How changed are you?

The same way that we charge our phone or laptop, it is essential to charge yourself both physically and mentally. My good friend Bo told me about a ritual which he and his girlfriend practise. Every morning they check in with each other and ask how many percentages their charge is at both physically and mentally. It comes naturally to them to start in this way and get ready to start their day. It may be that they are not 100%, but there can be many reasons for this, which in itself isn’t the key. The answer was 85% physical and 80% mental. The most important isn’t how charged we are but rather our awareness of how charged we are and hence take care of ourselves accordingly.

Physically charging includes sleep, hydrating, eating right, exercising and keeping track of our things and our space, cleaning clothes, cleaning, putting flowers in a vase or whatever else we do in order to make ourselves feel comfortable. It is usually factors which we have control of and which due to natural causes can vary.

Mentally charging includes inner peace, confidence, balance or how we feel about our visions, dreams and wishes, listening to music or playing it, going for a walk, enjoying the sun or in other ways practising meditations which increase our energy levels.

The third question they ask themselves goes as follows: To what extent are you living in the now? Have you surrendered to the now? Given in to something much bigger and greater than yourself? To God? This led to silence and the attention moved more inwards. 75% answered one of them.. The other asked: And the last 25% is your stubbornness? That was exactly it. Maybe we have a need to control things, which leads us to fight a battle for control which does not include letting go and giving into the now as well as enjoying it. To commit to the now does not avoid planning or control. On the contrary, well planned events make it easier to let go and be in the now and enjoy it. But the act of letting go does not require anything. We can always commit to the now, which is much bigger and greater than us – right here and now. It requires nothing of us. No education, time, money, physical or mental energy. No matter your age, weight, height, nationality, gender, strength or weaknesses. There are no conditions. In this connection I think of my travels to new countries and cultures, where pride, closeness and happiness can be expressed by people who do not own much more than what immediately meets the eye, or at least very little.

Thank you to Bo for the lovely inspiration. This practice is the couple’s investment – not only in self care, but also in a shared care for one another. I have also begun doing so and enjoy it. I hope you also find inspiration in this. It loved to happen.

“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”

David Orr