I have been trying to kill my ego for ages. I don't think I will succeed in this lifetime. Instead I might try to relax it. There's a woman called... Who talks about relaxing the ego. I really like this idea because its obviously less aggressive but also there is....
Walk with nowhere to go
I go for an hour walk, most mornings. When my husband’s is wfh we go together and we talk about whatever comes to mind. Sometimes it's very practical - like how the week is looking and what we might have for dinners. Other times unexpected things come out about the nature of our life together or what we might be grappling with. I have never regretted going for a walk.
Pre-pandemic, I wouldn't go for a walk for the sake of walking. I needed a reason beyond the actual walk - to get a coffee, to pick something up at the shops, to get somewhere. But then, walking became it's own reason. Nowadays I go for walks on my own. I prefer walking in nature so I often go to our local park. I find it creates space in my head, no matter how full it is.
Sometimes I listen to podcasts, that was a pandemic thing too. It seems I have a lot of things to thank the pandemic for.
Anyway, here are my favourites podcasts:
Blind Boy - Great for the soothing voice and obscure facts
Insights at the Edge - Soul improvement
Naval - Intersection of life productivity and soul work
This American Life - Great true stories
The Time Ferris Show - Self optimization
Zoe Science and Nutrition - Health & Nutrition, beyond headlines and with actual science
How to Fail with Elizabeth Day - Feel good humanity
Criminal - True Crime stories with a relaxing way of storytelling
Modern Stoicism
Have you heard of Modern stoicism? I hadn't, until I went to a philosophy and music festival called How the light gets in. There was a dude there called Massimo who talked about what you can amd can't control. Sounds simple right? Turns out, I spent loads of time stressing about what I can't control and not enough time on what I can. Every year there is a stoicism week held by Exeter University, they teach people the principles of stoicism and how to apply it to daily life. it's free to sign up, I did it once and i was more content after it than before. Give it a go!
Cat Therapy
I don't have a pet. I'd like to but we travel a lot and frankly, I don't like the thought of having to invest in dog walkers or cat sitters. So I get my fix by being a cat sitter on a platform called cat in a flat. I go in to people's houses to feed their cat/s while they're away. I've met some lovely cats, and occasionally, nice owners too. Some have even made me cookies.
Yoga
I used to be obsessed with yoga. I did Ashtanga - and if you know your Yogi's I don't need to say anymore. Needless to say, I was a bit hard around the edges with it. But I eventually softened when I did my yoga teacher training course in 2017. I didn't want to teach, it was meant to be for me to know yoga more deeply. Today, practice is much different.
I sit on my mat, i do what feels good for my body, for as long as I have the time. Then I stop.