cardin at optimistlab tagged me the other day with the simply successful secrets experiment (get the details here; it was started by aaron potts at todayisthatday, and it came to cardin via karen lynch at livethepower; it’s also been featured in amsall’s inspirational and motivational carnival).
for a few years now i’ve had what i call my wellness basket. it contains a number of things that i know will keep me happy and healthy. however, they are also things that i need to remind myself of; they are not things that i would automatically do.
for the longest time, i would put such things on a “list of things to do” but i finally realized that that felt too … i don’t know, too puritanical, too “should-y”. now i just see my wellness basket as something lovely that i have the opportunity to reach into every day. they are pretty simple things, really:
drink enough water. i want to do this because it’s healthy. but it’s more than that. it’s about listening to my body and responding to her needs.
quiet time. every day i need some moments when i quieten my mind at least a little bit. it can be any of the many forms of meditation; it can be a little candle ritual; spending 10, 15 minutes singing lullabies to my daughter – anything that will help me step back and rest in my core.
movement. it’s amazing how much better i feel when i have movement in my life, especially when it’s outside in fresh air. half an hour of gardening, a walk under the full moon – it will always clear my mind and refresh my body.
write a poem. it doesn’t matter how short and silly it is. it keeps me connected to that creative spark. sometimes it’s 12:30 at night, i’ve brushed my teeth, and i realize i haven’t written a poem yet. since i know that might happen, i have paper and pen ready in the bathroom.
vitamins. two days without vitamins and i’m wiped out.
as you can see, the old latin saying mens sana in corpore sano – a healthy mind in a healthy body – means a lot to me. the name of this meme is “simply successful secrets”. to me, there can’t be any success if my mind and body aren’t there full-on. and is it a secret? no. this wellness basket is open for everyone. dip in!
let me see who i can tag … i’ll tag people who i’ve gotten to know through stumbleupon – quite a mixed bag:
- the goat’s lunch pail
- real recovery from bulimia and binge eating
- living within samsara
- SEOmoz
- culture kills, wait, i mean cutlery, and
- stark delusions.
isabella mori
moritherapy
counselling in vancouver
12 responses so far ↓
1 success in a basket // Apr 1, 2007 at 11:00 pm
[...] success in a basket [...]
2 Karen Lynch // Apr 2, 2007 at 6:18 am
Isabella,
Thanks for joining us with this enlightening
exercise. I love the idea of the “wellness basket”, it is definitely sweeter than a “Should” list!
3 Cardin Routh // Apr 2, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Isabella,
Yay! So glad you found the time to do this. I love how your list feels very body-focused, very nurturing.
4 Aaron M. Potts // Apr 3, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Isabella,
For the second time today, I have come across a list of success “secrets” that included some of the most basic – but wildly effective – success habits.
Listening to our bodies is probably the most basic thing that anyone could do, yet it is still something that many people don’t do often enough, or effectively enough.
Kudos to you for keeping your wellness basket well stocked, and thanks for participating in the Simply Successful Secrets project!
5 Leah J. Utas // Apr 4, 2007 at 8:50 am
Thanks for the tag.
6 ProductivityGoal // May 18, 2007 at 10:09 am
The Secrets Are Out…
The project attracted 152 writers, each of whom contributed probably at least a thousand suggestions for success. Those figures speak to the power of the project, the willingness of writers to give and to share. …
7 Live The Power » Simply Successful Secrets // May 18, 2007 at 12:46 pm
[...] Change Therapy [...]
8 The Rule of 5 » The Big List of Success!! // May 19, 2007 at 4:09 pm
[...] What follows is the Big List of Success. These are all of the blogs that participated, with direct links to their posts on success. If you find yourself stuck, or lacking in motivation, start at the top of the list and work your way down. And since this is my blog, and my self-aggrandizement knows no bounds, you can start with my list of Simply Successful Secrets. [...]
9 Simply Successful (152 writers involved) « Life beside the edge // May 19, 2007 at 7:25 pm
[...]
I would like to inform that this project involved 152 writes, each of them write something (ideas) for success.
All the writers listed below, and you should go thru the round-up post of Aaron Potts at Simply Successful Secrets Roundup
[...]
10 success, success, success: steve pavlina, move over! » change therapy - isabella mori // May 20, 2007 at 1:15 pm
[...] a little while ago, i participated in a blog meme initiated by aaron potts, to which i had been invited by cardin at optimistlab. i posted my contribution (success in a basket) and thought that was that. [...]
11 The Real Secrets of Success Are... « MarketingMoment.com // May 21, 2007 at 12:57 am
[...]
Initiated by Aaron Potts from his blog ‘Today Is That Day’, meme participants shared their secrets to their own success, and bloggers tagged other blogs to join in on the fun and games.
(Oh, OK, most of these are not secrets in the true sense of the word. But there are a number of pure gems in there that one wouldn’t have known about unless the ‘owners’ shared them.)
[...]
12 Successful Secrets Roundup | The Habits of over 152 Self-Development Bloggers Summarized : keepingthesecret.com // May 21, 2007 at 8:17 am
[...]
Aaron has gone ahead and compiled all of the results. He has taken those results and created a TOP 15 Secrets of Success.
Want to know what they are? Want to know what all of the personal development bloggers do on a consistent basis to stay motivated, positive and inspired?
[...]
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