What's wow about Wednesday?

Thank God it's Friday...

What's wow about Wednesday? Well, you know that feeling you get on a Friday - sometimes it's when you wake up and sometimes it only really starts to sink in mid-morning or come time to leave work? It's a feeling of relief, a feeling of possibility. People I work with (I include myself in this, too) are more balanced human beings on Friday. They might have to deal with a nasty phonecall or have a really stressful class / meeting, or any of those things which tend to get us down. But on Fridays, they will say "Well, at least it's Friday!" and that thought will genuinely make things ok. Now wouldn't it be amazing to have that feeling on the other days of the week as well? It's quite an impressive coping mechanism - allowing the problems of the world to roll off your back just because it's Friday. Why should Tuesday be any different?
If anything, we are practising dayism (the prejudicial favouring of one day of the week over any other day - ok the concept doesn't really exist, but I just made it officially exist!) with this mindset. Don't be a dayist! Poor old Monday has such a bad rep. Shame on you, Monday haters. 

Optimism and Perspective 

What is all of this random waffling about? Well I guess what I'm trying to say is that we can consciously choose to include optimism and perspective into our days. On Fridays, it tends to happen a bit more naturally, a bit less consciously. But Wow-Wednesdays was the strategy I came up with to remind myself to be aware of wonder, beauty and miracles (however small), and most of all to try to keep perspective on my life. It's not easy to remember to do this; it's all too easy to become caught up in the small gripes and petty dramas of the day. So start by setting one day a week on which you consciously try to let go of these dramas and keep life in perspective.

At bootcamp this morning, I was in a lot of pain (I have made my back a little bit sad of late), so I was doing as much as I could, given my unhappy back. One of the yoga poses we did involved stretching one arm above our heads and then looking up at the hand of that arm. And there's me, puffing and grunting away, investing all I had into trying not to fall over...And as I strained to look up at my hand, I became quite aware of the exquisite colour of the sky. It was mesmerising, and it really put me and my puffing into perspective. And that's what Wow-Wednesdays are about: allowing yourself to feel and think, 'Wow'.

Some ideas for Wow-ness:

• Eat your lunch in the one patch of sun you can find. If your office / place of work / home is built up, walled in and too artificial to allow any connection with nature, find a patch of sunlight and sit in it for 5 minutes. ...Why not 10 minutes? 15?? Feel the amazing warmth of the sun and let it help you find an inner warmth; an inner 'wow'.

• Breathe deeply and sit up straight. Using our bodies as they should be used can be remarkably energising. So when you feel physically tired / mentally congested, sit up straight (head up, shoulders back) and take a few good deep breaths. Instant perspective; instant energy.

• Sing. (Or at least hum!). If you really don't want to do this out loud, do it in your head! Pick a theme tune and tap your toes to it throughout the day.

• Do something for someone else. It's amazing how quickly you can find perspective when you reach out.

• www.stumbleupon.com will change your life. Select your main interests from a drop-down menu, and when you click 'stumble' you will be taken to weird and wonderful pages in every corner of the world wide web which will speak directly to your soul. Phenomenal!! 

Question: What's YOUR Wow?

I'd love to hear your feedback - what did (or would, or could) you do to feed your soul and rediscover your 'wow'?

'Til next time!

xx

P.S. Obviously, as I've said before, there's no reason to keep wow-ness to Wednesdays. Have a Wow-Thursday, go on! You can feed your soul any time, any day. Obviously! So stop making excuses - start living!