10 Steps To Maintain Your New Activities From The Lockdown With Intention
The time has come for me and perhaps has for you, too – to enter the post-lockdown world (at least for now) with all its obligations, distractions, wonderful opportunities, commutes, great friendships, and stressful relationships. It has been a whirlwind already, testing my time management skills and values. But that is why it is so important to reflect on this transition.
Because, let me tell you this, it is hard.
But the lockdown – while challenging, no doubt – has given you the opportunity to reflect, to look inward, and to rediscover buried needs. You let new and healthy habits into your life and wonder how to continue them in the world of mayhem outside of your own four walls.
Have you felt more yourself while working from home? Then you surely don’t want to give that up when you have the chance to live your life fully again.
And I think that is where the first question begins – what does it mean to live your life fully? Full of distractions or full of self-reflections and activities that are actually the best aligned with your own wonderful self?
Your motivation is probably to move into the post lockdown phase with intention. And intention is a big word here. You don’t just want it to happen, swoosh – back to where you were before. No. You want to forward (not backwards).
So, here is a series of actions that you can do in order to do exactly that. Because I know how you feel, I have been there – and still am.
1) Spend a moment in stillness and recognise this transition as a meaningful time in your life
Before you dive in to analyse what worked for you during the lockdown and what didn’t, and before making plans for the time to come – just sit. Just be. Be and recognise, acknowledge that what you have gone through (and possibly still are going through) is unique.
It is unique in your life and it is unique in human history.
It is not just another few months spent.
You may have experienced anxieties, fear, sensations of claustrophobia, you may have lost someone you love, missed your community, friends, family. You may have discovered new values, rediscovered old values and realised that a job you are in no longer aligns with those values.
So, before you move on, take a few moments to recognise this time as something big and meaningful.
2) Reflect
The next step is reflection. But hang on, why do you need to reflect?
Well, let me put it like this. If you found yourself in the middle of a forest and you are not sure which direction you came from, it is much harder to orient yourself. And when you don’t know where you wish to go, it is so easy to end up walking in circles.
And at some point, you feel lost and it takes so, so much longer to find back to your path. In the same way, it is key to think about where you are coming from and where you want to go (figuratively) from this point in time.
The world is standing still, and you have a unique possibility to stand still with her.
The questions you can reflect on are, for example, those in the interviews in the most recently published posts.
Questions like these: During the lockdown, which old habits did you let go off and why? Are you feeling better without them? Which new habits or rituals did you introduce? Which of the new habits and rituals would you like to continue after the lockdown? And more.
But before you start copying them into your notebook, hold up. I have prepared a workbook for you, including a cheatsheet with steps to keep you focused in this transition and journalling questions. In this way, you have everything in one place. You are welcome, my dear friend.
3) Turn fear into love
After you have done the journalling prompts or have reflected in some other way (I sometimes just speak to myself while driving places, journal, or reflect on a walk), it is time to shift your mindset from a fear into a love mindset.
Others may call it a scarcity versus an abundance mindset. I personally like working with the terms of fear and love as they closely connect to mindfulness practice.
What am I taking about, you wonder?
Well, when you move onward from a place of fear, it is nearly impossible to be mindful of your thoughts, words and actions. Also, the goal that you want to achieve seems so much harder to get to. Your entire body may be tense, and you may find it difficult to breathe or focus.
Love is so much more generous and open-hearted.
Moving from and toward a place of love becomes fulfilling, meaningful and hopeful.
So, when you have considered the roadblocks on your way to implement mindfulness practices or activities into your life after the lockdown, you will have very likely responded from a place of fear. “I have no time”, “I have these obligations”, “It is too hard to do it all”, something along those lines.
But go back to these responses now and think about how you can turn them on their head. How can you make them a positive statement, one that is filled to the brim with love and compassion?
The workbook provides some questions for exactly this purpose. You can download it here.
4) Make a plan and set intentions
This is a biggie. Because essentially it is just so much more challenging to reach a goal if you don’t have a plan and an intention.
Once you have figured out what the activities, mindfulness practices, or rituals are that you would like to maintain, set an intention and make a plan.
The plan needs to be tangible, realistic and specific.
If you want to go more running after the lockdown because you picked up a running routine – make a plan to go running every day after work. Or every second day. 1 kilometre, 2 kilometres. It doesn’t need to be much. The key is to do it regularly.
When you have less time because you are no longer working from home, are visiting friends, family, the movies, … then you need to have a plan and priorities in place so that you actually follow through with your activity.
Put it in your calendar, write it on your fridge, do what you need to do to have the plan in front of you. You could also change your phone background to an inspiring quote or a picture that symbolises what you want to do.
But remember, my dear friend, to do it from a place of love.
5) Make sure to have a trigger and a supportive environment
These two things are essential to create healthy habits. They are the things that get you up and started with the activity.
When you return/move onwards into “normal” life, the triggers from the lockdown phase may get shifted due to changing schedules and obligations. So, it is important to come up with a new one that helps your brain to set yourself in the right mood and head space to do the desired activity.
