Saturdays

I wonder how you all start your Saturdays?

I smile quite a bit at the ultimate lists of best way to start your morning.I nod with acceptance as they all seem doable. I take a deep note in my mind to forever remember. I visualise myself taking these exact steps to kick-off my mornings. I can proudly say that I do practice some of these tips occasionally and I do believe in establishing a good routine for grounded ,functioning overall,totally customised to my needs.

Weekdays and weekends routines can engage me in different way and I wanted to take on Saturday’s in particular. This has the highest pressure on my expectations for such a long time and this comes to be a stable homework for my wellbeing in general.

If we are to listen to the professionals mastering the art of awakening the body some of the following tips make so much sense for me. And I mean it.

• Start by stretching your body (releasing the tightness of the myofascia).

• Start by drinking a glass of water with salt , get outside and soak up some sun shine and then go for a fast walk, run, whatever your body can do for the first 15 minutes (it is definitely both for your gut and for your brain). Coffee works but please, only 2 hours later after you wake up

• Start by writing down all the downloads early on in the day, the practice of “morning pages” ( it is a powerful practice for capturing unaltered worlds and great for creativity work).

• Start by meditating, gentle breathing - everything will do, few minutes of stillness mixed with gratitude and setting the intention for the day( a great practice to focus on the important and the present). Take it up in time to 30 minutes or one hour.

• Eat your first meal(preferable protein) in the first 30 min after waking up and after you drank the miraculous water

Drinking your coffee or your “sauce”, as I overheard Tim Ferris calling it a recent interview, is a bit unhealthy now. It messes up with your cortisol levels already high when the body awakens.

The all mentioned methods are the ones that seem sensible to me and that make most sense. How do I translate all of these into my own customised routine?

First and foremost- like a lot of us, it is the ceremony of making the coffee. While this little gem of a ceremony that makes me happy is happening filling the house with a great aroma, I have now integrated stretching. I have no idea what I was doing all these years without it! Sometimes has more yogini flavours with some targeted areas, sometimes and sunrises, sometimes is pure flow and makes me improvise almost my own music in my head. So idyllic right! Bathed in the sun rays at 6 am I am moving my body in this magic undulating dance.

Coffee is ready and I take my cute dog Tao ( illustrated on the cup! And I fill my heart with gratitude for the beautiful view on the balcony embracing the sun when in abundance. This sounds amazing when you think of the view above. It can last for about 10 minutes, all depending on how early I can be on the balcony. 5.45 to 6am is still workable. 8 am impossible in the summer , scorching hot baby!

The truth about the coffee. Call it obsession and call it unhealthy and I would surely try again to maybe go one more without it for a “elimination type of diet” I like to practice. The truth is that it makes me grounded, it is my staple and reliable coping partner or makes my family happy when I am around to make it for them, or my found-family of friends when they are sleeping over. As my mum would say, it is what it is. Her ritual is to have a coffee at 8am with her neighbour. Solid practice to my knowledge so far.

I hope you follow my morning “itinerary” so far.

Taking now our cute dog Tao inside, I sunk in one of my super comfy armchair/sofa and deep dive in contemplation. This is the second major grounding element in the morning -stillness, developing awareness in breathing more and more, a simple contemplative practice that I own for ages. It is also called meditation ( without the physical lotus pose), perhaps maybe contemplating the lotus flowering in our life and the depths of that lake.

This contemplation brings me back to the “day”. It also still lingers in some dreams and fantastic realms or people or dogs I have met in my sleep. At times tumultuos dreams. At times funny one. At times no memory of them, just a feeling.

As you guessed already, this is a routine for the people living on their own(relationship status not to be discussed here- as I almost wrote “a routine for single people” and have deleted later on.) No relevance really.

Or for people who can wake up very early in the morning, while some other might sleep. It is not always doable. Even with company or roommates, people sense the coffee aroma and they are drawn to my space as soon as they can. I am kind though …although I might raise up my eyebrows severely. It is advisable to not talk much with me when I am in the contemplation phase. I am not real. And I might get grumpy. Lol. In case no one noticed so far.

