Such a long way to go in the journey to true self awareness, emotional growth and spiritual awakening. March has been full of reminders of self work still to be done: what a blessing.
First, from the perspective of doing things I don’t particularly want to (but know I should do). In sport/music - no problem. In life - forget about it. This classic tendency: putting off tricky conversations, and procrastinating around significant chunks of meaningful work - is an ongoing challenge. Apparently the latter is good for creativity?!
Different environments aren’t the answer, evolving the self….IS.
Second, it seems old habits do truly die hard. Some corruptible facets of personal behaviour have crept back in this month which i’d thought were long gone. It really is a lifelong commitment, requiring daily fastidiousness, to purge intrinsic malfeasant desires that do not serve us. Thank goodness for the discipline of the spreadsheet, when all else fails the simplicity of this unyielding, unrelenting quest is edifying.
Third, and finally, there’s a lazy streak which isn’t particularly apparent at the surface level - but take a peek under the hood and it is all too obvious. Spending too much time on the phone, not enough time writing, pining for attention, relying on extrinsic (often vacuous) motivation are recurrent themes.
Fortunately some reliable strengths are worth celebrating. I played a tremendous amount of sport: Basketball, Tennis, Football, Swimming, Golf. Great to spend some quality time with my sister. We were very active simultaneously, playing hoops especially. Same goes with my father smashing some incredible putts at the Golf. Planning to do a lot of walking, swimming and yoga with my mother in April!
At work, i’ve survived the covid cull, responsibilities have stepped up as i’ve absorbed roles, and pay has risen. I have just dipped my toes into NFTs which seem to be capturing the collective imagination. Very keen to spend lots of time and energy on both in April.
Guitar has been a gentle giant. I am especially proud of progress with Meditteranean Sundance; it is starting to sound slick! Stevie Wonders’ “Isn’t she Lovely” is a vibe to play too. Have not spent enough time learning his material…..that all changes now. And Rory has been killing it on producing the latest raft of tracks (Time to Breathe + Hold It In finished). The new album(s) are going to be out of this world. Mark, bless him, has put in a solid effort on remixes and recording sessions too - thank goodness for the StoryMoja’s recording studio!
From the perspective of tutoring, our opportunities have been few and far between to really kick on with looming exams. Going to have to put faith in our work from earlier in the year, as well as keeping the revision schedule interesting. Exam technique will be the difference.
Managed a one day fast (bad sleep). Sleep in general has been piecemeal. Not sure why, I am probably aiming for too much. It is fantastic not to have to be up early with remote work. My Wim Hof breathwork really tailed off towards the end of the month. I find it much easier to do with other people (strange). Preparation and training with apnea seems to have improved my Heart Rate Variability (cold showers!) & SP02 levels (good for covid apparently).
