A little reminder of what is to come:A butterfly garden at the bottom
of our yard.
Listening to: A new favorite group. The girl in green and the girl in the black striped t-shirt are a couple, and they are actually the Ditty Bops.
Bliss: Our house is still standing and did not blow away overnight! (The winds here were crazy!) My first day today of my brand new, all-the-time-at-home-doing-our-own-stuff schedule officially starts today.
Last week, I announced my intention to create a space here on Thursdays for people to come and share their own intentions for the following week or to share a difficulty they are having or to ask for help.
A space of enCouragingBliss. A place where we can help one another grow -- whether it be creatively or spiritually.
My first goal was to do yoga every single day, no matter what else was going on. And telling you, making this commitment out loud, in "public" really did help. I missed one day, but I could have easily missed more with all that was going on.
Instead, when I felt tempted to not do anything toward my goal, I thought of you, and I got up and went to my mat.
I wonder how this worked for those of you who left comments (and this is just a sampling):
I wonder, for example, if Sydney managed to sit with her journal every day?
I wonder if Rowena managed to work on her novel for one half hour every day? Caroline was supposed to also work on a book.
A few of you committed to daily yoga. One person committed to daily music (YAY!).
Last week, I also wrote about the importance of keeping our weekly goals small so that we aren't overwhelmed and feeding into old stories of "failure" or "quitting" or whatever your old story is that keeps you stuck.
We are here to help one another construct new stories.
So for this coming week, let's work on story. What is an old story that is no longer working for you and what can you do -- what small step could you take -- that would help you to rewrite that story?
One of my oldest and most damaging story of all is that I am lazy.
To counteract this story, I'm going to do something that might at first seem counter-intuitive. I'm going to do less.
That's right: to teach myself that my "lazy" story is false, I am going to focus on doing fewer things. I'm going to not run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm going to take the time to breathe in between tasks. I'm going to take the time to read -- really read, deeply read. I'm going to listen to music -- and just listen to music.
How about you? What old, destructive story are you willing to unravel and re-tell?
14 comments:
Nooooooo!
I've barely touched my novel.
But I did what you did, puling back on the expectations that were making me a nervous wreck. I just have too much in my day. I CAN'T focus on everything.
I did, however, tell my partner, who is away for work right now, but coming home soon, that I need help. I just can't get this business going while taking care of the kids and writing and painting. Now, the writing and painting need to be done, because they are the content of the business, but if I don't get the business up, they will remain unsupported financially,which means I will have to get a job, which means less time raising the kids, and less time writing and painting.
He has agreed to help me when he gets back. Now all he has to do is finish up his business in NY, which has dragged on abominably.
I need to revise my goals and my personal schedules, and I just haven't figured it out yet.
I actually did show up at my art table and have something to show for it - I'll be posting it later today (as soon as I can get a decent picture of it).
This week I am looking forward to getting back to my art table. I want to create another piece in this series - maybe even two !
I guess if I had a story it would be "I don't want to - I just don't feel like it - so I don't have to". Is that a story?
This week I want to just to remind myself "SNAP OUT OF IT" (of course there is a great MEngelbreit for this one).
I love, love, love the Ditty Bops! Thanks for the intro. Confession: I don't always click through to see what you're listening to, but when I do I'm never disappointed.
OK, my intention this week: to have a healthy breakfast every day. That means maybe yoghourt and banana or porridge with raisins. What will it be replacing? Danish and coffee. Oh dear.
I DID do some yoga each day! Now, it was a very, very small amount, but I'm still happy about it.
I'm pondering this week's theme. Hmmmm....
Great! A place to hold me accountable to my weekly intentions. Now, if I don't follow through will you call me out? LOL
Great post. My intention is to eliminate sugar from my diet. If I can make it one full week it will be smooth sailing from there.
Hi there -- Yes yes YES I could not wait to check back in on Thursday! I just want to thank you so much for doing this, and to you all who are commenting here and doing it too. I felt like I carried you all with me. It helped so much to declare something -- and something small and simple and doable (which would still make a profound difference) and be accountable in doing so.