If you need any props for the activity, set them up in an inviting way.
If it is running, you can place your runners next to the door and neatly fold your running outfit and place it on top of your runners in a spot that you see immediately when you come home.
If it is writing, an inviting writing nook can be your inspiring environment, plus a specific time in your day, like after an early dinner.
If it is yoga and meditation, having the yoga mat ready in sight can help your brain to get started.
6) Find an accountability partner or ask for help
You are not alone in this. Read that again. You are NOT alone in this.
This is literally humanity going through an unforeseen and never previously experienced event. You are not alone.
But you may still think that you need to do things on your own. And why?
Maybe, in the past you have bought into the belief that you are more valuable when you perform well. That you are more special when you have everything under control. (I am working on that little issue myself!)
And for the women amongst you, it may even be a way of showing independence, feminism, strength.
But really, more is always achieved with others. And people generally LIKE helping others and to be of service. It helps them feel purposeful. (Consider that – you are actually giving someone purpose by asking them for help!)
And you know what else?
When you involve someone in something you love doing, you can also share your victories with them, and they will be able to be happy for you even more because they have been involved in the process.
It’s a win-win situation because this will also gift joy to the person you asked for help.
7) Journal/reflect about or track your activity
When you are on top of your goals, it becomes a lot easier to see your consistency.
Note that I say consistency and not progress or growth.
Not everything has to grow or become more, better or faster. Sometimes it is just about the simple act of doing the thing.
There are many applications that can you can use to track your habits, or you can do it manually on a piece of paper or in a bullet journal. It doesn’t matter.
I don’t actively track my habits, but I use apps when I run, do yoga or meditate, and these apps track my activity for me. I find it very useful to be able to look back and see what I did when. But I also enjoy simply reflecting on it, feeling the effects in my body or mind.
You can be creative in the way you track your activity.
And while you are there – also think about if this activity is still right for you and still aligned with what you want your day to look like. Because things change, and you are allowed to change your mind.
There is only one pitfall of tracking an activity. And that is the core characteristic of a habit – doing things on autopilot. That is not doing something mindfully, it is the opposite.
Read here about the difference of habits and rituals, perhaps you find that building a ritual around your activity helps to maintain it on a regular basis.
8) Apply mindfulness during your activity
Now, that’s the whole key, right? This is the special sauce.
Because what would it feel like if at the end of the day you realise that you did all the activities you wanted to do but you don’t even remember what it felt like to do them.
You may have done them habitually, for the purpose of checking them off your list.
When you apply mindfulness in your activity, you are fully present, you may feel fuzzy from love and joy and gratitude.
But how do you know if you do something habitually and not mindfully? Well, your mind may be blank, not presently active. Your thoughts may be entirely wrapped up in a story from the past, you may be planning dinner in your head or imagining your dream career while you are doing the activity.
Also, the activity won’t give you as much joy anymore because the main thing that does give you joy while doing an activity is being present in that moment.
There is a range of things you can do in order to be mindful in an activity (savouring, using rituals, or verbalising the activity you are currently doing in your mind, one word at a time, are only some ideas).
But here is another point for your consideration – and this one is crucial.
9) Accept Impermanence (or at least try to)
This has already creeped in a few times in the points above, and the message is – things change. Yup, even with habits. It is just what it is.
When Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield was once asked by a magazine to write an article about how to make New Year’s resolutions last, he had to turn it down because it is literally the opposite of mindfulness.
Everything changes every single day. The cells of your body do, the air you breathe does, a river does in each succeeding second as the water flows and it will never be the same in the same spot. There will never be another day that carries today’s date.
And that is okay.
Everything has an end only the sausage has two – that is what we say in German!!
And while this may cause a sense of anxiety within you, there is also another way to look at it.
If something is limited, the joy can be intensified.
This is actually scientifically proven.
If you only have one bite of chocolate, you will enjoy that bite of chocolate as much as you can. But if you have two bars of chocolate – will you enjoy the last bite as much as the first? Science will say, ‘no, you won’t’.
As you enter the post-lockdown phase, the amount of time that you have for things changes. And that is okay.
The key to impermanence is countenance.
How are you welcoming those changes into your life? With love and curiosity? Or with fear and disappointment?
I totally get it, the second one definitely happens a fair bit, right? After all, we are just people, all of us, living our lives day in day, being attached to the way things are.
But impermanence can give more meaning to those things and knowing that they will eventually end or change, will save you a good portion of suffering when time has come. So, what I am saying is …
10) Be kind to yourself
Awareness and compassion are the two main wings of mindfulness. And tracking a new activity can easily turn into a perfectionist exercise.
Your life is a beautiful, mystical force and every moment of it is the result of millions upon trillions of circumstances, decisions and pranks of the universe.
So, if one day goes differently than the other and you just cannot make it work, don’t judge yourself.
There is no need for that. All is good.
Even if you want to do it all right – there is no right or wrong, there is only here and now.
Be compassionate with yourself.
