nourished

In the past I've chosen a word for the coming year around my birthday in September, and last year was no exception. I was attached to the word illuminate, I kept seeing a billboard around town with the word, and I chose to see it as a literal sign. This was my word. 

December rolls in, and suddenly, illuminate is all wrong. It feels like a companion to the word nourish, which appeared out of nowhere and wouldn't go away.

Originally I believed nourish made its way into my conscious so I would embrace cooking. Nourish in its literal sense seemed right. My kid was asking to cook more, we were caught inside an increasingly boring repertoire of meals we'd come to rely upon...you get the picture.

And some of that held true, (A cooking more), here at the end of the seventh month. I do know that for the remainder of the year, I want to embrace the cooking/feeding/nourishing our family in a solid way.

The obvious and very overlooked aspect of nourish as my word that has dominated these past seven months, (and I'm eternally grateful for it), is the nourishing of my body and soul. 

I continue to ride 3-4 times a week consistently. I crave everything that happens in that room, and when I don't get to be there for an extended period of time, I can tell. 

Spin has become my therapy and my church, and it remains my moving meditation. To let go of everything and everyone, it is the best thing I do for myself and I hold those 45 minutes close to my heart. 

Stretching and following my breathe to slow down happens every day, but lately I've rushed through both and it shows. I  need to roll out my tired muscles with the foam roller, and I can be so lazy about it! 

A few months back I started booking 90 minute massages instead of the regular 60 for my monthly restorative and I tell you friends, It. Is. Everything.

I'm spotty with any other exercise, meaning I start lifting weights and then I stop. I power walk the sand, and then I stop. It's easy to think those spin workouts are enough, but like everything our bodies adapt and in order to keep it real, I need to stop making excuses, the end.

As September and my birthday creeps forward, I've begun to feel out my word for 2016. The one that I keep landing on sits beautifully next to the word I chose awhile back as my 'life' word; the one that  fronts my OS, always mutable. 

Do you have a guide word that is a motto? This is a new practice for me, and I use it as a check point for how I'm living my life.