By the time the day progresses and we meet around coffee number three, waters are easier to navigate.

Now, now, now. About the morning pages. I love so much this practice. And I have embraced it feverishly for many years. In the recent years it took more on notes and writing whenever I am onto something, or an inspiration sprung onto me. With all the lock downs, masks and things that happened not long ago, I was prompted quite a bit to get out in the nature and walk or be on the grass for the first part of the morning. Writing vigorously in the early hours was not always handy. So…. Adaptations strategies.

Aha! Strategy and planning. This is all I wanted to talk to you in fact today.

Saturdays are these big days in my head. After I enjoy all the calming, grounding and simple practices to remove myself from the dream world of the night into the DAY light…..there is a phenomena taking place. Just by looking at the view and marvelling with deep deep gratitude on how gorgeous that is sending big thanks to the universe, my mind starts inviting herself in. She thinks that I am now fully restored, brimming with the energy of the default free time at the weekend and brings it all these expectations on how I should spend my time.

Let’s take yesterday the perfect example of this syndrome.

I did feel all the brimming energy for around 1 hour and I have made this shortlist, (unfortunately written with some red marker a choice that literally annoyed me later,I am not in school! Hence no need for this” correction” feeling to it ) …and found it very doable and implementable that day. Big stuff, deadlines, my creative projects promises to myself, and all looked lovely, all that my heart wanted. Absolutely ideal and idyllic. New life pouring in my veins. I was even imagining myself going first to the village bakery, enjoying a nice apple tart for a bit of indulgence to kick-off the creative flow.

And I fell asleep.

I fell asleep with my spine straight on the softest armchair-sofa, succumbed to the loud sunshine and balmed in heat. (Yeah, we also have these unresolved ventilation issues now).

My head slowly moved later I suppose and I did wake up slightly when my head hit the hard surface. All I could do is to notice I was napping in a perfectly straight position (one of my hidden talents). And then, the red big lettered note with my big strategy and plans for the day starred heavily at me.

I really wondered then, am I the only one. Is there something wrong with me. The commotion started by my mind really changed the flavour of my morning.

I could not accept for quite few hours that moving was not in the cards. Creating was not in the cards. What was in the cards was to allow space for slow motion, for easy tasks like feeding myself , like taking up more sun and doing few rounds on the roof top not because I was suntanning, just because “Jane” my best friend lives there.

I just called my washing machine Jane. Improvisations galore and we love playing with naming things in our family.

The Saturday syndrome for me is the commotion of thoughts wanting me to do things, while my body, my better half, said NOOOOOOOOOOO.

Is not that I dwelling into negative things, I simply wish one thing and I can deliver something totally different. My dreams and actions do not meet in the middle.They are the opposite poles. The guilt was in fact quite big and not that friendly either.

At the end, I just looked forward to go for a nap.Because there was the nap time - so all was kind of socially acceptable.

It was only at that point (we are talking now about 4 pm ) that I have surrendered to my own reality and accepted that I need only one thing and that is REST. There was no more guilt, there was no more annoyance,there was no more struggle. No more “should” , no more “must”, no more “need to” , list still there to follow but I have turned the page.

Once I woke- up again, third time in a row during the same Saturday , I did practice some movement and shifted some books and shelves around. Everything helped at that point.Found a nove, by Barbara Kingslover and happily settled back in the sofa, with a clear mission now: to rest, replenish my mind, body and soul and deep dive in other realities in other stories than mind.

Unsheltered, Barbara Kingslover

And this is how I led into the dawn and sunset and pitch darkness until about I would say 9pm. A beautiful candle was lit, soft soul music was played, think Olivia Fern kind, windows were largely open for some air flow when it became a bit acceptable to do so, and I could say by 9pm I felt myself again.

Accepting and embracing what was needed. Trully needed. Outside of should and must expectations.

That translated into changing my location, still taking “Unsheltered” with me and falling asleep again one page 152.

The morale of the story being - this has helped me tremendously to recharge and also being able to tell you a story too on Sunday.

Make peace with all that you can achieve.It is enough.

Love and coffee chats …..