I have a fascination with how people calibrate the 24 hours of each day so that they optimize the use of their energy. Apparently, I am not the only one, because inevitably the students in our Immersions and Teacher Trainings are rabidly curious about how we teachers move through our days in order to make time for yoga, meditation, relationships, grocery shopping, sleep, and just being.
I think we're fascinated with this because it's all about how we use our energy, and energy is life force. It is limited, and the hours of the day are limited. How do we choose to weave the tapestry of our days, so that we aren't exhausted, and so that our activities refresh us, inspire us, and make a contribution to the world we live in?
Tony Schwartz, founder of "The Energy Project" has a list of what he calls the Big Four. They are: Skillfully Manage our Energy; Control the Placement of our Attention; Cultivate the Emotions that Serve us Best; and Define and Live our Highest Purpose." And, look what's in first place: life energy.
My meditation teacher has a phrase he uses: the Daily Round. And he says everything depends on the choices you make each day in how you spend your precious life force.
Here is my ideal Daily Round, when I am not derailed by a dog throwing up, a gigantic traffic jam, illness, or travel. On days that I teach, I leave the house at 4:30 pm or early in the morning. I aspire to stick to this as best I can:
7:30 am - get up, shower, feed dogs, eat breakfast; 9 - meditate and study; 10 - practice yoga; 11:30 - work at desk; 1 pm - lunch; 2 - walk; 3 - work at desk, read; garden, errands, 6 - meditate; 7 - dinner with BF, read, art or music making; 11:30 - go to bed.
And here are some Daily Rounds of famous people:
Emily Dickinson
6 am - Get up; 7 - breakfast; 8 - study hour; 9 - meet for devotions; 10:15 - ancient history lesson; 11 - English lesson; 12 pm - Calisthenics; 12:15 - read; 12:30 - lunch; 2:45 - practice piano; 3:45 - to to homeroom; 4:30 - lecture in Seminary Hall; 6 - Dinner, then silent study; 8:45 - bedtime
Charles Darwin
7 am - Get up, take a walk; 7:45 - breakfast; 8 - work in study; 9:30 - go to drawing room, read family letters aloud; 10:30 - return to study; 12 pm - another short walk; 12:45 - lunch with family; 3 - lounge on sofa; 4 - another short walk; 4:30 - return to study; 6 - rest in bedroom while wife reads aloud; 7:30 - tea with family, backgammon; 10:30 - to to bed.
Vladimir Nabokov
6 am - Get up, begin writing; 8:30 - breakfast with wife, read mail; 9 - continue working; 11 - hot soak in bath, sponge on head; 11:30 - stroll with wife, eat lunch; 12 pm - nap; 2 - continue working; 7 - dinner, play Scrabble; 11 - struggle with insomnia for an hour.
Winston Churchill
7:30 am - Wake up, breakfast, read and dictate while in bed; 11 - take walk, drink whiskey and soda; 1 pm - three-course lunch; 3:30 - retire to study; 5 - another whiskey and soda, nap; 6:30 - get up, bathe, dress for dinner; 8 - dinner, drinks, and cigars; 12 am - retire to study again; 1 - go to bed.
What is your Daily Round? Is it working for you? How would you change it? Do you feel hemmed in by time or do you have a sense of spaciousness in your days? I'm really curious to know!
