Do Not Do That Again!

I have a wonderful six-year-old grand-nephew who is bright, articulate, and very forthright. A few weeks ago he went in for his annual medical check up. The nurse needed a small blood sample and without any forewarning pricked his finger with a needle. He reacted by saying in a loud voice, “Do Not Do That Again”! His Mom and the Nurse enjoyed a good laugh. I love that he responded so honestly, we could all do well by following his lead. Picture saying that to your Boss the next time she reprimands you in the staff meeting in front of everyone. Or how about using it on the friend who cancels lunch by text message five minutes after she was supposed to meet you just like she has done several times before. How about telling this to your neighbor who sends his dog over to use your lawn as a restroom. The possibilities for using this phrase are endless. I love you Grayson, you are a constant inspiration!

Red Light! Green Light!

Remember Red Light Green Light? I played that game for hours as a kid-amazingly I didn’t want to be the one calling Red Light Green Light because I loved running as fast I could on Green Light. Somewhere along the way I seemed to have forgotten how much fun it is to run on Green because I have been too concerned about watching out for the Red Lights. It’s seems that I became an expert at anticipating road blocks or Red Lights-so much so that I stopped running on the Green Lights altogether. Talk about blocking yourself from moving ahead-if there was a competition for this I would have been the champion. I had become a great student of what to avoid, but in the process I wasn’t doing the things I enjoy. I am grateful to say that Red Lights are now a necessary evil but not what defines my direction. Green Light-now run!!!!

Is Your Pinata Filled with Angst?

Do you spend your days agonizing over conversations from weeks, months, or even years ago? Do you obsess about every detail of the party you are planning, so that you’re not even looking forward to the party? We all can become obsessed with the little details, but the bigger question is why are we doing that? Sometimes the little details are much easier to face than a more serious life issue. If you have just become completely unglued because your boss failed to acknowledge you in the mail room and now you are sure that he didn’t speak to you because you are going to be fired, it’s time to have a long talk with yourself. The first question might be-what am I unhappy about? What am I anticipating? If you can at least nail down what is really bothering you, you’re well on your way to filling your pinata with joy instead of angst. Not dealing with a serious issue takes so much more energy than facing it head on-but you can’t believe that until you’ve met some issues head on and everything turned out okay. Take that first step and stop whacking the pinata filled with angst. Determine what is causing the angst, take a deep breath and acknowledge what you’re really worried about. Now that’s done, so exhale and smile. I felt your angstosity meter go down already!!

Lighten the Load on Your Heart

My full of life little dog Zoe must have gotten bored while I was sleeping. She decided that my ballpoint pen would make a great snack. Her snack resulted in a nine-inch square of blue ink on my new white comforter. I told my dear friend, Cindy about this problem and she told me exactly how to remove the ink. Spray aerosol hairspray on the ink and keep blotting and repeating until the ink disappears. It worked beautifully!! As I was spraying and watching the ink disappear, it occurred to me that removing the troubles weighing on your heart could work the same way. When I first saw the ink on the comforter I was afraid I couldn’t get it clean again. I had no idea that I could do so. I think it is the same way we feel about disappointments or fears we carry in our heart. Things that are weighing heavy on our heart make us feel hopeless and keep us from moving forward. Imagine your hurts or disappoints being lifted away with a blast of hope and excitement. Imagine how great it feels to have your heart feeling light and powerful again. You can remove whatever is weighing on your heart and make room for all of the good things that are waiting for you. It’s easy, just go buy a can of aerosol hairspray!

Way to Go!!!

Way to go!! You’re terrific. I am so proud of you! You’re doing an amazing job! I knew you could do it. When was the last time you said anything of these things to yourself? We all have an inner cheerleader and an inner critic, why are the critics so loud that they drown out the cheerleaders? Berating yourself happens when you are not 100 % confident, it is our way of ensuring we are not surprised by an outcome but unfortunately it does more than eliminating surprise it undercuts our ability to succeed. Turn up the volume on the cheerleader with the can do attitude, ask the critic to move on with love and light, he/she no longer serves any purpose in your life. I know you can do anything you set your sights on, so keep those good thoughts coming and pat yourself on the back. Can I get a way to go?

Line Four, It’s Your Heart, Pick Up.

I believe our heart feels our highs and lows and that it is directly impacted by our actions and thoughts. There is much more to the care of your heart than the proper diet or enough exercise. Your heart needs to feel you are nurtured and that you are loving yourself as much as you love others. Your laughter sends your heart soaring with the clouds. Doing the work you love lets your heart float to new places. Hearing music you really connect with feeds your heart. You know the feeling, its warm, you smile for no particular reason, and you feel energized. Listen to your heart, what is it telling you right now? Do something nice for you and your heart today.

