Cultivating A Year of Contentment Via Seasonal Self-Improvement Less the Overwhelm

Ever find yourself setting ambitious New Year's resolutions only to see them crumble before the first month ends? Season 15 of our podcast launches with heartfelt gratitude for our community and a fresh perspective on personal growth. We celebrate the tradition of new beginnings, yet propose a kinder approach to self-improvement. Bypass the overwhelm of drastic life overhauls; instead, arm yourself with our strategy for a balanced year ahead. With a focus on fitness, finances, fun, and fulfilment, we dissect the wisdom of working with the energy of the month and seasonal influences on our lives. We're here to guide you through setting realistic fitness goals and maximising free online resources, ensuring that you step into this new chapter with confidence and clarity.

As we ride the waves of life, we invite you to discover the serenity found in the simple act of breathing. 

Our second chapter is a guided meditation crafted to harmonize your breath with the ebb and flow of existence, mirroring the tranquil rhythm of ocean waves. Engage with the duality of life's currents: the times to go with the flow and the moments when a little resistance is required. We share insights on navigating each day with intention, yet embracing the spontaneity of life's unpredictable dance. Let the fusion of breath and being infuse your journey with both adventure and calm, as we come together to elevate our consciousness in this new season.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

Hello everybody, I'm your host, the Gentle Yorga Warrior, of Awakened Conscious Conversations podcast, and we've got two things to celebrate this year. One, it's a brand new year which is rich in possibilities of personal growth and happiness. And two, this is episode one of season 15. Never my wildest dreams would I think I'd be sitting here today when I first plugged in my microphone and recorded my first podcast back in 2020. And here we are in 2024, and it's still going strong. And I'd just like to thank you from the bottom of my heart, dear listener, for whatever number of shows you've listened to. Without you I don't have a show. So thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:35

As I'm recording this, it's the start of a new year and I think people think in January or I've observed how the world can go a little bit mad on New Year's resolutions and then kind of punishing oneself when these impossible lists of New Year's resolutions aren't achieved. Now, I'm the first person to want to achieve things and to change, but I've learned over the years to kind of use this time in a different way so you get the most out of the year, instead of putting all this emphasis on January in a really hard way, which is usually a tough month for many people and I know here it could be quite cold in January, but perhaps where you are it isn't which again might have its own set of problems but trying to change every aspect of life in January. And then quite often people set so many tasks that by the middle of January and January they kind of give up because it's too hard. And I'm not surprised, to be honest. I think it's if you listen to this new, you've gone for something and it's still working out for you. Absolutely fantastic. And I'm not saying that you can't change aspects of life, because the foundation of my beliefs is that we can change. We change when we're in and then the kind of it reflects in our outer world. Now January is January through to spring.

Speaker 1: 3:12

According to Science of Yoga, it's kaffa time, which is a mixture of water and earth, and water and earth can respond very differently. There's all these different seasons. So there's kaffa season, pitta season, there's vassar season and in these different seasons obviously there's change. But the last season was vassar, which was very much about air and ether, and it was kind of the autumn fall time where it's kaffa season, because it starts in January and it goes through to spring. There's a lot of changes happening the first part of the year. There's so much change between each month, but it's impossible just to say we're going to do this for the whole of the season, because we are going to stop from now right through to spring and each, each week even, is going to bring different possibilities.

Speaker 1: 4:10

So for January, I firmly believe that it's a time to kind of plan and to pick, to kind of pick, cherry pick the aspects of that plan that has been in work with the time and how you are feeling during that time. So in January it might not be the best financial time for many people as they recover from the holiday season. This might not be the case for you, but whatever it is, I think it's important to just take four things that you want to work on in this next quarter and break them down by the strengths that you have, in line with the months. So the four things to work on are fitness and health, so that's one. So I'll just call it fitness finances. I'll repeat that. So the first two is fitness and finances, and fun is the third one. So fitness finance, fun, fitness finance and fun. So FFS, that's fitness finance and fun and fulfilment. So fitness, finance, fun and fulfilment. Fitness, finance, fun and fulfilment. And the reason, I repeat, that is a little bit of a rival, so it can kind of really sink in. I invite you to get a blank note book either maybe you've got some lined about or purchase one, and you're going to jot down four pages. So the first page you're going to put fitness, the second page you're going to put the title of finances, the third page you're going to put the title of fun and the fourth is fulfilment. So there's difference between fun and fulfilment, but that will make sense as we go along.

