lovenotfear Thoughts and inspiration for a happier you

If you are one of those people who suffer from what I call BMS (Blue Monday Syndrome), here are a few simple ways you can turn it around. It won’t happen overnight, but if you re-train your brain you can actually look forward to Mondays.

The first thing to ascertain is why you feel blue on Mondays.

It probably boils down to one of two scenarios.

NUMBER 1. You are not living / working / loving / being the way you want to.

The first is that what you do for a living, or what your week entails makes you unhappy. In other words, there are major changes to be made in your life before you will enjoy or look forward to Mondays. Do you hate your job? Is there anything else in your life that makes Mondays unbearable? If the answer is yes, then consider ways to change that thing. I’m not suggesting you resign or do anything drastic, but what can you do to make it more pleasant, enjoyable, aligned with your purpose and values? Even small shifts can make a difference. In this scenario you are probably enjoying weekends, because you can almost pretend things are good, and then Monday rolls around again and you are hit with reality and you feel miserable.
What big change do you need to make in your life? Start giving it some thought and take small steps in that direction.

Number 2. It’s just that Monday feeling…

The second scenario is preferable – this is when it’s not any particular thing that brings you down. Perhaps you actually like your job and/or your life and your Monday activities, it’s just a mindset habit you have formed over the years. Many people experience this and it’s largely a hangover from childhood, because of the way it used to feel on Sunday evenings when Carte Blanche was on and you had to make sure your home work was done – that dreaded Monday back-to-school after a carefree weekend feeling. If this is the case, you’re lucky, because the only changes that need to take place are in your mind.

Try these ideas!

1. What one thing can you change?
   What’s the thing that bugs you most on Mondays? Maybe it’s the school run or the stress of getting everyone out the door on time that gets your Mondays off to a bad start? What one thing can you do to improve the situation? Maybe it’s joining a lift club, changing your work start time or – if your kids are still doing their schooling online, sorting out a separate “office” for them.

2. How can you start your day with a positive wave?
   Maybe you begin to keep a Monday gratitude journal, where you write down all the things that are good and positive in your life. Perhaps it’s a matter of waking 15 minutes earlier and doing a few stretches and a meditation, taking a quick walk or reading something positive and uplifting.

3. Start a Positives-Only Monday Mindset.
   The idea is to try to focus ONLY on positive things on Mondays. From the time you open your eyes, think about, feel, read, write and listen to only uplifting positive things. What are you looking forward to? What are you grateful for? What makes your heart sing? Focus on those things. Yes, you still have to work, and drop the kids off and wax your legs, but find the joy, the gift, the silver lining in everything. You may start to see this attitude spill over into Tuesdays and Wednesdays and before you know it, life looks a little brighter all-round.

4. Prepare for Mondays.
   If you know your Mondays are likely to be blue, why not prepare in a way that automatically makes them better or easier? This could involve putting your clothes out on a Sunday night, so there’s one less thing to think about or asking your cleaning lady if she can come in on Mondays, if it’s the weekend mess that irks you. You could also prepare by making sure your work schedule is prepared and you know what the week looks like, so that you don’t start Mondays in a panic, trying to remember what’s going on and freaking out about how much there is to do.

5. Prepare emotionally too.
   If you know Mondays are blue, try to ensure any triggers are cleared (such as a dirty house or being unprepared for the work week ahead), and then end your Sunday night with a meditation, yoga or stretches, perhaps even coming up with a mantra you can say on Sunday night and Monday morning.

6. Make Monday the best day.
   Another way is to have some sort of reward or spoil for yourself on a Monday. Whether it’s a yoga class, ready-made meal to look forward to every Monday, or making Monday a night you watch your favourite show for an hour or two or give yourself a manicure and put on a facemask. Make Monday Treat Day!

Above all, bring your awareness to how you feel on a Monday. Awareness is always the first step, followed by making a choice to make a change.

Throughout my adult life, every few years or so, I would start to look like I ate all the pies. The reason for this, is that I ate all the pies. And most of the pizza and also, a lot of the potatoes.

