Done for the Week: Taking the Energy Up a Notch

Maybe it's a perverse reaction to Punxsutawney Phil's prediction of six more weeks of bleakness.  Maybe it's because my countdown clock registers 10% of 2012 gone.  Or maybe the worm has turned.  (See Words@Random's exposition of this vermicultural phrase's "roots.")

For whatever reason, I have been a bit more focused and energetic this past week.  Here's hoping the worm in question remains in this position.  And here's the evidence of its workings.

Done for the Week:  Jan. 30-Feb. 5, 2012

1. Biked three times; swam once
   
2. Used my newly purchased heart rate monitor for the first time
3. Had oh-so-pleasant deafening MRI of foot injury; awaiting results from vacationing orthopedist 
4. Watched four basketball games with various family members
5. Continued reading Elizabeth George's A Place of Hiding aloud with my husband
6. Read Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
7. Continued to work my two part-time jobs, putting in extra hours
8. Signed on for BlogHer's NaBloPoMo
9. Published 6 blog posts
10. Continued work on current clients' projects
11. Attended two yoga classes
12. Did laundry 
13. Continued supporting my son in his college application process 
14. Set up college visit, subsequently cancelled by cold feet
15. Supported my other son in beginning his new--and first-ever real--job 
16. Took son out to dinner to celebrate job
17. Had lunch and coffee dates with my husband
18. Went out to dinner with my husband 
19. Watched an episode of Eureka with my son
20. Meditated 3 times, once in an MRI machine
21. Finished re-hanging bathroom window shutters
22. Completed repair on remaining bedroom closet door 
23. Talked my credit union into one day's grace which allowed commingling of  two IRA accounts
24. Took my grandson swimming
25. Took my dog to the dog park twice, with one son and one husband
26. Completed meal planning for coming week
27. Did massive and expensive grocery shopping solo while men watched the Super Bowl
28. Babysat grandchildren for daughter's doctor's appointment

Last week's most important accomplishment was the re-energizing of this blog. A result of my new overall verve?  Or a contributor to that improvement?  Both, I think.

Personal fitness trainer Sharon Sorrels tells us, referring to the process of physical reconditioning, that  "you have to spend energy to get energy - especially when it feels like you have no energy." If I remember the basic rules of logic, from the bygone days in which I learned them, this does not mean that spending energy always enhances our store of vitality.  Using energy may be a "necessary but not sufficient" condition of acquiring more.



But it has been my experience that there are times (when the stars are properly aligned?  "when the moon is in the seventh house?"  when the gods are smiling?) when one good thing leads to another.  When the result of putting out energy cheers me, or the act of moving off the dime inspires hope and a sense of efficacy.  And this past week seems to have been one of those times.


At the best of such times, putting to bed one thing after another becomes a spiral of effort and accomplishment.  And in this case, I am energized by my blog's return from its recent period of semi-dormancy, to tackle other things.  And the addressing of those other things leads me back to the blog with renewed purpose.


I should also give credit to the decision to participate in BlogHer's NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) project for the month of February.  This represents the kind of "precommitment" that Piers Steel (author of The Procrastination Equation) advises as a useful crutch for procrastinators.  For me, the public nature of this precommitment adds the frisson of exposure that puts me over the top, making me that much more motivated to deliver.

My focus goal for last week was to meditate as many days as I could manage.  Apparently, I could only manage 3, but it's a start.  I remain challenged by a schedule that seems to change by the hour.  It might be a good idea to try pegging meditating to one or both of the two things I can count on happening every day--getting up, and going to bed.  For the coming week, I will focus on figuring that out, and on meditating as many days as I can manage.