By Donna Dimino ~ I usually begin my day with nourishing movement, free writing and being with nature in some capacity. Then I write out my “to do” list. However, lately I find writing that to do list feels almost insurmountable. A slew of guilt-ridden thoughts follow, for what I know, even as I write it, that most will likely not get done.
Yet still each morning, I neatly write on a clean fresh piece of paper what I think needs to be accomplished that day. Noting the words, think and needs, I feel a heaviness come into my shoulders and a tightening in the back of my neck. It is an exhausting way to start my day.
Then one day when I found myself doodling on my fresh list, an epiphany appeared – what about a to be list instead?
I stopped doodling, my shoulders relaxed and my body became alert. Like a small woodland animal sensing its next bit of nourishment; a flow of questions arose.
What would support my capacity to simply be, right here, in this present moment?
Who would I need to be?
What would truly nourish a sense of well being?
And the term well be-ing took on a sweeter meaning for me.
Hmmm… I find myself beginning to wonder.
“Wonder”, as author Sonia Choquette writes,”… opens the intuitive door and is the portal to the heart.”
More questions came.
Who do I want to be today?
What are the things I can do to be more myself now?
The way we begin our day often sets the way our day will go, whether it’s intentional or unintentional.
The to do list often draws our attention outside of ourselves, pulling our energy in so many directions that we can lose sight of what we really wanted to accomplish in the first place.
What if we explore starting our day by writing a to be list to begin our day in in alignment with who we truly are and what we truly want to create in our lives and in our world?
I invite you to take a moment to pause, close your eyes and melt into your shoulders and the back of your neck.
Offer your body a few deep breaths. Now ask yourself, what might writing a to be list bring to your day?
Think of what might be accomplished. Could a to do list achieve the same?
What if we start out by writing a list of things that could set our day in motion… for well be…ing if you will. It doesn’t have to feel logical, it only has to feel good for us. Maybe we could start our day there.
Perhaps it’s a certain kind of movement that makes you smile; maybe it’s doodling on an oversized piece of paper with no lines or scheduling time to do nothing.
What might your to be list be today?
How about just to be, and let it be?
Donna Dimino is the founder of Living Body Awareness, a body centered healing and energy practice devoted to exploring the innate wisdom and power of the body to guide, to nourish, to heal and to connect us back to ourselves.
