Welcome to day three!
Light your candle, pour your tea, get out your journal, and let's start with a brief meditation.
Close your eyes, and imagine that as you inhale, your breath travels from the soles of your feet up the bones of your legs, upward through each vertebra of the spine, up the base of the neck, around the back of the skull, and up through the crown of your head. Each exhale pours the breath down the front of the face, past the throat, down the center of the ribcage, through the navel, then separates and flows down the fronts of both legs, pooling into the ground below the feet.
Breathe several times in this orbit, pulling the breath up the back of the body and exhaling it down the front of the body. Let yourself feel the circulation of the air. Notice any places in the body where the breath hitches or catches, and see if you can smooth out the breath on the next cycle.
When you feel present and connected, open your journal and look at the writing you did yesterday.
For every feeling, taste, scent, and desire that you wrote about wanting to experience this winter, make a list on the next page of reasons why you cannot have it.
For example, if I wrote yesterday that I want to feel warm and well-rested, my list might look something like this:
I want to feel warm and well-rested.
I can't be warm and well rested because I live in the mountains and it's cold and heating the house costs money.
I can't be warm and well-rested because I work too much and there's never enough time to sleep.
I can't be warm and well rested because everyone wants a piece of me and I can never relax.
I can't be warm and well rested because I have insomnia.
I can't be warm and well-rested because I gave all my best blankets to my son for his blanket fort.
You get the idea...really go to town here and get everything that stands in your way down on paper.
When you have all of your lists completed, review them and circle the three reasons that pop up most often.
They might be lack of time, lack of money, relationships, losses, important roles and obligations, lack of motivation, or even a physical or mental condition. Whatever they are for you, circle the top three.
Now look at these three things and ask yourself this question:
Are these three reasons convincing proof that you can't have the feelings you want this winter?
Or are they more convincing as proof that you SHOULD create the feelings you want this winter?
Sit with that for the next 24 hours and I'll see you tomorrow!
Please feel free to share any questions or comments below!