I DID get up and make the room to write first thing. It almost immediately began to work it's magic. In addition, I was able to meditate (albeit for 10 minutes, but that's good for me) twice this week, and accomplished a lot more, and best of all, I was clear on what I needed to do. Life has been topsy turvy and I have needed writing to center me. I am going to keep going as I am far from grounded.
As to story, another excellent place to work. My step will be acceptance. That I AM living in Houston now and that it isn't that bad. I don't have to worry about staying here forever and being unhappy. I am going to let that go. I am also going to let go that I can't get over that this was not the plan we made when we got engaged, what plan I moved here under. I want to let that go and see what happens.
differencea year makes --- That is one of my favorite Mary Englebright drawings and since seeing it a decade or more ago, I have used those choice words a few times!
Love the Ditty Bops!!!
I just read Christine Kane's article on procrastination. It was awesome. If you can find it read it. She states in her article that you need to designate small amounts of time, say 30 minutes for your goal. Call someone and tell them what you are going to do, do it and then call them back so they can congratulate you. Basically what you are doing here. I am fearful of making a commitment. FEAR...false evidence appearing real...my fear of failure. I don't have to fail. I just need to make the commitment and follow through.
That being said...my goal is to hug my children everyday. It seems that the hustle and bustle of life (dinner, sweeping, mopping and things that steal our time like say getting stuck in the mindlessness of TV) steal what is really important. I have been feeling less spectacular than others because at this point I don't paint, write, dance, create music...but I have realized that I am creating. I am assisting my children in creating a life. Possibly the most important thing I can create.
Thank-you so much for sharing every day. Your blog is helping us create beautiful lives.
I missed 2 days of guitar practice, however, I practiced 5 more days than I would have otherwise! Yay! And it was fun! AND yesterday I got a call from a fiend who is arranging some studio time to record and he asked ME if I was interested in playing some guitar and doing accompanying vocals!!! Hell yes! What a cool universe.
My story....hmmm I have a lot of them. One of my most damaging I think is that I tell myself that I am not smart enough, that I don't know enough, that I'm somehow "less" than everybody else. I often let this stop me from pursuing my goals... "I can't write a book, I don't have a degree" "I can't write a song, because that person over there can do it so much better that I ever could". Sheesh, What a load of crap eh? Any ideas on how I can re-write that story?
Rowena -- though you didn't work on your novel, you made a big step toward the why and the how of the not working. Very important.
Pink Heels -- Totally! We WILL all call you out! HA! :)
Karmacoy -- Those are the hardest stories, aren't they? The "I'm not enough" stories. Just recognizing that they are only stories is such a huge step. When you find yourself, saying those things, what do you say back? Try deconstructing it -- argue with that diva/gremlin. See what you come up with. I would try a written argument...I can't do "this," because...and make as giant a list as possible, and then go back and tell yourself why you're wrong. :)
This is a great idea Christine.
I recently realized that I've bit off a bit more then I can chew---even though all of these delicious nuggets are things I want to be doing and enjoy. But, life only gives us so many hours in a day, and so many days in a week. So I too have decided to simplify some things. It's strange, isn't it? When I decided to simplify some things.. I initially felt like the world would fall apart or something if I stepped back a bit...but what I really realized is that it actually opened itself up more--now there is more space, more room to breathe...more joy in the things I'm doing..then plainly doing them to get things done.
I think it is good to have intentions and definitely to be self disciplined...that is even spoken deeply about in the Yoga sutras...but the sutras also warn us about scattering our energy.
You are doing a great thing here. And, even though I'm a few days late, I'm setting my intention for the week to get back into my daily practice of Yoga asanas. I kind of dropped the Yoga ball on that for awhile.
Peace & Love.
Oh boy...here's my hand...you can slap it now! I totally lost the momentum. My kids were off school for a week and I never had a chance to work on it. Then along came twitter... Holy cow, what is wrong with me!
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