Very often, I've found the best way to solve a computer issue is to do something you do, too: Hit the "restart" button. Amazing what pesky programs, browers, and other mess-ups disappear with the push of a button, right? Today, as part of the ongoing "Re-" series, I'll share 3 more places a "restart" can work wonders for my own motivation. Maybe one or two will work for you.
1) Re-starting an exercise program
2) Re-starting relationships
3) Re-starting meditation
Physical: Re-starting Exercise
We all know that regular exercise is good for us. Gym memberships soar at the start of the year, and taper way off by mid-second quarter of the year, where we are right now. Rather than bemoan the fact that I've let my exercise routine take a backseat to other pressing matters this month, I decided to "re-start," this time with a new trainer. Maybe you've also read the studies that show working out with a friend or trainer boosts performance by around 25%, and I want to get back into a better groove by turning what had become a solitary activity into something more regular, and more intense. Restart the body!
Emotional: Restarting Relationships
After more than a year of cut off communications from a couple of friends and a cousin over politics, I decided to connect with them "from scratch," skipping politics altogether. James Altucher often finds a random email from even several years back, and answers it as if he had just received it. Even one where an acquaintance had suggested coffee, and James had not responded in 5 years, he'd write, "Sure, how about tomorrow?" This often gets a laugh and an immediate reconnection. A few of our clients are going through some interpersonal struggles (which ironically is often a sign of good economic times), and on more than one occasion we've suggested hitting the "restart" button: "Go back to the very beginning, re-live your first introductions, then take it from there." Sometimes this little exercise actually works. Re-start the heart!
Restarting Meditation
If you've ever "tried" to mediate, how about "restarting" your practice from today, even from right now? I've been practicing TM (Transcendental Meditation) for about 3 years, so it's not a "restart" for me; however, "re-starting" is what meditation is all about. I've been listening to Dan Harris' "10% Happier" podcast and using his Smartphone app of the same name for several months, and one big take-away from his teaching (actually his teachers' teachings) is that meditation *is* the act of going back to the breath (or, for TM, the mantra) over and over and over again. You're not "failing" when your brain wanders from your item of focus; you are in fact meditating when you bring your mind back. That is meditation. It's that easy.
We human beings can go a bit more than three weeks without food, three days without water, and three minutes without air. An interviewee on the aforementioned 10% Happier podcast pointed out a couple weeks ago that we can go little more than 3 seconds without a thought. Based on these known facts, it's pretty clear to me that for our good health, water is more critical than food, air more than water, and thoughts most important of all. Now there's some "food for thought." Re-start the mind!
