Working it over
Posted on August 31, 2022 Leave a Comment
The vacuum filter that I cleaned isn’t dry yet, so the vacuum cleaner won’t work; I can’t clean up the tracked-in sand.
Both of us are drawing a blank as far as meals to plan this week; I can’t make an effective grocery list.
The webinar recording isn’t loading this evening; I can’t watch that professional development piece.
It feels like all the things are thwarting me, at the end of this full day. I can’t seem to do any of the last of my tasks, and I am getting spun up in the frustration. Am I the only one who experiences this? Surely not…
Nothing is working for me. Apparently, I’m supposed to rest right now.
OH.
Oh.
Ohhhh….
Read MoreDriving my day
Posted on August 24, 2022 Leave a Comment
Reality is a mental construct —
make yours joyful.
pam grout
I’m tending to my reality, today. Yes, I’ve got situations and circumstances — but what’s even greater are the qualities of feeling. And how we feel is very real.
Maybe today I want my reality to be, say, peaceful. So I choose this for my quality, which then comes to the forefront of all of my situations. Instead of focusing on my overwhelming task list, I put all of my attention on the one thing I do at a time. I am peacefully washing the dishes rather than frantically thinking about my upcoming meetings. I am calmly and fully present in the meetings when they arrive, making great creative progress on the projects, rather than just checking mental boxes and spinning up mentally about what I need to make for dinner. The expected Amazon delivery didn’t come? I don’t let it ruin my day. Dude cuts me off in traffic? I remember that it’s not a personal attack. (And seriously, so what if it is? I don’t have to bite back.) And at the end of my day, not only did I do the things on my task list, but I also felt amazing all the way through. It’s not only about our What, it’s actually all about our How.
Read MoreWe don’t have to work any harder, to be happy
Posted on August 17, 2022 Leave a Comment
We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.
Carlos castaneda (via pam grout’s The course in miracles experiment)
I don’t need to gear up to act on getting happier. It doesn’t take more effort to be hopeful than to be despairing. I can see where it does take more effort to turn myself around from when I’m already peevish, petulant, and pessimistic, though. That is like doing double-duty. Retracing my steps back to the fork in the road and then taking the other path. I don’t have the energy for all that extra work…
But every day I get to choose my path in the first place.
And, actually, in every moment.
Just like this one.
What if we don’t have to go back to where we forked in order to choose again, but rather we can reach toward better feeling right where we are?
Read MorePresent moment living
Posted on August 10, 2022 2 Comments
I recently was reminded by life that I am on a continual journey of surrender. I guess sometimes the hits just keep on coming, right?
Clearly my desire to have it all sorted, to be responsible for, to be… in control of (Aha!) situations and events that happen to me and to my loved ones, doesn’t mean that that’s the outcome. Because Life Happens Anyway. To ourselves, and to our loved ones.
What if all the things we do to garner a sense of control are not actually the answer? What if it’s not actually about getting on top of it all, having everything all lined up, whipping it into shape? What if it’s not discipline, but surrender?
And now this.
This actually applies to all of it, the good and the less-than awesome. It’s about the navigation, not the arrival at a destination.
The invite for the celebration? And now this. That challenging conversation? And now this. Hospitalization? And now this. The salary raise? And now this. That fender-bender? And now this. Bonus free time? And now this. Can’t get unstuck? And now this.
The light, the dark — no difference.
Instead of attempting to work so hard to welcome joyousness and avoid devastations, what if I just did my best along the way and embraced what comes? Knowing that we are all guided, loved, and protected, no matter what?
I don’t pretend to know the answer. I just know there’s more here for me than the way that I have been doing it.
And now God is rolling up Her sleeves with me, smiling that I just might be finally ready?
Dad, I told you. If God’s not included, I just get bored.
Little girl in line at Kohl’s (via Tosha Silver)
Little Free Library is up and running!
Posted on August 3, 2022 4 Comments
I am SO excited to share that another dream of mine is now reality! I’ve been collecting books for an eventual Little Free Library for years, and we’ve got one up and running!
My husband and I are now the permanent, live-in caregivers for the family lake place of the past 40-plus years. Planting this community offering here, sharing my joy now, makes my heart so happy.
There is no better place or time to make a dream come true than here and now.
What’s a wish of yours?
What holds you back from acting on it?
It may not actually be time, yet. But then again, it could be.
You get to decide.
gina drellack 