If you are a new visitor, please look around the place! If you like what you read, you can subscribe to my feed and you'll be sure not to miss a single post! RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I unexpectedly found myself wandering around in the library the other day. After checking out, I walked past the cart where they invariably have a selection of books for sale. Suddenly, my eye caught something and I screeched my brakes to a halt. The entire 15-volume set of 1967 Childcraft Books for sale! $10!!!!! Unbelievable! I thumbed through them and they are in perfect condition…hardly even used!
I hurriedly scooped up my treasure and trotted back to the circulation desk to pay for these beauties before they slipped through my hands. Ah…what a find!
They are now home and my project for the day is finding the perfect home for these – probably right next to our World Book set.
Made my week!
How do your days go by? In a blur? In slow motion? My days tend to go in a blur if I allow it. I find that staying conscious of the minutes ticking into hours helps slow the blur a little. How I wish filling the wrinkles with wrinkle filler was as easy as filling the days with STUFF. Each day is a constant challenge to minimize the fluff and keep it pared down to the important things.
Can you believe we are ten year into the new millennium already? I so clearly remember ten years ago, entering into the year 2000…all the anxiety and trepidation that centered around turning over that milestone. And here we are ten years later.
How have the first ten years of this millennium been for you? As the days pass how do they stack up? Have you ever thought about the days that accumulate to become a week…a year…a decade…a lifetime? I was just thinking last night about these days that we are given. Some end up having more than others…but each of us are given these 24-hour blocks of time that are gifts when you think about it. An hour would be too short and a year would be too long. Days are just the right length of time for us to manage ourselves and our lives. As the earth rotates one complete turn we are given this time to keep putting one foot in front of the other and march through life. We get a sunrise and a sunset each day. We get a brand new chance each morning to get up and make something out of this untouched and unsullied day. When you begin to use the days effectively, you will see them begin to stack up–one good day after another good day–until soon you have a great year, a great decade and a great life.
Remember…yesterday is gone. It disappeared as you renewed yourself in sleep. There’s nothing you can do about what happened yesterday except learn from it. Also, tomorrow isn’t yours yet. You cannot have the gifts of tomorrow yet and you cannot solve tomorrow’s problems.
You only have TODAY. Live it…be in it. What will you do with today?
I think I’ve done this before, but I’m in the mood for a “Simple Pleasures” list. You know…those wonderful little things that make you smile and be happy you’re alive?
Please comment with your own if I don’t list yours!
- Sleeping in
- Fresh flowers
- Finding a few extra bills in a sweater you haven’t worn for months
- Getting personal snail mail
- Lemonade on a hot day
- Hot cocoa on a cold day
- A good book and a warm afghan
- Working up a sweat
- A meal of satisfying comfort food
- An empty laundry hamper
- Freshly washed bedding
- Crackling fire in the fire place
- Clean windows on a sunny day
- Crisp newspaper and a hot cup of coffee
- Clean house and nothing pressing to be done
- A phone call from an old friend
- Home baked bread
- Laughing
- Finishing a project
- Going to bed early with a book
Avoid all types of burn-out (including even fat burner burn-out – eat what you want also, in moderation) and concentrate on what you love. We’ve all heard about the law of attraction and how living your life by pursuing the things you love will naturally bring these things to you in abundance. What do we have to lose? Why not try it?
There is absolutely no risk in pursuing the things you love. I cannot think of a “worst case scenario” in this situation.
Try it and see what happens.
I am all about streamlining and saving time wherever I can. I don’t watch a lot of TV, but saving time when I want to watch something on TV really works for me. This is why Direct TV is something I don’t know what I’d do without. With DirectTV, I have the ability to record my shows and then watch them when it is convenient for me. Then when I do watch, Directv allows me to skip over the commercials and save even more time. I don’t know how I would ever go back to watching TV any other way.
OK shoppers…here’s some useful information for you.
Have you ever used Wiki to help you find bargains? If not, then you don’t know what you are missing.
Look for any product, look in any store, find the best deal, or better yet…shop at your favorite store and make sure you like the price before you buy. Shop Wiki is all about saving time and money. They can also help you find unusual items that you may typically have trouble finding either in a brick and mortar or on the internet.
Not in the US? No problem. They now have sites for several other countries, including the UK and France.
Check out their store directory, too!!
Anyone else suffering anxiety lately? I’m putting my hand up. Let’s face it…economic woes all by themselves have many of us worried and anxious. I also have teenagers. That should be self-explanatory. One of my teenagers is embarking on his first year of college…’nuf said, right? I also have many younger children at various stages of childhood. It’s enough to make it necessary for me to take long pauses several times during the day to make sure I’m still on top of my game.
Exploring anxiety…we are programmed to feel anxiety because it helps keep us safe and productive. Anxiety is an internal reaction to stress. It is when anxiety becomes a chronic negative mindset that problems arise. We can train ourselves to respond to stress in a positive way instead of a negative way.
We can compare anxiety to a mild physical ache that we sometimes feel when we are tired. Anxiety is actually a mild fear. Often we cannot even pinpoint the exact cause of anxiety. Anxiety is pervasive and fear has a definite source.
When we are confronted and feel fear, we respond in one of three ways: fight, flight, or freeze. Let’s plug these responses in to how we deal with anxiety.
Fight: When we are fighting anxiety, we tend to feel irritable and often are short and impatient with those around us. Often we don’t even understand why we feel irritable, but it is usually coming from feeling anxious.
Flight: Often people feeling anxious try to avoid what makes them anxious. They don’t want to think about it or talk about it.
Freeze: Does procrastination sound familiar? Often people feel frozen and unable to accomplish things that need to be done when they are feeling anxious.
Self-doubts, worry about the future, fear of failure, and high self-expectations are all common threads among people struggling with anxiety.
Sooo…what to do about it? How to transform anxiety into something productive and positive? Here are some suggestions:
- Simplify everything you can. Pare down and get down to the bare bones in life. Eliminate as much of the “fluff” as you can.
- Keep a complete calendar and list of everything you have to do and all appointments. Trying to carry all this information around in your head adds to frustration and a “muddled” feeling. Let it go, get it out of your brain, and record it somewhere else!
- Relax when you feel stressed. Make a conscious effort to take deep breaths and physically relax your body.
Why does it seem to take something big to move us to put life into proper perspective. An accident or a death seem to be common events that spur folks to start thinking hard about choices, options, and decisions. Suddenly, little things like acne remedies don’t seem quite so monumental anymore. Of course, anyone who suffers from serious acne should obviously try to solve this problem…but still…you know what I mean!
Don’t wait for something big and bad to happen before you take stock and do some hard thinking about choices and options. Strive to live fully and live purposefully every day and make your life be what you want it to be. The rewards will be instantaneous and huge…I promise.
Always moving…always going…always thinking…always planning…
Have we lost the ability to find the calmness…the serenity…the peace…that comes with calm?
Make it a point to inject calm into your days. Make yourself stop from time to time to just contemplate for a few moments and feel the place where you are. Notice it…remember it…make a point to be in it.
Embrace the slowness and let it tempt you into a different pace.
Technorati Tags: calm, serenity
