What a Beautiful Day

I made a huge leap with my zen of red wine last night. I was napping on the couch, embarrassingly at 7:30 PM, I was exhausted and thought perhaps I was coming down with something. At 8:15 PM my client called to cancel and I must admit I was relived. Kirk came upstairs as I hung up the phone. "Do you want to sit outside and have a drink" tumbled out of my mouth. "Sure" he said in his usual accommodating way. He shuffled downstairs to turn off the computer and I saunter into the bathroom. It was there sitting on the white throne that the shift began. Recently I have been having hypnotherapy and as I sat there one of the tools popped into my head. The hypnotherapist had given me an acronym STOP to use when I had a craving for the zen of red wine. I stopped and paused on the toilet and then got up grabbed a glass of water and came over to the couch to continue my pause. On the way I shuffled through my desk for the paper with the acronym on it that she had given me. Stop and then think, OK. I thought about the craving popping into my mind and then sat and acknowledged it for a while noticing it coming in and out. By the time Kirk came back upstairs I realized I didn't need to sit outside and have a drink, I needed to go to bed. In the pause I had enabled myself to respond rather than react to my desire to "feel better". It was easy, natural and felt completely indulgent. Once downstairs I washed my face, brushed teeth and settled into some good reading..."Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway". I love my bedtime routine but when I listen to the siren of red wine calling I often just don't get to it. Night time routine is a springboard into the next day and oh what a beautiful day it is today.