WAHOO!!

WAHOO!!

How do you measure success for yourself? Do you have super high standards so you don’t get there very often? Do you have super low standards so you are almost always there? What do you think?

I like to have a variety of standards for how I measure success, depending on the situation.

Why am I successful? How do things go my way? What makes me victorious?

When I get home, I like to review my day at work. What was I successful at? What do I want to change, or work on? Is there someplace where I need to tweak my attitude? What do I need to let go of to have a nice evening? What do I appreciate about my day?

Usually by the end of my review, I’m feeling pretty successful. I’ve often found things to be pleased about. I’ve often found things to feel proud of, or I feel accomplished. If I feel bad at the end of the day, I know I need to flip that around. I try to do that before I even go in the house. Kickin’ off my emotional shoes, as it were.

Taking that bit of time to look back over stuff, and to think about the Wannado’s for tomorrow, helps me think about resolutions, and solutions; the outcomes I actually want.

Over and over, we find out that we will enjoy our lives more when we take a little bit of time to think about what we want, when we take a bit of time to think about how we will decide we are successful, when we take a bit of time to consider how to progress, how to solve, how to resolve.

Some time back, I realized that I had taken success to be synonymous with selling out, ignoring my values for some kind of personal gain. Why would I want to be successful if that’s what it meant? So I had to redefine success for myself. I had to do the same thing with “winner” and “compliant” and a number of other words over the years.

Over and over, we find that the semantics rather than the idea, are getting in the way. Usually, all we need to do is make a little shift somewhere, change a word, modify a definition, and we can take on a new concept that makes things way better.

Why am I successful? What makes me a winner? How do I find solutions?

When I decide what these words mean to me, instead of just rejecting them out of hand, I accomplish several things, all of which may sound silly. I stop being a word-victim, that is, a victim of language that might actually be useful to me. I take back my power from The Media or Them or whatever you want to call that huge and complicated structure.

I watched a favorite TV show I haven’t seen in months. I haven’t watched “regular TV for a long time, and was astonished at the commercials and how I felt listening to them. They were telling me all sorts of horrible, scary stuff about me, and horrible scary solutions. It was eye-opening, I must say. You might wanna try it, if you watch TV, that is, noticing the messages TV gives you about yourself, your family, the world. Yikes.

Meanwhile, I would rather count my miracles.

How have I changed from feeling stuck in my problems to celebrating my success?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 05162014

Pause. That Refreshes!

Pause. That Refreshes!

I know a lot of people who think that I just go go go all the time. If you could see me on a Tuesday evening, or a Sunday, you would know that’s not quite true.

I know how to relax. I am good at taking down time. I excel at free time. I am a master of leisure. Oh, yeah. I go for quality.

When I take time off, when I take a break, or vacate my daily life, it’s kind of like hitting the reset button. A very tiny example is that, after I have done a sparkly clean on the house, I like to leave for a while, run a couple errands, maybe, or go for a walk, and then come back in to my sparkly house. I appreciate it so much more after a little separation from it.

I generally take a little respite on the porch between coming home from work and going in the house. I like to let go of the day. I appreciate the good stuff, sort through the other stuff for lessons, plans, silver linings, and whatnot, and then let it go. I like to think of it as taking my emotional shoes off at the door. I walk into my home feeling free and happy to be there.

Do be do be do. By just doing, we make certain kinds of progress. We achieve things in our work and play, we maintain stuff, we go places. By just being, we make a different kind of progress. We come to know our deep selves, our quiet mind. We can often give our overstimulated feelings a rest. We can relax, soften, find serenity. We can take off our emotional shoes.

I have learned that, for me, taking a moment here or there can make a huge difference in my level of satisfaction, in the quality of my day. Lots of little places where a couple of minutes to just breathe with awareness will make a huge difference for my insides, but not make much of an impact on my time.

Pausing to breathe.

Why would I choose to relax? How could I choose peaceful? What would make me serene?

When I relax into my peaceful core, I enjoy everything so much more. It’s harder for me to feel annoyed. It’s easier to get stuff done.

Do you remember the old saw, A change is as good as a rest?

Sometimes, what will refresh me the most is doing something new. I have a couple friends with whom I like to do something new. We will go to a part of town we’ve never been to, and treat it as though we are on holiday, with our cameras and tourist mindsets. A new coffee shop, a new cafe or museum, a new park and a little while later, a fresh outlook.

Taking time off can stimulate new thought. It can produce solutions to situations where we felt stymied. It can spur creativity, juice up inspiration. It can motivate us. But it won’t do any of those things unless we take it.

Why do I choose to take a break? What makes me take a breather? Why would I enjoy free time?

By building a little breathing room into our days, we ensure that we feeling more balanced, more productive, and happier. A little time here and there, a block or two of time in a week, a holiday to do something completely different; these are all ways that we keep our lives feeling light and satisfying.

How have I changed from always plugging away to enjoying my time away?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 02152014

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