Practice Staying Power for a Month

Take a brisk walk outside in the middle of the day.

Email friends and schedule a casual softball or pickup basketball game in a nearby park.

Move! Shake your head, shake your fingers, stretch your arms up over your head, skip for a minute instead of walking

Find a yoga, tai chi, qi gong, pilates, or dance class – and go!

Schedule that appointment with a healthcare provider you may have been putting off.

Identify 1 to 3 healthy foods you will eat more of during the 25 Days of Windcall.

Configure a standing workstation and do all emails standing up, preferably in your stocking feet.

Spend time in a sauna, hot tub, Jacuzzi, or flotation tank.

Hula hoop in the office.

Cook a healthy dinner.

Schedule a healing session such as a massage, Reiki or acupuncture

Investigate the de-toxifying ayurvedic practice of oil pulling and give it a try.

Meditate for 20 minutes

Say prayers silently or out loud.

Ask yourself: “What do I love to do, what brings me joy? What is my heart asking for? What practice will bring connection to what my heart wants?” Take note of the answers.

Build an altar as visible and tactile reminder of something or someone important to you.

Practice journaling with a pen and paper. Just do free writing and let whatever wants to come out on the paper express itself.

Notice at least 5 things throughout your day that you are deeply appreciative of.

Buy yourself flowers every Sunday and put a flower in every room to remind you all week long to stop and smell the flowers

Do vocal meditation and/or chanting for 21 minutes.

Do a slow walking meditation, breathing in with one step and breathing out with the next.

Try the Buddhist meditation practice of unconditional loving kindness (metta).

Before you start work, focus on your breathing for 3-5 minutes.

Write down (or think of) at least 5 things that you are grateful for right before you go to sleep.

On your way to work, bring a camera and capture photos of whatever catches your attention.

Get paints, clay dough, and/or colored pencils and set aside an hour to play around. Play with art without worrying about how it looks.

Watch a funny movie and just start laughing. Laugh your a** off.

Take old magazines and cut out images and/or words to make a collage.

Make up a new movement song with a friend. All the better if you end up laughing at your own lyrics.

Improvise your new standup comedy routine.

Cook with an ingredient you’ve never used before.

Paint a picture with your non-dominant hand.

Re-read a fun book from your childhood, then write the sequel.

Plan a whole day where you don’t use computers, phones, or other electronics.

Take a walk and practice deep listening to the sounds outside – try to not listen to your own thoughts.

Get lost in a novel today.

Start a soccer or other kind of pickup game during lunch.

Look up a leadership program focused on transformative leadership and encourage someone (or yourself) to apply or check out their tools.

Instead of sitting inside, have walking meetings outside.

Self-care check-ins at staff meetings.

Eat lunch outside.

Write these question on a piece of paper: “What is one thing you’re proud of about this organization? What is one thing you would love to grow more of in this organization?” Pull a colleague aside and share your answers. Then give him/her the paper with the questions to continue the practice and grow this tree of sharing.

Take 20 minutes to draft up your ideal leadership-self care plan in your organization and think about your step to make that the reality.

Create a culture of self-care, mutual support and gratitude in your organization. One way to do this is meet with another staff member to plan more generous sabbatical, bereavement, vacation, and personal days for your organization.

Start meetings with shoutouts, gratitude, and praises.

Call an ally who has access to a place in a natural setting and ask if staff or leaders could use it for a week for a personal retreat.

Tape a large piece of butcher paper on the wall and write “What are you grateful for?” across the top. Put markers out and invite organization staff, members and visitors to share.

Include yoga, long walks, meals and sharing during retreats.

Have coffee with a friend you haven’t seen in awhile.

Write letters, postcards or short notes to loved ones near and far.

Brainstorm your futuristic novel with your friends.

Start a weekly sharing time with your family called “Joys and Concerns.” If you don’t have a group or family to do this with, it also works as an exercise alone but in that case, it’s good to write it down.

Share a lovely dinner with friends.

If you are an Executive Director, start or join an Executive Director’s support group that meets monthly. If you’re not an ED, start a peer support group.

Take a walk with other organizers to talk about self-care.

Set an intention to offer compliments and words of encouragement to at least 3 people. The goal here is to highlight the strengths and positive qualities within others, which in turn helps you to feel more positive about yourself while allowing your own positive qualities to come more to the forefront.