Thought for the Week: Your Three Rhythms

We’re continuing our journey into looking at the song of our life this week, and getting started with looking at three important rhythms in our lives

Mindful Earthkeeper Thought for the Week:

Each of us has three types of rhythms that can contribute to our unique way of creating health and well-being or create disease and struggle in our lives.

In this video, I talk about the three ideas and encourage you to join me this Wednesday in our mindfulness meetup. (Join our email list below if you would like to receive the zoom invite and worksheet).

If you would rather read about this, check out the ideas below:

The Importance of Rhythm

Today’s video leads us the next step of working with the song of our life to create a life we love, doing less of what we don’t love, and living more sustainably.

We’ve reached the point, where we talk about the rhythm of our lives.

You can’t create a song with only rhythm.

You can create a song without harmony, or even melody.

Think about drumming or chanting that repeat the same pitch in a consistent rhythm.

In our own lives, you have probably at one time or another paid attention to rhythms like your heart rate and breathing. 

Many types of mindfulness practices use rhythm as a way to focus our minds.

Three Types of Daily Rhythms

As human beings, we all move through rhythms every day, but typically we have three types

Resting – when we sleep or practice some kind of mindfulness practice or recover from physical exertion

Active – our normal rhythm throughout the day, when we go about our daily activities

Stretch – when we reach the maximum rhythm above our normal rhythm during a day.

There are many reasons why it helps to pay attention to your three rhythms:

• Changing your rhythm is maybe the easiest way to live more restoratively.
• Your rhythms are unique to you. So, you need to know what is healthy and helpful for you.
• Your healthy rhythm changes over time. Sometimes, we don’t notice that we need to consciously change our rhythms.
• Some situations in your life require temporary changes in rhythm.

 This month, I want to suggest that you take some time to notice the rhythm of your life as it is now. 

Don’t try to change it to create something better. 

Just notice what your rhythms are.

You can do this quantitatively or qualitatively or both. You can look at your heart rate and/or blood pressure at rest, when your active, when you stretch yourself. 

You can notice how you feel during different times of the day when your rhythms change.

Discover Your Current Rhythms

I’ve created a worksheet you can use to take a few snapshots of your rhythms throughout March, or a couple times in the next few several months. All you have to do is join our email list to receive that form.

During early March is a good time of year to notice your rhythm before the next season begins.

The Spring (and the Fall if you live in the southern hemisphere) are times when the rhythm of life tends to speed up. We often stretch ourselves more in these seasons, which is a natural and good thing.

But we also need to realize the rhythms we need to manage for our own health

If you’re sick or recovering from illness, your active rhythm might need to be slower now.

Maybe, you’ve grown older and your stretch rhythm is not the same as it used to be.

You could also be in a situation where you’re not allowing yourself to go with the flow of the season and speed up your tempo. 

Next Step

Join me this Wednesday, March 6, 2013 as I lead a mindfulness practice to help you experience your active, stretch and resting rhythms. You’ll have the worksheet to fill in, if you would like. We won’t be looking at your heart rate or blood pressure in that short time, but you get a decent sense of your rhythms from that session.

If you can’t attend the session in person, everyone in the community will receive a recording afterwards.

Click the link below to join us: