L'Shana Tova

A friend shared this reflection tool and I found it too beautiful and thought-provoking not to share.

From: Levy, R.D. (Ed.) (1985). On Wings of Awe: A Machzor for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Hillel Foundations. pp. 104-106.

The day has come

To take an accounting of my life.

Have I dreamed of late

Of the person I want to be,

Of the changes I would make

In my daily habits,

In the way I am with others,

In the friendship I show companions,

Woman friends, man friends, my partner,

In the regard I show my father and mother,

Who brought me out of childhood?

I have remained enchained too often to less than what I am.

But the day has come to take an accounting of my life.

Have I renewed of late

My vision of the world I want to live in,

Of the changes I would make

In the way my friends are with each other

In the way we find out whom we love

The way we grow to educated people

The way in which the many kinds of needy people

Grope their way to justice?

I, who am my own kind of needy person, have been afraid of visions.

But the day has come to take accounting of my life.

Have I faced up of late

To the needs I really have –

Not for the comforts which shelter my unsureness

Not for honors which paper over my (really tawdry) self,

Not for handsome beauty in which my weakness masquerades,

Not for unattractiveness in which my strengths hide out –

I need to be loved.

Do I deserve to be?

I need to love another.

Can I commit my love?

Perhaps its object will be less than my visions

(And then I would be less)

Perhaps I am not brave enough

To find new vision

Through a real and breathing person.

I need to come in touch with my own power,

Not with titles,

Not possessions, money, high praise,

But with the power that it is mine

As a child of the Power that is the universe

To be a comfort, a source of honor,

Handsome and beautiful from the moment I awoke this morning

So strong

That I can risk the love of someone else

So sure

That I can risk to change the world

And know that even if it all comes crashing down

I shall survive it all—

Saddened a bit, shaken perhaps,

Not unvisited by tears

But my dreams shall not crash down

My visions not go glimmering.

So long as I have breath

I know I have the strength

To transform what I can be

To what I am.

The day has come

To take an accounting of my life.

The Wellness Challenge

It seems as though every few months I'm inspired to start a new fitness challenge. I'm all about the go big or go home attitude to taking things on-- and my stick-with-it-ness when it comes to pursuing a healthier lifestyle is something that I really need to work on.

EAT.DRINK

For the most part, I eat a well-balanced, nutritious diet. I avoid hard alcohol but indulge in red wine from time to time. My goal is to eat better, though. While I generally eat well-- I definitely overeat, and I also indulge in too much salt, white foods and refined sugars [I love crusty bread, pizza, risotto, pasta, cake, cookies, and cereal]. I've found some inspiration via Goop to solicit recipes from Tracy Anderson, wellness trainer to both Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna. Recipes consist mostly of low-cal wraps, salads, and "green" juices high in anti-oxidants and other vital nutrients geared towards promoting weight loss and-- I'm hoping-- generating higher-energy and more hunger satisfaction throughout the day. I'll be testing some out and posting my modifications in the future.

GO.PLAY

I am reasonably active-- I go running 2-5 times a week, for 2-4 miles each time I go. And I don't always run the whole distance-- sometimes I take a minute to walk if I've out-paced myself because I'm running to the dance beat or I'm just talking too much while I go. I've plateaued in my pilates/yoga ... I find that I'm a little bored with Core Fusion and I don't always have the motivation to commute to the yoga studio where I've purchased five sessions via Groupon. I need a workout routine that is easy to get into, satisfying and entertaining. As I test out new videos and try and find ways to motivate myself to get out of the house when I have work to do, I'll post about that as well.

SLEEP.DREAM

Miraculously, I've found a way to regiment my sleeping such that I almost always get 7-8 hours a night. I used to find that work kept me up all night-- and up early to finish things on time. Maybe I've become better at time management? But even with those 7-8 hours, I find that I am still not entirely well-rested when I wake up. Part of this is due to the way I fall asleep. I think I'm a little too digitally connected to the world around me. I want to try and "sign off" at least an hour before bedtime, and read more before I go to bed instead of falling asleep to a movie or television. Or, if we keep up with the movies and tv at bed time, I want to plow through the library of films and shows that I haven't yet seen!

My hope is that by concentrating more on how/when/what I eat and drink, and by getting a more restful sleep, I'll be able to boost my energy for working out and enhance my creative process when it's time to settle into the office for the day.

Introduction

I'm a very private person but I've wanted to have a public blog for awhile now. I'm a writer, but I've never known what it is that I really wanted to blog about, if I had to choose just one thing. So, Eat. Drink. Go. Play. Sleep. Dream is a way for me to channel all the things that I find interesting, personally, into a productive outlet that I can hopefully share with others in a way that they find inspiring and meaningful.

I'm on a mission to eat drink go play sleep dream better.

In my pursuit of wellness, I'm here to share my thoughts and findings on recipes and restaurants, food and wine, travel and playing, sleeping and dreaming. This blog will chronicle my journey to live more mindfully.

Welcome!