Good Day TUSHKATEERS!!!

Are YOU ready?  Are you READY to shed worry and shed the pounds that accompany it?  GREAT!!! Because, I have a number of Shed Worry/Shed Pounds Tips to share with you today!  BUT .. Before I share my long, happy, fun and playful ‘shedding’ list, I have to give credit where credit is due.

This week’s ‘shed worry / shed pounds’ post was ignited by Susan Keats’ latest My Afterlife blogpost, “Dissing Anxiety.”  Susan writes, “I was never an anxious person until that cancer diagnosis came from out of the blue.  Now I worry about my health all the time. …. That can’t be healthy, it just can’t. So I’m doing what I can to kick anxiety out of my head, out of my house, out of my life.”  Susan and her gaggle of fans have come up with some fabulous ideas to kick the ‘worry’ tush.   Susan’s techniques range from saying (or firmly stating, or even yelling) “Shut Up!” to the anxiety thoughts, to finding the right Tibetan Singing Bowl that soothes the soul.

I am so up for that one.  Not only do I love the sounds of Tibetan Singing Bowls and have wanted one for some time (kids, are you reading this??? put that on my birthday list!!! I’ll send you links!), it requires shopping, which is one of my favorite ‘pound shedding’ things to do.

So … Let’s start there.  There being ‘shopping.’  Let’s SHED WORRY/ SHED POUNDS!

7 TIPS:  Shed Worry/SHED POUNDS

1.  SHOP for the things that will help you to shed the worry and the pounds.  If Tibetan Singing Bowls are not your thing, what is?  Another way to go is to Anthropologie for their incredibly beautiful measuring cups that can double as bowls to eat out.  In other words, you fill your bowl up to the line, and you’ve got your one cup serving without having to measure!  Got it?  They’re not cheap, but hold on there … if you wait and watch, Anthro has amazing sales!

2.  Create a WORRY BOX.  I have one that I made that is red and with fringes on it.  I know I have a photo of it somewhere. (I’ll have to do a major search for it and hopefully share the box with you later.)  The point of the worry box is that you write out whatever it is that is worrying and cluttering your mind, and put it in the box.  Let the worry box worry for you!  When the box is full, ceremoniously burn or shread its contents.

3.  SHELVE the WORRY.  You know the expression “shelve it.”  Well then, Shelve It!!!  Imagine that there is a shelf in your closet (you know, your organized closet) and in your mind’s eye, put the ‘thing or things’ that you are worried about on the shelf. Way in the back!!!

I do this the first of every month.  I take out what’s worrying me (in my mind’s eye), and then re-shelf it.   It teaches me that whatever I was/am worried about, if ‘shelvable’ from one month to the next, are pretty much not worth worrying about.   Sometimes I am actually able to let go of the one of the worries – for good!!!

4.  PUT ON YOUR BOOGIE SHOES – DanceOUT the WORRY HABIT ENERGY.  Worrying is an “Habit Energy.”  I learned this term – Habit Energy – from the writings of Thích Nh?t H?nh, Vietnamese Buddhist Monk.  Is not worry a habit?  You betcha.

In order to move the energy, dance it out.  This week’s ‘dance it out video’ is from Glee (a show I used to love, but don’t so much anymore … but this week was a good theme week – Disco Inferno.  Who could resist???).  Here’s my fav video from the show! Boogie Shoes.

5.  LAUGH IT OUT WITH A FRIEND:  GIRL POWER.  Yesterday, I met up with my good friend, Ellen!  It was a cold, grey day in New York.  Instead of taking a long walk together (power walking with a friend will shed worry and pounds), we met up at the Museum of the City of New York.  We thoroughly enjoyed the museum, AND we found a place to huddle in, dish the dirt and laugh it out.  So find yourself a good friend and laugh it out!

6.  PUT A POEM IN YOUR POCKET.  This Thursday (April 26) is Poem in Your Pocket Day (thus the side bar, overflowing with succulently exquisite quotes about poems).  Here’s how to celebrate:  Select a poem that you love or write one, and put it in your pocket.  There are events all over the country, where people will be pulling poems from their pockets and sharing them!

OR … share them with us!!!  I’ll be posting a poem on my Beliefnet.blog on Thursday, so feel free to visit us again and post your pocket poem, too!

Hungry for your fully loaded version of today’s KICK in the TUSH CLUB e-Newsletter, which is of course, chock-a-block with motivation, inspiration and succulent, poetic quotes!!!

***