Every few years I would suddenly start to wonder if all my clothes had somehow been shrunk as some sort of joke, or if I had someone else’s jeans on and then I’d realise “Oh, no, I’m just getting fat. Again.” So I would reactivate my gym membership and try to lay off the crisps and pies and within a few months, I could wear actual clothing without feeling like the oros man.

But then, it would happen again. “Are these my jeans? Oh.”

And I knew about calorie counting, carbs, sugar, fat, chemicals, banting, paleo, eat for your blood type, preservatives, vegan etc. I got all this stuff. But it’s all just too much and none of it resonated enough to prevent the next wave of chubbiness.

UNTIL a couple of years ago, when I attended a breathing course, and learnt a simple, ancient philosophy that actually did resonate with me, and has helped me to understand the link between food and the rest of my life. And I’d like to share with you what I learned.

According to Ayurveda, every living thing has a universal life force flowing within it. You may know this as Chi, or Qi or Ki. In ayurvedic or yogic principles it is known as Prana. Prana is good. We want as much prana as possible, and we can increase our prana through breath, water, exercise, sleep, the environments we choose to be in, the way we think and of course, the food we eat.

This philosophy also states that every living thing, including animals and plants are made up of three energetic qualities (known as gunas), which are present within us in varying degrees with one guna dominant at different times. What we think, do and eat all contribute to how much of each guna we possess. These three gunas are sattva, rajas and tamas.

I would like to invite you to try to figure out which guna is most dominant in you.

SATTVA

Sattva is related to lightness, creativity, clarity, harmony, peace and truth… The best parts of you are sattvic. Nicest you. Happiest you. Most grateful you. Healthiest you. A DOLPHIN is an example of a sattvic animal. On an apple tree, apples that are just ripe are sattvic and contain the most prana.

RAJAS

Rajas is about activity and movement - it’s what gets you to an early morning spinning class or makes you work towards that promotion. Too much rajas and we become restless and hyperactive, overly competitive, materialistic, talkative, frenetic. Think TIGER. Aggressive, swift, a force to be reckoned with. On an apple tree, the apples that are in the process of becoming ripe are rajasic.

TAMAS

Tamas relates to inertia, dullness, heaviness, boredom, moroseness, depression, oversleeping, obesity, laziness. An example of a tamasic animal is the HYENA. On an apple tree, apples that are over-ripe or rotten are tamasic.

Which guna do you think is most prevalent in you, right now?

The Good News is - You can influence which guna you allow to dominate, through the choices you make and particularly the food you eat.

Sattvic foods are fresh, light, easy to digest, and eaten as close to the source as possible – spinach fresh from the garden is sattvic and contains more prana than pre-chopped and packaged spinach. Organic fruit and veggies. Organic unpasteurised milk, raw, organic honey. Nuts and seeds. sprouted lentils, chickpeas. Foods that are as close to LIVING as possible.

Rajasic foods stimulate and irritate the mind and system and include excessively sweet, spicy, bitter or salty foods. Chilli, most spices, coffee, sugar, pickles, eggs, fish are rajasic and should be consumed in limited quantities with sattvic foods. Eating too many rajasic foods, and doing rajasic activities (martial arts for instance), is said to increase emotions like aggression, and the need for power.

Tamasic Foods have no prana and do not support life. Alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are tamasic. Pork, beef, lamb. Anything leftover, fermented, deep fried, canned, frozen, processed or over-ripe, including over-ripe fruit! Also, no matter how healthy the meal, overeating is also considered tamasic. We should really avoid tamasic foods completely.

NOW YOU KNOW the 3 gunas - sattva, rajas and tamas, along with the foods you can eat to increase your sattvic qualities and thereby increase your prana.

Understanding prana and the gunas hasn’t turned me into a skinny vegan yoga instructor who ends arguments with namaste (yet), but it is slowly changing the way I see food. These rules are not given to me by advertising or labels or on boxes. This is about energy. It’s about love, rather than fear.

This knowledge has made me make better choices more often, and I realise I am out of balance way before I start to suspect a clothes-shrinking conspiracy. These days, instead of finding myself at the Charlys Bakery counter wondering if two pies is too much for lunch, I find myself in the fruit and veg wondering - Is that spinach sattvic?
Is there prana in this banana?