Wonderstate Number 6: Get Moving!

I have been doing lots and being lots for a while now. And I got a little tired! It took a friend who already does this wonderstate of getting moving really well to give me a kick and get back into the habit of using Get Moving as a way to wonder. She reminded me that in order to sustain my stamina and energy, I'd better ramp up the amount of exercise I am doing.

Now I am sure, absolutely sure, that words along the lines of "I'm too busy/tired/clumsy (etc) to exercise" have crossed your lips or your neural network at some point in time. We get too distracted by being busy, being lazy (tv anyone?), being stubborn, being rebellious or being whatever else it is that is your avoidance of choice. And in the meanwhile, our bodies lie fallow, overgrown and underused. The storehouse of energy that lives inside us and is always available remains untapped and we THEN tell ourselves we do not have the capacity to do any more, we are too tired, we deserve a rest... And the storehouse shuts its doors, clicking the lock into place for the night and waits patiently.

We need energy to do stuff. We lament that we do not have it. We tell ourselves that the thing we want to do will take more of this energy stuff than we can possibly have inside us. So we stay small. We stay stuck. We tell ourselves "one day"... The thing is, we do have energy in abundance, we just forget that we hold the key to the storehouse.

That key is just to get moving. Literally. Move. Do something. Stand up. Start. Swing your arms. Sit back down. Stand up again. Circle your hips, wiggle them. Go on, stop reading just for a moment and stand up. Now sit back down. Made you breathe right? Or smile at the very least? If it felt good, do it again! As soon as you take action, especially action that has a little bit of physical exertion, something happens.

The wonderstate of getting moving works to beautifully fuel your day and many of the moments in your day. It is instant, accessible, and free. Have you ever stopped to notice what happens as soon as you've done a little bit of 'hard work'? Maybe you dug out the Hoover and whizzed around the house. Maybe you walked down to the local shops to pick up a loaf of bread, maybe it was just moving laundry from one floor to another. Maybe you pulled out the weeds from between the paving stone cracks in the garden path. Each of these things requires us to expend energy, and here comes the true wonder: every time we do something, everytime we move, we somehow release more energy, and the loop deliciously plays around and around. As Horace puts it: "dimidium facti, qui coepit, habet" or “Once you've started, you're halfway there”.

All of this is just so present because, having had my kick (thank you Rachel), I made arrangements to spend an hour a week at the gym with a wondrous woman (Trinny) who is making me push my physicality to the limit - I come out pink-faced, wobbly and not quite able to walk out as fast as I want to. I also come out smiling, proud and energised. I am noticing, even after two weeks of this just how much more energy I have. I am noticing my tendency to NOT hop on the bus to the station. I am noticing my desire (!) to walk up escalators and bound up stairs. I know how good I will feel at the top of them; a little out of breath to be sure, but also happy that I have loved my body well for a moment or two. I am cultivating an addiction to moving. It's in me and I want to give it space to wake up even more.

Simple things are helping me to get moving in the small moments. I have relocated the 'home' for the tv remote to live ON the mini trampoline (which is now out in the living room again). This is a powerful tool in shifting my mindset!. It makes me question if what I really want is a rest or a move. Do I want to slip into inertia or do I want to maintain momentum? Natural law dictates that "An object at rest is more likely to stay at rest"...and is that what I really want? How will I feel after an hour or more of sluggishly losing myself in the land of TV, when I could just pop out for a walk down the road? "An object in motion is more likely to stay in motion". This simple relocation of the remote means that I am so much more likely to get on my mini trampoline and bounce for ten minutes rather than click the TV on and settle in.

So how can you get moving, to get yourself more energy? What can you do today to energise yourself and set that motion going? Have you got a skipping rope? Can you have a go? Maybe you can just move up and down the stairs / steps in your house for a minute or two to get your heart going? Or reach for the volume control on the stereo and just move those hips and shake that booty whilst no-one's watching. Or get mopping the floor vigorously with a timer, set yourself a little competition as to just how quickly you can get it done! I promise you, there will be a smile on your face as you feel your body respond with more energy than ever to fuel whatever you do next.

And what can you set up around the house that reminds to you to move? What little reminders or tools might you set out for yourself to encourage this wonderstate of getting moving? I've now got my favourite housecleaning CD permanently loaded into the player for just such moments (The Barenaked Ladies - Gordon, just in case you wondered...) Turn it on, turn it up, grab a broom and sweep yourself into energy!

Whatever you choose to do, I'd love to hear what your body energiser was today.

Yours with wonder,

Helena
PS - the mini trampoline I mentioned is my wonder kit of choice in the area of getting moving. Get yourself a PT Bouncer for the best results ever.