Why Can’t Life Be More Like An Etch A Sketch

One of my favorite toys as a child was my Etch A Sketch. I spent endless hours creating masterpieces then in a few shakes would erase them to ready for a new work of art. I loved the feeling of shaking the Etch A Sketch and having a clean slate to create on again. What a concept, our accomplishments in the past are wonderful, but what we are about to create is more exciting. This directs our energy forward, keeping us moving in the right direction while continuing to feed our need for creativity. Past hurt, shake the Etch A Sketch, it’s gone. A disappointment, shake the Etch A Sketch, it’s no longer a consideration. Since my life is not recorded on an Etch A Sketch, I can’t just shake it and have these past events eliminated but I can choose to not spend time or energy revisiting them. Okay here goes, I am mentally shaking the past off of my canvas; now I am going to go create new fabulous works of art for my life in the now.

What is your GPS and do you really know where you are?

I was driving in a rental car to Fort Bragg today to see a wonderful client. My rental car came with the “Hertz Never Lost” GPS. I listened for several hours to commands from a woman I’ve never met telling me which way to turn and tracking my exact location. I was laughing at myself as I was blindly allowing this device to lead me in the right direction. I must admit that I struggle with trust sometimes-so I had also printed out driving directions from Mapquest. I began to wonder if our intuition, conscience, and self-reflection “voices” were our own form of GPS guiding us in the right direction so that we can stay on our path. How do you check you are own the right path? I got directions from Mapquest for my trip to Ft. Bragg, but where do I go to check out my own internal GPS for my life path? We develop on own GPS from values we were raised with, from life experiences and from teachings. I am grateful to have lived enough years to realize that some of the ideas I learned as a child are not part of my truth today. One was that people in authority should always be trusted,along those same lines, your supervisor will value your contributions, or when someone loves you they can provide you with all the love and care you need. I am grateful for my internal GPS and for my ability to make adjustments to my GPS when I need to. My GPS has kept me on my true path and I am enjoying the sites and sounds along way. I wish you a safe and enjoyable journey with your GPS and that you are always happy to be where you are.

Are You Enjoying Your Journey?

I have just completed a long contemplated process of “decluttering” my home. Now that it is finished I am marveling at how it took me so long to do. I never realized how hanging onto so much stuff was affecting me. It dawned on me that I was completing this task now because I was having company. Seems silly that I did not complete the “declutter” earlier for myself. I feel so much lighter spiritually with less stuff around and I can easily find what I need. I was discussing my project with a wise and trusted advisor and I told her there were boxes in my garage I hadn’t looked at since I moved here 10 years earlier and I was tempted to just have them hauled away. She commented that I should go through all of these boxes because, “there might be something you need for your journey”. That comment caused me to go into a deep reflection over the next few days. I reviewed how much stuff I accumulated and why it had happened. I wondered how I had gotten into sa habit of acquiring more and more things I really didn’t need. I reflected on how I wasn’t taking care of myself or my home the way I wished as I ran from one project to the next because I stayed focused on work or obligations instead of my own journey. I pondered when did I lose sight of my journey and all of its wonders. I am so grateful to her for that comment as I have refocused myself and am looking forward to my journey and what lies ahead. I am feeling so light and happy moving forward without the burden of carrying old stuff. This post encompasses my last thoughts on my old stuff because I have lots to see, do, and enjoy on my journey. I hope you are enjoying yours.

Don’t Miss Something Amazing

I was talking today with my friend and neighbor when she made a comment that struck a major chord with me. We were discussing a conversation I had with a business associate that had gone badly very quickly and I was somewhat mystified by what had happened. I was saying that maybe she was having a bad day or maybe she was caught off guard by my request, struggling to “understand” her action. My friend remarked that she no longer tries to figure out what is happening when someone does the unexpected because she is afraid that while pondering their problems or actions she might miss something else amazing. What a profound and true statement. Haven’t you wasted precious time deconstructing a bad circumstance, instead of leaving it in the dust where it belongs? I know that I have far too many times and it did not change the bad circumstance, it only wasted time or possibly caused me to miss something amazing. What a fabulous way to view problems that we have no control over. Looking in the rear view mirror prevents us from the forward focus that is so important to keep us in the present. I am now ready to move forward and look for something amazing ahead.