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A few weeks ago I headed home on a Thursday evening to spend a long weekend with my parents. There wasn't much planned, just a get away from the city and relax type of trip.
During this time I went to a place called Creative Wellness for a massage. Now, in college I lived just down the street from here, so it wasn't uncommon for me to come get deep tissue and therapeutic massages to keep my body nice and loose during runs.
But it'd been a while since I'd gone back, so I thought I'd make a last minute appointment for a relaxation massage. And let me tell you, I'm so glad I did.
Adriana was the only therapist with an open slot so I took it. She was absolutely incredible! I told her in the beginning what I was looking for and she nailed it. I walked away from that massage feeling more relaxed than ever. I even had a difficult time making it back to my car - I felt like I was melting.
The massage was average price for what you might expect, and worth every penny. Really, ever massage I've ever had there, even those sometimes painful deep tissue or therapeutic massages have been incredible.
Creative wellness also offer things like chiropractic care and other natural wellness, plus they have a cute little store inside the door with tons of yoga items and essential oils, so be sure to check them out. :)
On the way home I got this rush of energy and felt rejuvenated. Anyway, if you're ever in the East Lansing area and in need of a nice, relaxing massage, head over to Creative Wellness and ask for Adriana...you won't be disappointed.
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Reverb10 - Day 2
So yesterday's prompt was a difficult one. In fact, I didn't even Tweet about it because I was stumped.
December 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? (Author: Leo Babauta)
In other words, what distractions in your life take away from your writing. And well, I can't really say there's anything that doesn't contribute to my writing. My thoughts are pretty well echoed over at my lovely friend Sydney's blog.
But, so I have my own answer, it's this: my wandering mind.
I have this tendency to over think everything, to have a million things going through my head at once, many of these ideas conflicting with one another. I've always been known to be an easy person to persuade, because on a lot of issues I'm still trying to figure myself out. Going back to day 1, where Learning was the theme of this year, I've made great strides in my progress, but I'm still getting there. I'm even starting to reintroduce yoga and meditation back into my daily life. It takes time and practice to get to know yourself - and I've found, these practices really clear my mind for some of the best writing I've ever done.
Reverb10 - Day 3
December 3 – Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)
Really, I'm supposed to only pick one moment? Well that's not an easy task.
Immediately upon reading this my mind jumped to the marriage proposal during skydiving...that's bound to make someone feel pretty damn alive.
But the more I pondered it, the more I started to overrule that first judgment. Mostly because, last January, I almost died. Okay, so it's not quite that dramatic.
While traveling to Florida for a little warm weather skydiving, I was testing out a new parachute and something went wrong. Something went really wrong. I looked up at what was over my head and knew it was bad. I had one option, but cut it free and deploy my reserve. After all, you do have a perfectly good reserve parachute ready for cases just like this.
So I cut the bad parachute away and before I knew it a wonderful, perfect reserve was above my head. I landed it perfectly and at the moment my feet touched the ground I felt more alive than ever. Colors seemed brighter, I was filled with adrenaline and couldn't stop smiling. Hugs came from my fiance and others we'd connected with on that trip. Everyone had concern and relief in their eyes - some were even filled with excitement from watching from the ground.
I felt my reserve for the first time. It was crisp and slippery - not like the nylon you're used to touching. The smell of jet fuel was in the air and early morning dew was still on the ground. All things I'm not sure I would have noticed on your average skydive. But more than anything, I was truly in the moment.
With less than 100 skydives under my belt I not only knew what to do in this emergency situation, I did it successfully.
It was a story I told for quite some time...and one you can read here if you'd like to hear about it a little more in depth (and a little more technically, too).
So there you have it.
At what moment in 2010 did you feel most alive?
Cheers!
-A
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