Permission

Perhaps the start of school, and the memory of years of permission slips, made me realize that we all need them.  Fortunately, we don't need to officially document and return paper forms.  However, we all need to give ourselves permission to:

• enjoy every day
• take care of our own needs, before or on parity, with the needs of others
• laugh a lot
• exert influence, power and impact wherever we are
• be successful where we are, not where we strive to be
• pursue our passions
• ask for help or advice
• make small, inconsequential mistakes or omissions
• do nothing for a day
• be rather than do

This Is Exactly What I Want to Be Doing!

Whether we say anything or not, others realize how enthusiastic we are about the activity that we're:

• enjoying
• pretending to enjoy
• waiting for it to end

One of the biggest gifts we can give ourselves and others is fully embracing whatever experience we are tackling, and fully engaging with those with whom we are experiencing the activity.

Early this morning, I realized that running was exactly what I wanted to be doing at that time.  This realization encouraged me to consciously evaluate other meaningful experiences (useful, interesting or expected).  

The more frequently we plan our future activities to include only things that we will eagerly anticipate, or truly must do, the more often we will find ourselves doing exactly what we want to be doing.

Knowing v. Doing

This morning I almost allowed my self-talk to convince me to miss my morning run.  As soon as I hit stride, it was clear that running rather than rapidly retreating to the office was the best decision.  This experience vividly impressed me that most of us know the beneficial actions we need to take to achieve our desired objectives.

However, knowing is far easier than doing.  The more often we do what we know needs to be done, the more positive benefits we reap.  Here's to more knowing and doing, rather than knowing v. doing!

Decorate the Dust

It's easy to let windows of opportunity pass when we don't have the perfect solution.  As a dear friend and I were visiting about the status of our Christmas decorations, she shared a priceless tidbit.  One of her friends had realistically assessed that she was not going to complete the deep cleaning that would ideally precede decorating for the holidays.  She declared that she was going to "decorate her dust".  I applaud her spirit and action!

Executing a plan imperfectly is usually far better than planning perfectly without action.

Just Do Something

Today was a wide-awake at 2:00 a.m. after falling asleep at 11:00 p.m. day.  I'd become overwhelmed with everything on my plate and couldn't quiet my mind to get some much needed sleep.  I finally quit fighting sleeplessness and got up to start taking action on some of the many things on my to do list.  After tackling aspects of several projects, I felt enormously better. Though I don't take naps, I'm aware of the restorative value many receive from napping, and decided at 5:30 that a 30 minute nap might change the day's dynamics. 

Just doing two somethings made a tremendous difference in my day's stress and success:

• Getting up and addressing issues when conventional wisdom would prescribe sleeping
• Taking a 30 minute early morning nap after using sleeping hours to work

It would be foolish to health damaging for me to advocate this as a schedule.  However, recognizing our stresses and just doing something, even unconventional, about them can reduce our stress and increase our success.

Do Something

Yesterday I finished too many early morning projects to allow time to complete my 30 minute walk and still arrive at my 8:00 a.m. meeting on time.  Bummer!  It would have been easy to skip a day since I couldn't finish my route.  My decision to walk as long as I could energized me before I'd completed the first 1/2 block.  Since I decided to eliminate my all or nothing tendency and do something rather than missing a day of exercise, I completed 75% of my expected time and distance.

Doing something productive even when we don't have time to achieve a self-imposed task often puts us far closer to reaching our ultimate objective.

House Full of Love and Laughter

Julia's home for the weekend!  Having everyone together brings me great joy.  Adding our children's friends to the mix expands the love and laughter.  With the hectic pace of tightly scheduled daily life, it's fun and relaxing to enjoy the moments without concern for the clock.  Relishing the interactions, I get glimpses of the possibilities of "being" rather than always "doing". 

I Can Do It

When we observe a task that needs to be done, we can proceed or wait for another to step up to the plate. It frustrates me that I am not physically able to accomplish some tasks. Everything else is gender neutral.  Each time I finish a project there's a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment and completion.

Powerful 3 Letter Words

These 19 three-letter words represent powerful ways of understanding, acknowledging, doing and being.

How?
Why?
Ask
See
Yes!
Awe
WOW
AHA
Can
Aid
Try
Aim
Win
Add
Now
Act
Buy
Fun
Hug