BBC's Dimple Blog: Come on where’s your fighting spirit?

I’m reminded of one of my favourite poems of all time, one I keep hidden away handwritten in my wallet so whenever I feel super stressed and lonely I read it and it always positively moves something mentally for me.  And isn’t that what we need right now? The move away from our mental and physical hibernation.  Spring is in the air I can smell it and feel it.  Regardless of the economic situation we find ourselves in nature will still produce longer days (in the Northern Hemisphere at least) blossom will flower, daffodils will smile their yellow faces and the growth of new things.  Nature doesn’t care, it carries on regardless.  And I believe that despite those fears and anxieties about our uncertain futures we should stop wallowing, pick ourselves up and become creative and realise that the best things in life are FREEEEEEEEEE!

This week I was going to talk a little more about yoga however nearly every conversation I am having appears to come back to the economic crisis we all face and how our fears and anxieties have arisen to the surface in a far more ‘here I am you can’t run away from me’ kind of way.  And it seems to be everywhere I look.  Apparently we are edging ourselves towards greater obesity because sales of fast food have arisen rather dramatically as share prices have fallen and once secure brand names have slid into oblivion.

I find this worrying for many many reasons and if you get me talking about it then you probably won’t get me to shut up.  We all have vices or better put, ways of escaping our reality, some of us drink copious amounts labeling it ‘having a good time’ which I am sure many do, some people gamble ‘stock markets come to mind’, others eat fast food laden with chemicals and sugar and some lose themselves in their fantasies.  I’m not advocating any of these behaviours and I have been guilty of it myself.  What is interesting is that there are so many articles being written in the media about greedy bankers pursuing strategies that brought them immense reward and recognition in the shorter term, amongst their peers and within their organizations, rather than looking for real longer term value because lets face it, by that time many will have retired and looked to put their money into other endeavours.  So we berate those very bankers and their strategies and when I think about it there appears to be a case of pots and kettles going on here.   You see when you think about it, isn’t our need for short term fixes to mask our fears and anxieties which I do believe are real and genuine, through drinking, smoking, gambling, shopping and eating to name a few exactly that.  SHORT TERM STRATEGIES.  Have we not learnt anything?  The news we are hearing right now is predominantly about how short term strategies have failed us and that we are now looking to create a new world order which is going to be more about sustainability, both economically and environmentally.

So looking at your own ecosystem, the environment that you create for yourself in terms of your own health & wellbeing should become even more important now I reckon.  Sure feasting on sugar laden processed food because it is cheaper might get you through but actually it is a false economy.  It makes you unwell in the longer term, increasing your chances of cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and so many other ailments that I don’t fancy dwelling on right here right now.  It’s about your ‘LONG TERM’ health and wellbeing.  There won’t be any point having accumulated wealth and such like if you aren’t going to be able to enjoy it with people you love later on down the line.  Most of the people I know invest for their financial longer term however hard it might be to see it right now, but how many think of their health & wellbeing in the same way?  Right now the temptation would be to bury your head in the sand. Again my favourite poem comes to mind here…….

I’m not saying don’t do X or Y I’m just saying stop and think about how you’re feeling and air it somehow.  Writing it down or ‘journaling’ as it is more fashionably known is one method I find really useful in airing exactly how I  feel without any fear of it being labeled.  Also you could speak to someone close and just share it.  You could dance your way through it feeling those fears leave your body through movement and music, sing it away, kiss it away even.  But ‘FEEL’ exactly what you are feeling, become aware of those fears and then let them go.  It’s not easy but actually it IS that easy.  Maybe having our fears is actually a source of comfort to us rather than connecting to our power and creativity. As Marianne Williamson so famously wrote and which was then used in a speech by Nelson Mandela:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us".

Writing things down and dancing are two activities I find incredibly liberating and they both allow me to comfortably feel and let go of those things I don’t want to feel, so try it this week.  Write down for just 15 minutes a day your truest thoughts and feelings, the good stuff and the not so good stuff, the fantasies, the uncertainties.  Write it all down without thinking about it.  Even when you think you have nothing to write I promise you 15 minutes every day when it suits you – you’ll have plenty to write about once you get started and you’ll find it amazing not just in terms of letting go of fears and anxieties but also some of your brightest ideas and insights will unconsciously come through when you write.  That’s what I’ve found anyway.  I start off rambling on about something that has ticked me off and within a sentence or two I’m writing down something that really helps me in my work, my relationships, everything really.  So please try it.

I also feel that the current lets face it ‘economic meltdown’ will get us all reassessing who and what is important in our lives and that can’t be a bad thing.  Maybe we’ll start to become a little more shrewd and stick closer to our values or maybe even work out what our personal values really are.  There’s plenty of opportunity if you look for it.  Rather than throw money at ideas and hoping one will stick perhaps we’ll all start to get more dare I say it ‘entrepreneurial’ with our lives, loves and businesses taking more calculated risks and overcoming obstacles again and again and again, in essence experiencing more more and then some more.  We’ll probably make more mistakes and label it as failure but hey if you are trying to do more and be more than the numbers of mistakes made will of course go up.  That’s just basic maths. The good thing is we’ll all learn from those mistakes and importantly unearth our hidden creativity and energy to handle anything and everything that comes our way.  So next time you take a pitstop at McDonaldsville or are about to drink that one more glass of wine ask yourself... "do I really want and need this and if I continued to have it every day what impact will that have for me in the longer term?"

Now onto my favourite poem...

It is called If and is by Rudyard Kipling and here it is... so very beautiful.

If

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling