The Road to Good Intentions - Joan Lennon

My intentions aren't just good - they're excellent.  Really, I have A-grade intentions to drink more water, lose weight, straighten my dowager's hump, get out there tree bathing twice a week - you know, all the excellent stuff.

Vincent Van Gogh The Painter on His Way to Work (1888)

(wiki commons)

(not exactly a picture of good intentions and the road to hell, 

but I like it anyway)

But I forget.

That's it, and all about it.  I forget to drink the water, sit straight, get out of the house.  I don't decide.  I forget.*

So I thought I'd try an app that would remind me.  I've started with Stretchly.  It's free.  It's based on a combination of microbreaks and longer breaks.  I have mine set up for 3 x 30 second microbreaks every 15 minutes and then a longer break.  There are randomised prompts like put your fingertips on your shoulders and rotate them forward and then back, or go grab a glass of water, or slowly look all the way to the left and then to the right, or close your eyes and identify what sounds you can hear.  (Just the words in a box - it doesn't talk to me or anything.  If it did I can see myself telling it you're not the boss of me ...) 

Okay, I've only had it a day or two, but so far, so good.  It's reminding me to do small, good things, and I'm kind of liking it.

Have any of you tried apps of this sort?  What were they, and have they worked for you, or were they just so irritating you turned them off and forgot to turn them on again?  Let us know!  Meanwhile, I'm shutting my eyes and counting my breaths for 30 seconds ...



* Which is not to imply that when I'm working I am always utterly rapt away by genius.  (I wish.)  I am very distractable (see here for full disclosure).  It's just that I'm not distracted by things that are good for me.

Joan Lennon's website.
Joan Lennon's blog.
Walking Mountain.