Being in my body: practicing yoga, elliptical, massage, breathing
Doing things with my hands: crochet, sewing, writing with a pen, folding laundry
Organizing
Acting; specifically, performing for an audience
Food: cooking and eating
I've noticed that when I'm following a path that leads me away from these things, my cranky alarm goes off. This becomes especially evident when I'm hungry, as anyone who's spend a lot of time with me has probably witnessed.
In San Francisco, I'd exercise for an hour first thing every single morning. It helped me focus, energize, and feel healthy and pretty. These days, I spend 9 hours a day sitting at a desk, answering a phone and doing my thing on the interwebs. I make it to yoga or the gym a few days a week, but always in the evening when I'm exhausted from sitting (How is this possible? It's the same thing with travel) or weekends when my brain is distracted. I've started to develop pain in my lower back and hips that is made worse by sitting and better by moving around. Coincidence? No! Psychosomatic? Entirely possible! This morning I woke up obscenely early (5:45... with the garbage men) and got myself to the gym before work. And wouldn't you know, today I feel great. Yes, still some pain from sitting down, but I have energy to spare and even a bit of joie de vivre at this boring, mind-numbing job. It's an obvious solution nearly every time I have a problem- not just literal exercise, but listening to what my body needs.
There is no self without body, but sometimes there is body without self. And it totally sucks.
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