Training Thought

Two days ago my cable TV was disconnected, on purpose, and the TV is physically going to be gone from my home within days. I don't have anything against TV, I love TV, but it was time for me to focus inward a bit more and turning off the outside chatter of the TV seemed like the first place to start. I never watched TV in the mornings or during the daytime, I only watched it starting around 7:00pm and used it to, as I would call, "decompress" or "chill" from my day.

The first night I stayed up on my computer searching for more information on minimal living, finally deciding to go to bed at 8:00pm. Toss and turn, toss and turn, I was finding it difficult to quiet my mind and it took, what seemed like, over an hour to fall asleep. I wondered if the feeling was boredom and maybe I should get up and read some more or get back on the computer.

Last night, same time, 8:00pm bedtime. Knowing what happened the night before I wish I had a good reading lamp and book...that would put me to sleep straight away....but I didn't. And to add insult to injury, after having an absolutely fabuloso day, something irritating happened right before I went to bed and I couldn't stop replaying it in my head. As I replayed it other similar things started to creep back in, stuff that happened in the past was adding fuel to the fire....

As I wrote about in my last blog post, part of the meaning behind the title of my blog is "Training....thought". Being aware of old thought patterns and old thinking habits, usually negative or at the very least counterproductive, and creating new more positive thoughts that help you find relief and hope, to move you in the direction of improving your mood and therefore your outlook on your life, allowing you focus on all of the great possibilities and change that await you.

Instead of replaying the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" song I started thinking about all of the positive feelings I had during the day. My early morning kettlebell workout rocked! My yoga practice was "the bomb". Talked with my oldest son Rick about the new condo he's moving into with his family (they are taking the TV by the way!) I took a large box of stuff to charity. I had a super great second cup of coffee at Peet's. I picked up a great audio book that I hope will help me on my new venture into minimalism. I had a great fresh salad for lunch, and for dessert I ate some fudge! A relaxing nap in the afternoon and then good wine at dinner....I wrote a decent blog post....zzzzzzz......zzzzzzzz

So much nicer falling asleep with positive thoughts and appreciation of all of the good things in life....I may not need a book!

Photo above: According to Bikram, half tortoise pose is supposed give you the same feeling of 8 hours of sleep in 30 seconds....I won't get into what I think of that....remember, postive thoughts, positive thoughts....lucky me that I have a great yoga practice, time to practice everyday, great yoga studios to train at and dedicated teachers that show up and lead me through every practice....lucky me.