Self Care Sunday ✨ Pick one

Good morning Sunday. Happy, happy Sunday. My hair is all over the place today. Major's here. He says good morning. Good morning. Gene Mitchells here, coming in live from Minneapolis. I'm going to hang out for a few seconds just to see who pops in, says hello. It's a beautiful, sunny Sunday in Minneapolis. It may not be warm, but it is beautiful, that is for sure. And staying warm optional. I have snow, but always happy to be here. This week was a really fun week in Minneapolis. We had a Cadre holiday social and got to see a lot of beautiful people live in person.

So nice to see everyone. And today our focus is going to be pick one. So. So we're finishing out the year and it's always a time where there's so many messages around end of the year, a new year's coming, goals, reset opportunities, all of these things that get blasted through our social media and through our messages in our fitness classes or wherever you are. But I also really like to appreciate the Chinese calendar, which is a reset in January because every year they align it with some type of spirit animal.

So this year is the year of the snake. Next year is the year of the horse. And why I'm bringing that in is today on winter solstice. That's what today is. It's winter solstice. It's an opportunity for us to take a pause, like every year, same time every year, winter solstice comes about and it's an opportunity for us to pause, however, for this year with the additional meaning and context of it being numerically in numerology, a nine year. And in. So we have numerology, we have a nine. We have Chinese New Year as a snake, and we have winter solstice.

We had a new moon. Now for pick one, I pet my dog and I get an extra layer of hair. You see this golden retriever. So pick one. So right now, when we think about timing wise, it's also in our lives and the impact that they've made on us. And I used to teach these workshops for groups and I do a lot of them. But this one in particular, we used to use a phrase in there, the platinum rule and the golden rule. So the golden rule would tell us, do unto others as you would have done unto you. Perfect.

Sounds great. Sounds easy, right? So what would I do for myself? I want to do that for other people. It's a great rule. It's a good grounding rule. We often have learned it since we were a child, the golden rule. But if you think about it, do Unto you. So if I ponder on that for a second, that golden rule is very me centric, self centric. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Great. So I'm going to think about what I would like to have done for me and then I'm going to do that for other people.

But that might not work for other people. So if I'm someone who is high touch, I love to hug, but one of my closest girlfriends hates to be hugged. Literally hates to be hugged. She squirms. It's too much for her. It's not her thing. But acts of service, if you think about the love languages, the five love languages, acts of service is really important to her. So the best gift I can give her is I can do something for her. I can, I can take something away from her plate. I can actively do something like show up and help do dishes or something active.

Those are the ways in which that she responds best and feels the most loved, feels the most seen. So the platinum rule says do unto others as they would have done unto themselves. So then it becomes a little bit more them centric. You centric versus me centric. So if you think about the list of all the things that you can do right now in this moment to celebrate someone, to show them appreciation, now there are the standards. We could buy everybody a 25 gift card to Starbucks because that's where we go.

So that's what we're gonna get. And then everybod everybody gets the same gift. And that's amazing. But what if people prefer to shop local? What if they would rather have a gift certificate that supports a bipoc restaurant or coffee shop? You know, there's something really different that we can do when we're looking at our reflection. So picking one, and maybe it's by each different individual, maybe it's by, You know, maybe it's, it's just something different for each person. And, and if that feels overwhelming, right then maybe it's not a gift.

Maybe it's a simple card, a message. Maybe there's an opportunity to do something that feels more authentic to you but equally authentic to them. How do we know? We pay attention. We listen, we ask questions. So during this holiday season, when we're thinking about and we're reflecting on people that have made an impact in our lives, which is often what happens right now. What might we do to really, really help people feel seen? What might we do so that they know we see them? Because they often see us.

So if we start to just change our List a little, change our reference point a little bit, slight tweak. We still come from a place of authenticity. We offer up a possibility to connect in a deeper way. So maybe if we stay with the love languages and I might miss one, but maybe we do an act of service for someone instead of buying a gift. Maybe we schedule a luncheon with them and take them to lunch. Or maybe you split the check. It doesn't matter because quality time is important to them. Maybe you simply give them a hug.

No questions asked, just give them a hug. Touch, right? So find the things that are really important to those around you and simply do that. My brother, he is always so kind and generous, but he will always ask me what I want for Christmas. And I'm always like, I don't know if you know me, you're just gonna get me something. And most of the time I don't tell him anything. And then I usually get a gift card for Nike. Yeah, that's a win. But this year he did it. And I paused. I didn't respond to him right.

And I said, honestly, I just want to have lunch with you. Now he lives in California and he sent me a note and he's like, for real? And I was like, yeah. He's like, okay, when you come in. And I said, I'll let you know tomorrow. So I went online, I found a flight that worked, I found what day in the next two weeks. I had at least two days open. So one night. So tomorrow morning, 6am, I'm getting on a plane, flying to California, meeting up with my brother. We're going to have lunch and then we're going to have dinner and then we're going to have breakfast with my sister in law's mom, who I haven't seen in far too long.

And I didn't book time with any of my other friends in California. And I have quite a few, but I literally am just taking the time to spend 30 hours at most with my family because that's all I wanted for Christmas was my family. So pick the one, one thing from maybe only a handful of people. It doesn't have to be everybody. Someone said to me the other day that they're not going to send out Christmas cards this year. And I was like, who's going to miss it? They're like, nobody. And I was like, yeah, if there's five people instead that you want to do something with that you feel are important to celebrate this holiday, schedule something with them in January, just like, that's a great, great idea.

So find different ways. Pick one that is going to really make a difference, that's really going to matter to you. And I hope you have really amazing day and I'll see you here on Monday. Get outside and move.