Shorter

I am walking a little shorter these days,

As the weight of the world on my shoulders

pushes me into the ground.

I feel I can not walk up straight and tall.

I walk a little shorter each day,

As this weight consumes me.

I feel it in my every joint and muscle.

This weight that makes me walk a little shorter than I am.

As I breath in and out,

Concentrating on nothing.

Searching for clam and peace.

I let a breath out,

and feel my shoulders lift.

I take air in,

And on the out my shoulders lift a little more.

In disbelief I try again,

And feel some weight follow the air

on it's journey out of my body.

Today I walk a little taller.

A little straighter.

A little calmer.

A little more at peace.

Month of love

It's the month of love. The month where you spoil someone special.

Well I am herewith staging a formal protest. I totally disagree with this practice. It makes those who don't have someone special feel even more lousy than they did before February came along and splattered hearts all over the place.

I put forward a new strategy for this "month of love!"


Love yourself!!!!!
 

There are a lot of us out there who need to show more love to ourselves. Whether single or not.
We put ourselves last.
We criticize ourselves way more than anyone else - normally in jest, to hide pain. 
We are much harder on ourselves - finding fault where we would not in others.


Find the love of your life this month, within yourself. Be kind and gentle with you. Yes, you are a human and make mistakes. Get up, dust yourself off, give yourself a big hug. If need be give yourself a gentle wrap over the knuckles for your stupidity.  Then look in the mirror and tell your reflection, "I love you!" This takes a while before it feels comfortable, but just do it every day.


There is a saying that nobody can do a better job than you yourself. Then love yourself like nobody else can!

Do something that you enjoy, not necessarily something that suits everyone else. But remember that loving yourself also means looking after yourself.

Checking in

Are the broccoli and celery sticks rotting at the back of the fridge? Has the chaos of back to school and back to work taken over?

 

So how is the last year of your life, or the last year of your life as you know it going? Or is the end of days just mumbo-jumbo hype that has passed by so many times already? Whatever you believe, I hope you're having a fantastic year up to now.

Have you remembered to ask for help? Or are you so consumed by your problems that you've forgotten? Are you trying to figure out how to fix it? Have you lost your belief? Are you still struggling with whether you deserve the help?

You do!

Stop doubting yourself. Start loving yourself and living a great life. If you haven't stuck to resolutions, made in-roads on your goals, don't beat yourself up about it. Start today!

Forget yesterday. There is only today and what you do with it. Stop worrying about the how of the solution. Put your problem out there and wait for the how to come to you.

While waiting, live, love and believe.

I want

"I want to win the lotto. Today! Then I can tell them to shove their job."

To want implies that I lack something. A lack of anything is always negative.

So when I keep saying I want to win the lotto, or I want a new job I am surrounding myself with negative energy. But what is the alternative? If you hate your job so much that you can't bear to get up in the morning and face it, how do you turn that into a positive?

I've read books telling me that I need to tell myself that I already have enough money and a great job and it will be so. Also not to focus on what I don't want, like this current job. Don't is negative and if you focus on it, you'll bring it into being.

I've tried the positive affirmations, but I found it hard sticking with them. A good place to start though is to have goals and visualize them happening. Focus on that being the reality, which is much like the affirmations, but you're seeing it in your minds eye instead of ranting on and on to yourself and starting to feel insane.

I'm not saying you shouldn't try the affirmations. I just didn't get it right. I work in pictures. So seeing it is easier than saying it for me.

Not that I seem any less insane as a smile crosses my face for no apparent reason. No reason that is, that others can see. But I can see my vision getting closer and closer. So close I can almost touch it. I know that it's going to happen.

Now I need to condition myself into thinking that I already have and don't want anything. It's going to take a lot of reminding before it becomes a habit. It is the re-education of my brain, from years of wanting to a future of having.

Can you have and not want to make it reality?

Wish of the moment

We all have dreams and wishes for our lives, but these can change in an instant. Yesterday you were wishing to win the lotto or find a job and today your wish is for you recently injured family member to recover. Or your dog - who is just another family member to return home safe and sound after running away.

We all have long term goals. And never more than at this time of year do they come into focus. At least for those of us who celebrate a 1st of January new year. But for any of us that celebrate any kind of new year, it is the time when we feel we have a fresh start and can conquer the world. But life starts happening and very soon we lose our momentum and are back dealing with the struggle of every day life.

