My MORE Mantra

This post is part of the My MORE Mantra Project; to celebrate the release of Lorna Jane’s latest book, MORE of the Fit Woman’s Secrets.

To sneak a glimpse of what MORE meant to me back in the days of yore, take a look at this post that I wrote on Monday.

MORE wasn’t pretty. It was brutal, abrasive, and hate-fuelled.

But- thank the lord – it’s different today.

Five ways I extract more out of my day, these days.

1. Do Less.

Conundrum, much? Trust me on this one. Overwhelm is a construct of the mind, and it peaks when we burden ourselves with a buffet of stuff we deem ‘important.’ Don’t get me wrong- sometimes, it very much is important, but we human beings have this pesky little habit of making mountains out of mole hills.

Singular focus: it rocks. The days of aspiring to be Wonder Woman are over (consider this your official permission). Multitasking sends you on a crash course to overwhelm city. Plus, it’s absolute BALLS on your nervous system.

Aim to give what you’ve got to one thing at a time. One email at a time, one work out at a time, one blog post, one meal, one idea at a time.

MYMOREMANTRA isn’t actually about doing MORE- it’s about doing things well. It’s about feeling good. It’s about maintaining some semblance of balance – because, yep – I believe that balance is in fact possible. Balance is what you make it. If you’re feeling good, then you’re balanced, it’s as simple as that.

2. Meditate first thing in the morning.

Start your day on a 10.

Raise your vibration. The higher you’re vibing, the more good stuff you attract in your life. It’s Universal Law.

AND!- bonus, the higher you’re vibing, the more you’ll naturally gravitate towards wholesome foods, invigorating exercise and low-stress environments. Yum.

Bend time. Do you have a shady relationship with time? Meditation enables you to become somewhat of a Sorceress of Minutes; defying the clock with outrageous productivity, focus and creativity.

When you’re rooted solidly in your body, and connected to your power source, your to-do list becomes less hairy. Less scary. It can even become a joy!

3. Exercise according to my body.

I’m not the girl who battles on through a run when my body is screaming at me. Lack of endurance? Limited mental muscle? Perhaps. I prefer this answer: I listen to my body.

My meditation practice has brought out a new found focus when I’m getting my sweat on. Whether I’m breathing deeply through a five minute pigeon during a Yin class, or hanging on for dear life while I work my butt in Pilates Barre, exercise is different now.

All of it is governed by my breath. I’m not a fan of the ‘it’s your mind VS your body’ mentality. I’ve worked hard at cultivating psychosomatic unity, and to be quite honest, I’m done with the war! When all eyes are on my breath, I CAN stretch a little deeper, I CAN lift my legs a little higher, and I CAN run a little further.

There’s a certain amount of gentle ferociousness that comes with present determination.

That’s where you’re REALLY powerful; when your ‘performance’ is self referencing and you take comfort knowing that you’re running your own sweet race (‘scuse the pun).

4. Prep it.

We have a cold-press juicer, so I often batch-juice a few days in advance. Vitamins on tap, baby.

I do the same thing with coffee, for enemas. I boil up a whole pot, and once it’s cooled, I store the coffee in glass jars in the fridge, so when it’s – ahem – time to rock and roll, there’s no need to fluff around bringing java to the boil.

Snacks are paramount. Raw crackers, young thai coconuts, left-overs, dates and homemade peanut butter. The stuff keeps me going between clients and writing sessions.

At night, I make sure I have my work out gear clean and ready to go for the next day. I also tidy my office at night. De-cluttered working space = supersonic productivity.

To add a nice little spiritual touch, I’ll also put some oracle cards and specific crystals on my desk as a reminder to tap into my intentions before tapping on my keyboard.

Batch processing. This doesn’t work for everyone, but it seems to be working pretty well for me.

Monday I write and schedule my blog posts for the week.
Tuesday I write stuff. Non-blog related stuff (Party Girls, interviews, brainstorm sessions).
Wednesday through to Saturday morning I coach clients and tie up lose ends as they arise.
Sunday I switch off from work and dive into Self Centred Sundays.

I’ve started tending to my emails in the morning, before banning myself from the inter webs with the Self Control app. Bloody brilliant.

Lunch dates. Dinner dates. Creative dates. Get ’em in your diary. They feed your spirit (and your belly!), break up your day nicely, fill up your cup-o-sanity (haha!) AND they certainly make you feel as though you’re getting MORE out of your day.

We’re human after all, and being around humans we love, makes us feel MORE alive, MORE grateful, MORE joyful.

5. Create pockets of joy

Sometimes, I bounce on my mini tramp in between emails.

Sometimes, I dance around the house in my undies to house music.

Sometimes, I walk over to the beach and talk to the ocean for a wee bit. It makes me feel better. It clears my noggin.

Sometimes, I don’t do much at all- and still feel as though my day unfolded beautifully…

My day will never look like yours. Yours will never look like mine. But perhaps this snapshot of what MORE means to me can inspire you to ease your nervous system, garner some laser focus, and give everything you’ve got to your day, one experience at a time.

That’s what MORE means to me: PRESENCE – EASE – QUALITY.

Let’s hear from you. Whats your MOREMANTRA? If you were to get MORE out of your day today, what would that look like? See you in the comments.