Speaker 1: 5:55

So January, people set these impossible fitness goals. Or I'm going to go to the gym five times a week and get super fit, and if you are able to do that, please don't let me keep you small by saying it's hard. I've just seen it time and time again when I used to teach you over the full time and the classes would be hacked so much so that the regulars couldn't get. In January, which is I always love people come into classes but then they sort of taper down until there was the ones that would want to stick with it. And you know it. And I think what kind of let people down in fitness in January is the time that's really difficult and financially and finding the time to do it. So for your fitness goals, I suggest that you write down what you'd like to achieve on man, realistically, how much time have you got to do that? And instead of thinking I'm going to go to Zoom five times a week, I would say start off with less and add to it controversial and no, but can you do some sort of fitness three times a week and just stick to that for the next month?

Speaker 1: 7:24

And the good side about technology these days even though quite often here we rant about how it kind of is not so good for others is that there's lots of free fitness things like on those video channels like YouTube etc. And there is one that I came across which I think is quite I found is a good way to get some extra fitness in and it's called I think it's called walking walking at home or something walking at home and they're even like 20, 30 minute programs and I noticed that it's really good to kind of get the body going and I thought that was a really good thing to help people. There's also fantastic yoga, like the famous yoga with Adrian. I know that she's been running classes for like decades or it feels like that. Anyway it's very good to listen to. And then there's all other types of different exercise on YouTube if you can't get to a class but this is not me telling you that's what you want to achieve so, because health and fitness can cover a broad things, maybe it's what food you want to improve on.

Speaker 1: 8:39

And again, instead of thinking I'm going to eat whole foods seven days a week but then you're in a job which doesn't allow that to do it, can you maybe dedicate to have like three healthy meals a week? And I was a fan of three because it's a bit more than just like a couple, which is any more for fit in. But freeze kind of shows a level of dedication, I think, and I always think that it become like the building blocks that you can build from there. Another thing about health and fitness is are you drinking enough water? Are you breathing properly?

Speaker 1: 9:15

But whatever health and fitness I suggest on or not both, which you've divided into four sections under the fitness one, do a list from one to 10 and just list the top 10 things that you would like to achieve your fitness. When you finish that, you'll go through with a highlight of the next day and just pick three of those goals and then you're going to move on to finances, which can be a sticky subject for some people. Perhaps you've overindulged yourself for the holiday season, or perhaps you're not earning this much money as you believe you're worth, or maybe you don't believe you're worth it but you want to. You like to earn small money. Perhaps you're for spend, perhaps you're not looking at your future investments, like pensions etc. And just list the top 10 things that you would like to achieve from that.

Speaker 1: 10:13

And again, there's lots of free information available. I read this great book and it was called Prince Charming Isn't Coming. It was by Barbara. The surname eludes me right now, but I'll look it up after. I just record and put it in the show notes. And it was just saying that.

Speaker 1: 10:37

And again, not to isolate anyone, but women are quite often not taught about finances. Oh, they were in the past, in the same way as their male family members were, and it's really great because it helps, it maybe allows actually know. If you know, you can have control of your finances and things like that. But there's a lot of information on the internet and you just find one that's right for you. Perhaps you want to save and maybe sometimes you say I'm going to save £200 a month or $200 or whatever you're joining me on this podcast a month. But then your outgoings if you put everyone's spreadsheet, your outgoings don't allow for that much. Maybe just start off saving a small amount and just building it, and every month that you don't go into your overdraft or you manage to save is kind of an extra day that you've helped yourself. But again, you're going to do your top 10 financial goals and you're just going to highlight three that you're going to work on.

