Forget, Remember, Forget, Remember... sigh

I’ve started Morning Nutbags up again, as I’ve written about over here, but there’s much more going on with my morning routine than that.

It’s really a three parter: first there is reading and journaling for about 20 minutes. Then I get on the Morning Nutbags zoom and do about 30 minutes of functional movement targeted to the specific issues and needs of my own body (I could make that for you, by the way… just sign up for a one on one and we can figure it out… I digress because SQUIRRELS!).

And finally after the nutbags, I go out for a walk.

I always hit this wall with walking where I suddenly just CANNOT anymore. It’s BORINGGGGGG! I whine and I just stop.

It doesn’t mean I’m not ever walking, ha, but it does mean I give up the daily of it.

Then I start again and remember all the things that I have forgotten approximately ONE MILLION (pinky to mouth) times in my life:

First, I like it. It feels good to get outside and be around people and the energy of our neighborhood.

Second, I really like listening to podcasts and stimulating my brain with other people’s insights.

Third, I also really like turning on some Go Gos or something high energy and walking really fast. It starts to almost feel like dancing. It makes me smile at people. (Scary.)

Fourth, and this one is really what I’m writing about…

My hips are so damn tight when I don’t walk like this every day.

We sit. We all SIT WAY TOO MUCH.

We know this. But we don’t REALLY know it until we FEEL it.

And for too many humans, we don’t really feel it until it becomes a screaming sort of pain and then a serious chronic issue.

Often we say things like… well, I am aging… or well, that’s what happened to my grandmother…

But really? It’s quite simply that we just sit TOO. DAMN. MIUCH.

Because guess what? In about a week or so, my hips will no longer ache at the beginning of my walks because body adjusts so freaking fast when we give it even a tiny bit of what it needs.

Morning Nutbags Redux (with some changes)

When I started the Morning Nutbags morning zoom group for people to establish routines and rituals to create better starts to their days (and by “people” I mostly mean me… ha…), I really thought I would just do it for a couple of weeks.

That couple of weeks turned into almost 5 months. And then it just started to feel… off… or stale, and I thought maybe it had to do with the time of year we were entering into. Better weather, I thought, would negate the need for the group.

Now it’s been nearly two months without the group, and though at first, I was relieved not to have that responsibility Monday through Friday because you know… sleep, over the weeks it kept getting clearer and clearer to me how much I actually really need it.

And some in the group were meeting up here and there even during those months off. So others need it too.

New Format

We will be starting this group on Tuesday, July 5th.

This group will still be on Zoom. That’s the easiest thing.

We will start at 8:30 AM Eastern U.S. time. We will stay on zoom for about a half hour. At the end of the half hour, I’ll ring a little bell and we can say HAVE A NICE DAY! to each other.

But here’s the biggest changes:

There won’t be a waiting room so you come in between 8:30 and 8:35 AM. (No later so people aren’t distracted.)

You’ll enter muted and in silence because some people will already be doing their thing.

That’s it. No morning chat … not until AFTER if at all.

The point is to be there for each other energetically to help each other with our devotions.

When you enter, I might already be on the floor doing morning movement.

Or I’ll be writing.

Someone else might be meditating or painting.

That’s the point. It’s a quiet, supported room.

If you’re interested give me a shout on Facebook messenger.

I’ll create a group message where I’ll eventually share the link.

Morgenmuffels UNITE! Or the Meeting of the Morning Nutbags, a Free Group

To say that photo represents me in the morning would not be inaccurate. Me and morning have never been best friends. I got kinda better about mornings in the year or so before I met Craig and then when I first met him. But I was only kinda more friendly with morning because it was a time in my life when I was feeling so happy and energetic that I didn’t need as much sleep as I always have.

And by always, I mean always. Ask my mother. She’ll tell you that I slept over eight hours the first night home from the hospital. I slept so well and so regularly when I was a newborn that they, very young parents, were worried and took me to the doctor, who basically said, “CONGRATULATIONS!”

But then Craig came along and worked crazy hours and even now gets up at about 4:30 (AM!) to have time for coffee and the gym before starting work at 6:15 AM. He is a freaking morning person, for sure. Though he’ll weirdly deny that.

With his crazy hours, my own schedule got so thrown off that I no longer know what the heck I am. I know I do not like falling asleep before 11, that’s for sure.

Add in the pandemic and then Peony’s death and me and sleep have resorted back to kinda frenemies, not to mention how much worse morning has gotten.

Something had to change. I kept putting it off but I knew the answer. I just didn’t want to face and DO the answer. Let’s back up.

Neurodivergence and routines and change

I’ve wanted a new morning routine because I knew it affected the rest of my day.

Pre-Craig, I would get up and immediately take a shower and then sit and read and write and meditate/pray a bit. This worked beautifully and led to the rest of my day flowing naturally and easily from that start. I had kinda… monasticized my life.

Here’s another part of the equation: my weird brain has a hard time getting started. Whether it be the day or a project or whatever… getting started is hard.

YET routine is super important to my weird brain.

OY! I was caught in this kind of loop of not getting started and needing new routines to get started but not being able to start new routines.

TikTok to the Rescue

One of my favorite areas of TikTok is the neurodivergent creators. SO HELPFUL.

And I kept hearing about this concept of “body doubling.”

I also came upon the concept of “catalyst.” It’s how a different sort of brain needs something to get it started and that’s unique for everyone and figuring that out is key.

AH-HA Moment

I awoke with a start: OTHER PEOPLE ARE MY CATALYST!

Yep… duh.

Feeling responsible to other people (in the good way) is what makes me Do the Things.

This also incorporates body doubling. Just sitting with someone else while they write, for example, gets me writing.

A Free Zoom Group is Born and You Can Join

I put out a call. Was there anyone else who was struggling with a new morning routine, whether that mean starting your day with writing, art, meditation, movement, reading, whatever.

A few people said YES, PLEASE, and so we started.

I cannot overemphasize how profoundly this has impacted my life from moment one.

It works. Period.

I get up because I have to shower before I get on zoom and then I get everything ready and start the meeting at 8 AM. I wait until 8:05 and then we all go mute (you can also not have your camera on).

And we work. Together. But silently.

Until about 8:30 when I call time. (This is Eastern time.)

And from there, my day just GOES. I have gotten more done in the couple of days we’ve been doing this than probably the last MONTH.

I move more. I write more. My brain feels way more cooperative. I am getting downloads of ideas again. I’m reading more.

If you want in, just give me a yell.

OH! And during my reading the first day, I came upon this quote. We’re not a “buddhist community” but you get it:

“This involvement in a Buddhist community is invaluable to anyone wishing to take his or her practice seriously, and life as a Buddhist can be very difficult without regular contact with such a Sangha.”

Amen. Life as a human can be very difficult without regular contact with such a devoted and compassionate community.