How Does One Consume Vulnerably?
Well, I’ll tell ya. ☺Â
Think about what you put in your body? Do you start your day with coffee, espresso, matcha, yerba matte, green tea, sugar, etc.? Do you bookend that with a glass of wine, or a beer, at night, or dessert perhaps? Â
Eating this way actually keeps us from feeling our authentic self and being in touch with the present moment; honestly and completely. Â
Think About Your Day…
If we wake up and quickly pump our body with a stimulant because we think we need it, or because we feel tired and have been programmed to believe we should wake up energized, we are artificially altering our Now. When we wake up we are given the opportunity to be present with how we feel and if we quickly guzzle something that instantly changes that, we missed the chance to Be.
And then we go about our day and we may consume some sugars, or other simple carb snacks or meals because we feel a craving for them, feel a slump in our day and think we need a pick-me-up, or might even be addicted to eating sugar. Whatever the reason, we have again missed an opportunity of feeling and touching vulnerability in our day. We feel things because our body is communicating with us. We owe it the respect to listen and see what it really needs, not a quick fix, but a deep listening.Â
Finally evening arrives and many look forward to a nice glass of wine as a reward for getting through the day, or perhaps a cocktail, beer, or maybe even something sweet to top off the day. Whatever our choice is, we have once more, robbed ourselves from actually being with our true Self and feeling what is actually present.
Touching Vulnerability
Now, I do not judge anyone’s choices and I understand this cycle very well. However, I care deeply about my work, my clients, and believe intently on the massive benefits of living in a way that allows us to touch our vulnerability; our emotions, our moods, our organic energy levels. I know the power of eating clean so that we may be present for our lives, not cut off, detached, hyped up or numbed out.
If any of this rings true to you I invite you to do a little science experiment. I bet you think I am going to tell you to stop all of those things, right? Coffee, sugar, alcohol, etc.? Nope. I’m not, surprise! ☺Â
The Sacred Pause
Instead, what I feel will be more powerful and life altering for you is to create a gap, a conscious pause, often called a Sacred Pause, before you automatically carry out your life habits.
Here is what you do in that Sacred Pause, you literally stop, you stop what you are about to do, and you write down how you are feeling. You create about a five minute gap between the beginning of the Sacred Pause and the action of drinking the coffee, eating the cookie, or drinking the wine, beer, etc.
In those five minutes you begin to notice what your present moment actually feels like and you bring in Conscious Choice. After you have paused and written down your thoughts, you can then make a Conscious Choice if you actually are going to do whatever habit you disrupted by pausing. Sometimes you may notice something that shifts you out of a habit and into a connecting with yourself and listening to what you really need.
” Really, Dove?”
I would tell you how it works for me but to be honest I do not drink coffee, eat sugar or drink alcohol. I know, I know, I hear it all the time. ‘What do you do for fun Dove?’ or ‘How do you wake up in the morning Dove?’ ‘How do you sleep without a glass of wine at night, what do you do to take the edge off?’ My favorite one is, ‘Come on, you must do something!’Â
I am always amazed at how hard it is for people to understand that this way of living is quite normal, healthy, easy, and very enjoyable. One doesn’t need to alter their existence to be alive. You can actually feel life and tend to your soft spaces with loving kindness while eating clean and living purely.
Stop Altering Your Now
If you do choose to practice this and discover that you are open to not continuing certain habits and instead are able to feel your life and live it 100% vulnerably and presently, without anything that alters your Now, I suggest the following ways to shift into a more vulnerable, healthy, mindful, and present lifestyle by eating and drinking clean.
Tips for “Clean” Eating and Drinking
A. M. Tips
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Try organic herbal tea in the morning. Â
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If you find you are tired, try some organic vegetable juice for a healthy morning pick-me-up. Â
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Perhaps include some breathing exercises in the morning to awaken your spirits. Â
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Begin practicing the Wim Hof Method and incorporate some cold shower into your life; they are something else!
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Also remember, it is okay to feel a little tired when you wake up. It is a tender time where we are shifting from sleep to walking through our day. It shouldn’t be a sharp experience where we pop out of bed roaring to go. It can be gentle, gradual, and mindful. Allow your mind and body to awaken slowly, not with a jolt. Be kind to your adrenal glands.Â
Mid-Day Tips
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When your mind tells you it wants/needs sugar, instead pause and spend a few breaths checking in with yourself and see how you are actually feeling. What is underneath the want?
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Don’t miss the opportunities in life to actually feel what it feels like to be You; to be alive, to be fully present in this experience.Â
P. M. Tips
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If you feel you cannot unwind without an alcoholic beverage or something sweet, spend a few minutes discovering how you are truly feeling and what it is that caused the winding up that needs to be unwound. Start there.  Stay there for a bit.
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Notice the tendency to think there should be a reward because you made it through the day. Spend some time with that concept and nurture the part of you that feels this way. Possibly gift yourself something delicious that has nothing to do with taste. What might that be? And look a bit deeper into the concept of getting through a day. Where does that come from for you?
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Spend some time making sure your bedtime rituals are conducive to giving your body the rest it needs. Note what time you eat last, any stimulants in your diet, how much screen time, etc.
I know you can do this
I wish for you a pure existence that is filled with vulnerability, mindfulness, and conscious choices made from love, and radical joy, along with touching tender sorrow. It is okay to feel all over the map of the human spectrum of emotions. You got this.
I am here if you have any questions or would like any assistance with this new terrain. I send you love and an abundance of courage, patience, and the willingness to discover your moments authentically, and vulnerably.
RELATED:Â Jean Trebek on Family & Finding Joy
Dove Rose
Dove’s boutique studio, Dove’s Bodies, has been an LA institution for more than 35 years. With a background combining decades’ worth of studies in fitness, dance, pilates, martial arts, primal movement, yoga, pranayama, organic nutrition, energy healing, mindful living, intuitive clearing and meditation, Dove is sought out for her unique, intuitive wholistic total-body approach. Dove’s life passion is to guide her clients on their own unique path to wellness, wholeness, and the full integration of mind, body and spirit.
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