Ping!

Mornings are my favorite time, just one of the personal characteristics that mark me as an introvert. I need time to myself, time to renew my sense of my place in space and time, time to get centered, time to touch base with a few selected sources of input and inspiration. Like any other busy professional in this century, I have mornings when I grab coffee and race out to early meetings, but at least a few times a week, I need this time to think, read and write; without it I get a little crazy and more than a little difficult to deal with.

Perhaps even more important that the time for internal processing is the opportunity to skim headlines, review my favorite blogs, and review several horoscopes. I am looking for a ping. I am looking for the thing I didn’t know I was looking for. The item that jumps off the page and says, “Me! Me! I’m the idea you want! Take me home and chew on me.” Here are ideas I am chewing on:

MSN headline….what about a week-long yoga retreat?….This appeals to me because I am trying to retrain myself to make physical activity much more habitual. I am thinking of changing my work schedule to explicitly incorporate three mornings a week at the gym; it is important to me, and I think it can work with the demands of my job. Beyond the benefits of energy and appearance, I love stretching. I love a sauna after stretching. And I want to re-establish a daily practice that encourages a closer link between my sense of my physical self and my head, where I spend most of my time.

I have never been athletic, in fact always was the last chosen for teams and the kid most likely to kick the kickball and get hit on the head when it came down from the sky. I was the kid who took three years to pass beginning swimming. Any new task that could be filtered through the conscious mind, I learned quickly. But if it was a task that relied on muscle learning, I just didn’t get it. And I still don’t. And so I find myself living in Vermont in mid-winter, desperately wishing I could ski (cross-country) or skate, but remembering the injuries I did to myself the last times I tried to learn. Surely, there must be someone who can teach a physically backward middle aged woman how to enjoy sliding.

I also skim my junk mail. Ever since I went on that cruise to Alaska a few years ago, I still get mailings. Among my best memories of that cruise is standing at the front of the ship surrounded by windows, walking on a treadmill and drinking in the spectacular Alaskan mountain and sea view. Another is taking a sea kayak trip out to see red starfish splayed up and down boulders in a bay, otters hooting at us from their island perch as we paddled past. Oh my. How long has it been since I had a vacation that renewed body and spirit as that one did?

There’s a cruise to Montreal, they say, for Winter Carnival. I don’t need the cruise ship, nor am I likely to want to brave a new city in a foreign language (even one I know a little) in the midst of a major event. But a long weekend in Montreal could appeal. I have to think about that. I need clothes, so a little shopping might be called for, and I still maintain that Vermont’s only real shortcoming is a lack of diverse and inexpensive ethnic food, a draw to Montreal. Puppy responsibilities are behind me, and the big boys manage well for a couple of days on their own, now that I have good baby-sitters for them.

Change the daily schedule…it is a long term gift you give yourself.
Find a three-day yoga retreat…a week might be too much, but three days would be a perfect way to get reacquainted with your body and soothe mind and spirit
The concept of vacation is good. The concept of a long weekend in Montreal has immediate appeal. Why didn’t I think of this before?

Ping!