February always contains the start of "my" new year.

I love February because it includes my birthday. 🎉

Each of our birthdays mark the start of our New Year. We get a fresh new number attached to our identity- a record of how many trips around the sun we have completed.

Noticing and marking helps us recognize, evaluate and find more optimal ways to function.

Our brains thrive on this!

This week I am working with a virtual client who suffered a series of small strokes at the calendar New Year.

When you have a stroke your brain is injured. The injury causes changes in the way your nervous system is functioning. The list of possible side effects is long. It can affect your muscles, your vision, your speech, your face, your senses etc.

Since the strokes my client has been noticing and marking everything they are doing and experiencing. How could you not when your brain has been injured and some of your functioning is different?

In our lessons I am helping them organize their injured brain in novel ways using NeuroMovement®. Together we are slowly and gently noticing and marking to create opportunities for new functioning.

Unlike some interventions that drive us to use force and push through our limitations, one of the ways I am helping my client is to prioritize lots of rest.

Between each movement exercise that we do together I give them a resting period.

This gives their brain an opportunity to recognize and evaluate.

This also gives their brain an opportunity to

• discover something new

• solve problems

• create solutions

• experience ease.

If we don't give our brain an opportunity to do what it is designed to do (create and re-create our habitual patterns to serve us better) we will just keep doing what we've always done and that might not be optimal!

We live in a very busy culture. We are lauded for racking up the hours!!! However, you might find yourself to be even more efficient if you include rest in your day.

If you are having a hard time finding opportunities for rest check out the 60 second "micro-rest" I created on my Instagram account @brilliant.movement.

Here's to resting, our collective optimized brains and to the New Year, whenever it starts for you,