Speaker 1: 11:41

So we've done our fitness, finance and fun. The fun is something that we so often forget about. It becomes like the last thing that we think about and I think having joined, fun and life is a very important thing. Maybe your life's so busy, but can you make space to see a friend once a month? Can you go to like your favourite aerobics class? Can you go and see, do something that you love. Maybe you like pottering around bookshops? I'm just using random examples here, but you list the top 10 ways in which you would like to have fun and then work on three of them. And how can you do that? So maybe you're thinking actually, again, post holiday season, my finances might not be as abundant as I want Think actually, in thinking ways, that you can do these things without having to spend lots of money, if that is the situation that you're in.

Speaker 1: 12:41

And then fulfilment so fulfilment is about how you kind of your place in this world, what brings you kind of a sense of belonging and purpose, and it can be like maybe you're not in a job that you feel fulfilled in, but how could you add fulfilling aspects into that and could you come up with a plan of how you can find that fulfilment? It was a bit of a tongue twister for fulfilment and maybe you don't feel that you can find what that is, but I would say it lists 10 things that make you feel fulfilled, or 10 things that you've done in your life that have made you feel fulfilled. And if you're not sure of the first, the three things that you want to work on fulfilment in this next bit you can just kind of go through again and highlight the ones. But if you're like, actually I felt really fulfilled when I was helping such and such, who do you think actually, you think actually, how can I carve out maybe a career or some of my time that's going to allow me to do that? So you've got this list right. So we're going to work on fitness, finance, fun and fulfilment.

Speaker 1: 13:59

So with this list, I now suggest and again, feel free to pause this podcast, come back to it again, etc. But I suggest that you write for the three things in each section, what is one, two and three, what's the most important one to do over the next month? So in your fitness thing, maybe the three things that you've listed, choose one of them, the same with finance, the same with fun and the same with fulfilment. So then you have four things to work on from each section and this, I know this is a lot of information and stuff, but it's really worth persevering and then out of those, out of those four, come up with a couple of ideas of how you can get that started in this next month. So remember my super tip, which is, instead of trying to do all at once, start doing less and then build up that way, but don't do less than less again. It's always climbing, in a sense.

Speaker 1: 15:11

And, above anything, don't fill every second of your day, find some spaces for quiet contemplation. It's usually in those moments of quietness that we get our best ideas after them. So if you're listening to me now and you're thinking, oh gentle, yoga warrior, I haven't got ideas for this yet, don't rush it. Also don't procrastinate, but kind of find that healthy balance where you're trying to work through it and then keep that in your notebook and then hopefully and then the plan is with the podcast over the next month we should come up with some ideas to help you with that. We've got some cracking guests coming up. I've kind of handpicked them. The best of the best as well, as I said, self hosted shows.

Speaker 1: 16:03

One of the newest resolutions if anyone was going to have one would be to make sure that you can sit quietly for a few minutes each day in a meditative way. So we're going to close our eyes, we're going to take a long, calm, deep breath and let's just do our first micro meditation of the year, as promised. Here is your meditation inspired by today's show. Top tips for the meditation is either sit nice and cross-legged on the floor for a nice straight back, always nice to sit on a block or a cushion, or that's not available for you. You sit in a chair with a back nice and straight. The important thing is you're not slouching, and if you're doing something that requires you concentration, all you need to do is just pause this and you can reconvene the meditation at a time that is good for you.

Speaker 1: 16:54

If you're doing the meditation, let's begin. So you're going to inhale through the nostrils, feel as if the lungs expand and exhale, and then again inhale through the nostrils and then exhale. So as you sit here in this quietness, can you learn to breathe in a way that is in balance with your being Slow and calm, like the ocean? As you inhale, you feel as if the waves of your breath move, and as you exhale, you feel as if the waves of the breath come back to you. So in and out, slowly, calmly, with space.

Speaker 1: 17:48

So if you're bobbing along like a beautiful floating feather on a calm lake and you move with the flow, and then sometimes you have to swim a little bit against the flow, but then you surrender back to it, do you feel this sense of adventure? But once you make a decision, you also let go, and can you take that philosophy into the rest of your day? So go with the flow. By your means, have a bit of a compass of where you're going, but surrender into your very essence, your very being. So I'm absolutely delighted to give you this brief introduction of season 15. Don't panic, I will not be doing making you do all a long list of tasks, as I just did, but it's good to have a bit of foundation to work on and then we can build with this notebook and hopefully come up with some really good ideas to get you these four pillars started.