The alarm goes off.
I tap ‘snooze’ but I don’t snooze. I wiggle my toes, sometimes singing the ‘Wake Up Toes’ song.
I wiggle my fingers. I rub my feet, then my legs, then my arms, my chest, my scalp, my face. It’s sort of like taking a shower but in bed and without water.
A bed bath.
Last, I draw my legs up like a frog and put the soles of my feet together. I wrap my arms around my stomach in a tight hug. I enjoy the warmth of the bed and wait for the second alarm.
I didn’t do this pre-COVID. This is how I wake up now because it’s a way for a person who is not touched (unless it’s by accident, when a cashier hands over a receipt) to be touched.
When the alarm goes off again, I sit up and silence it. I rub the soles of my feet briskly on the little rug by my bed. (That feels good, too.) I use the bathroom.
Back in my bedroom, I pick up the sports bra that is on my nightstand and put it on, right on top of my PJs. I prop the pillows against the headboard and get back into bed.
The sports bra was on my nightstand because that’s where I put it the night before. Jim Loehr wrote, in The Power of Full Engagement, that he keeps his weightlifting gloves at the side of his bed. When he puts on the gloves, that’s the signal to his body: time to lift weights.
When I pull on my sports bra, that’s the signal to my body: time to meditate.
For meditation technique, it would be better if I meditated on a mat on the floor, rather than sitting up in bed. But according to my Success equation calculation, the bed is better.
Quality x Adoption = Success
Let’s give mat meditation a quality rating of 10. But when I use the mat, I meditate only three or four days a week. Call it 50%.
10 Quality x .5 Adoption = 5 Success
But sitting in bed, I meditate almost every day. Call it 90%. And let’s say the quality is an 8.
8 Quality x .9 Adoption = 7.2 Success
7.2 beats 5.
The meditation exercises I do are from The Archetype Diet. First I do two minutes of Sufi Grinds—this is the one that is better on the mat.
Then I do three minutes of Fists of Anger—this is the one that makes the sports bra necessary.
Then I do four minutes of sitting meditation. Next week I’ll share the words I say during my sitting mediation. We’ll follow that up with a deep dive into how I came up with those words and what they mean to me.
Even though I’m writing about my words and what I say to my Self, what matters more are your words and what you say to your Self.
I hope my words in some way help you with your words.
Chewing the Cud of Good
Thankful for Dr. Bob and how he is helping me care for Leda (who is on a diuretic and feeling better).