Our goals and dreams are with us and we longingly think about them every now and again, but we're too busy thinking about the problem of now. What is today's crisis that I need a miracle to get through?

I'm here to tell you that there is a miracle for each day and each goal and dream, long term or short. Your wish of this moment and the next can come true. You just need to ask and understand that the Universe has a time line. My mom always used to say que sera sera (what will be, will be). I believe though that we can influence what will be and if we learn to ask for help, we can get it. Be it angles, guides, God or whomever/whatever you believe in. Ask.

Let this be the year where we all learn to ask for help. Asking is not enough alone though. You need to believe that you are worthy of the help and that it will come. But don't decline or ignore the help, just because it comes in a different form to what you were expecting.

Ask and believe in your wish of the moment.

Balancing act

Ricky Lankford said that balance is the ultimate goal.

I was told that once I find balance, everything would fall into place. Well who doesn't want everything to fall into place and life to be easy? No constant struggle of making the right decision or making a decision to start with. But I've found myself asking, "What exactly is balance?"

Is it that high score that you get on the WII fit balance board if you get it just right? That is balance, but that's going to improve my posture, not change my life. Then there is the current favourite among many. Work-life balance. Work–life balance according to Wikipedia is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between "work" (career and ambition) on the one hand and "life" (Health, pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development) on the other.

Work-life isn't the right balance for me. My belief is that work is part of life, so I'm going for life balance. But still, what does that mean?

Having thought about it lately, I believe you are balanced when you reach the end of the day feeling that you've given those around you what they needed and most of all you have received what you need. You are happy and content and feel fulfilled. Nothing is missing.

The balanced are those that are not running around in a flat spin trying to get the jobs for the day done. They are the cool, calm and collected individuals who have it together. It doesn't mean that they don't have a lot to do, they just know how to get things done and deal with whatever comes there way, even a major crisis diverting all their plans. Life isn't perfect for them. They also experience speed wobbles, but they know how to get back on an even keel.

I know I'm not one of these balanced individuals yet, but with dedication and focus I can get the scales level. The Bridge Maker summarizes the balanced life very well and offers good pointers on how to achieve this life.

"Living a balanced life is the ability to take all that life throws at us from our careers, home, health and everything else, and put it in a central location so we can re-frame it in order to better understand it, learn from it and grow from it." http://www.thebridgemaker.com/how-to-live-a-balanced-life/.

 Beliefnet also had some good advise to offer - http://www.beliefnet.com/Inspiration/2009/How-We-Restore-Balance-in-Life.aspx. There are many more, just Google "life balance" and take from them what you need.

Good luck in succeeding in the ultimate goal.

Santa lives

 At what age does Santa become a fairytale? When my 7 year old wasn't willing to part with a seldom played with toy to give to charity, I threatened that there would be no toys for Christmas. Her reply naturally was that Santa would bring her toys.

I thought 7 is a good age to learn the truth. "Santa doesn't exist." Bad move!!! The tears started and the argument ensued that he most certainly does exist. "He's not going to exist for you this year," was my quick recovery. Is she going to fall for it? Wait for it.... Explanation accepted and crisis averted.

So 7 isn't the right age, at least not for her. I don't remember how old I was when I discovered mom put the pressies under the tree and not some fat guy in a red suit and white beard.

But the truth will have to be balanced when it does come out, because I still want my youngest to enjoy the fantasy of childhood, and that includes still thinking that there is a Santa for a few years to come. I mean she's only 2 and a half and deserves the same luxury my eldest has had of imagination.

A luxury that others don't have. Which was why I was trying to reduce their stockpile of toys to donate to the less fortunate. And then the logic of my 7 year old struck!

"Mommy, why doesn't Santa visit the poor people?" Think, think, think. You can't say he doesn't exist, unless you want her world to fall apart again. "Um, because poor people don't stay in the same place all the time, so he can't find them." Silence while this is being processed. "Oh, ok." Thank goodness, she's accepted that. But just for good measure I added; "And Santa is using us as his helpers by giving toys to the poor."

Happy that all was well with the world she trotted away. So Santa lives on for another year in our house.