving house!! 😂

It's been an odd sort of day - I think I'm coming down with a cold so feeling a bit grotty - probably my body rebelling about the complete lack of care and attention it's had over the past few months! 🤦‍♀️ I had a few plans today but just haven't bothered with anything - I've decided just to have an early night and hopefully will be feeling better tomorrow 🤞

I've still not done any asana or meditation but am doing a yoga nidra practice in a minute so that will be nice - fingers crossed it leads to a good sleep and a brighter me in the morning! 😁

Have a fab slow evening 🐌😁

leftatthetrafficlights

Feeling lots better today! 🙌 I've done my first morning asana and meditation practices in a long time, sorted the cats and cleaned out their litter tray and am going to have a smoothie very soon for my breakfast.

I have decided that regardless of how I feel, I need to eat something good today - in the last four days I've had half a block of tofu, 3 slices of white bread (tofu 'egg' sandwich on two days) and two marmite rice cakes with patè - it's little wonder that I feel run down! 🙄🤦‍♀️ I know that I really need to start taking care of myself properly.

I want to build my strength and energy levels again and appreciate that, despite some very questionable decisions on how I've lived my life (alcohol, smoking, no consistent exercise for years, very little physical activity in general!), other than asthma, I have no health issues at all and I'm getting very close to 60 so my body has been very kind and forgiving!! I need to show gratitude for that by being much nicer to it and start to take care of it properly and that has to start right now. My body deserves better than I have provided to date.

I also need to get back to being frugal and more connected to my environment. So much has fallen by the wayside over the past eight months it's not okay. There's no use in worrying about it - I just need to re-commit to the life I want to live and make it a daily reality.

This week I'm planning on sorting out my food stores and doing an inventory of it all - I have less storage space in my kitchen now as my ds is back home and I've given him a couple of cupboards to use so it's even more important to know what I have and organise it! We have harvesting to do in the garden today so I'll start the list with what we freeze today (should be cavolo nero, carrots, sweetcorn and beans of various types). Over the next couple of weeks we'll be harvesting the elderberries and damsons so I need to make sure I've got enough jars and bottles to make chutney and cordial 😁 I need to get on top of leftovers too - I need to freeze things if I'm not going to repurpose them and eliminate food waste. My lack of appetite over the past few weeks in particular has meant that I've thrown away more than I've eaten and that really isn't okay at all. I also need to get better with the quantities I cook - I'd started to get a handle on it but I've lost the plot again! 🤦‍♀️

Anyway, time I went and made my smoothie - have a fab slow day! 🐌😁