Shift Happens so New Perspectives May Bloom

Today I woke up with a sense of urgency and direction, that is after I hit snooze on my alarm when it went off at 5 am. My routine is pretty standard:

1. Meditation: A 7 minute exercise including choosing what I will focus on during the day and a visualized “dress rehearsal” for the day ahead.
2. Full body stretching that starts with lying in bed and end in a position to leap forward, up and out. I don’t know how I got by without this brief, five minute stretching routine.
3. Writing, stream of consciousness style, in response to what I wrote the night before in my pre-bedtime “jots” which I also see as “notes to my highest self.”
4. Skin care/hygiene/water/dress and out the door.

Today was the first time in weeks I completed all the steps.

It ought not surprise me how the word “excellence” floated into my brain during meditation. I almost balked as I breathed in and out, in and out.

“Excellence! Pah! Bah! Excellence? Ummmm, nah. Not that.”

What happened? Without thinking about it my perspective shifted and I promptly created excellence.

I left the house on a very happy note and as I drove to this morning’s choice of walking spaces I allowed the morning invocation of the Gayatri Mantra to further shape my day.

Something about doing this mantra not only makes me smile it keeps me smiling all morning long. By the time I arrived at the trail, I was so filled with excitement and positive energy I couldn’t wait to hike.

I went farther than I have ever walked on this particular trail even though I could have wasted my energy on worrying about whether or not I would be late to pick up Samuel since I hiked so far. 

I wasn’t late to pick up Samuel. I was right on time. I was still smiling. Both the moment and I were the symbolic personification of excellence.

I shifted my perspective and naturally floated into excellence not because I was trying hard.

I shifted into excellence because of my attitude, my willingness to complete the steps of my practice and allowed my natural propensity of excellence to take over the naysaying side of me that has been known to persist during the past few years.

There are so many benefits to hiking, some of which I couldn’t have set as goals when I stared because I didn’t know they were an issue.

Downward slopes frightened me at first.

Ten days ago on the Umal Trail near Greenhorn Summit I walked up a steep slope and on the way down if it wasn’t for children I heard coming from a further direction, I wouldn’t have gone so quickly.

2020 has been a year I have spent more time outside than I have in many years. This is a bonus that cannot be measured entirely accurately.

Scientists at Harvard University studying a growing field called ecotherapy have illustrated a a strong connection between time spent in nature and reduced stress, anxiety, and depression and they don’t know why exactly being outdoors has a positive shift in how we feel emotionally. 

This year has been seen as a problematic year. Indeed it has in many ways – their are a lot of people grieving and the unrest has been tragic.

Not discounting what has been horrible, I have begun to be willing to celebrate 2020.

This shift in perspective feels good, doesn’t it?

Julie JordanScott helps creative people transform their lives from decent and “fine” into a shifted, remarkable life when they choose to make one small shift to inspire a renewed life of fulfillment, hope, satisfaction and whatever their desire may be underneath their previously ordinary life.