Don’t you love how the universe offers you lessons when you least want to deal with them?
This election season has been full of opportunities to examine and reexamine our politics, our beliefs, and our perspectives.
In addition to the election craziness, I am in the process of winding down and closing my business, Class, The Body Pastiche. I opened this wellness studio to offer an alternative to the traditional gym atmosphere, where all aspects of being a vibrant human being could be developed rather than just the physical fitness component.
While the brick and mortar creation will close, my commitment to creating healthy longevity will continue, but I will take the next weeks to reflect on what I’ve learned, and the best way to put those ‘lessons’ into practice.
The most poignant piece of re-awareness that has come from living in a post-election, post-Class world is that what you focus on is what grows. What you think about, what you spend time watching, what you post online is creating your reality. So, if you don’t like your reality at the moment, change it!
Notice how you feel when you spend hours online engaging with political banter, or, even better, take your blood pressure before sitting down to watch the news and then take it again after an hour of doom and gloom. These waves of information that we let into our brains affect our mood, changes the way we see the world and while I do not advocate being an ostrich with my head in the sand, I chose carefully what I let into my brain because there is no erasing it once it’s there.
This concept of choosing carefully where you will put your focus is a powerful tool that I use with my health-coaching clients, when I teach Pilates and foam rolling classes.
If I spend an hour helping you calm down your nervous system and then you spend four or five hours getting it all ramped up, we are both wasting our time! Turn off some of the noise and see what happens to your sense of well-being. I challenge you to make your Thanksgiving holiday a political-free zone.
Find other things to chat and argue about, get out that old puzzle that has never been finished, put some music on that you can’t help but dance to, or lineup the silly movies that make everyone laugh. Plan ahead how you will fill your focus over the holiday and see how much enjoyment you can have without engaging in doom and gloom!
As I close down my business, I have had the most wonderful people coming to me and sharing their experiences of being a member of Class. What comes up more than anything else was Class offered a refuge, a true community center, a gathering place for positive interaction on all sorts of topics.
Rarely did anyone bring negativity through my doors, because when you stepped through the entrance, we were celebrating the body, the mind and the spirit through movement, laughter, dance and community.
Friendships were made that will endure the closing of my doors and all of that is what I am choosing to focus on as I go about the business of shutting down Class, The Body Pastiche.
Have a peaceful, mindful Thanksgiving!
Read more of Virginia Eaton’s blog posts here.
Virginia Eaton is the owner of Oakhurst wellness center Class: The Body Pastiche
