Priorities

Greetings, everyone!

Today's word is taken directly from a webinar series I am currently conducting, titled "Managing Your Priorities."

Although the webinar series pertains to time management, I think we could all take a step back and do a bit better in how we handle our life priorities. I personally tried to do that by going on vacation as I mentioned a few weeks ago. The picture above shows exactly what my priorities on vacation were - peace and quiet!! It was very important to me to have some real downtime on vacation - and we found a spot where I could do just that.

And since we've been back, my priorities have shifted once again. I've been on several overnight business trips recently, which require me to focus on details, details, details. Hotels, directions, where and when to eat - mundane things really, but priorities nonetheless when I'm traveling. When I'm back in the office, I am focused on making sure I have all of my programs ready for upcoming workshops - and that the content of those programs is just what the participants will need for that topic.

On a day-to-day basis though, I can lose sight of my "life" priorities. A whole day can go by and I haven't given my doggie or kitty the pats and pets they deserve. Or maybe I haven't given my husband the hug he deserves for being such a good friend and cheerleader. 

Sometimes, I don't prioritize eating right or exercising - which results in my health not being a priority. Of course, when chocolate is such a big priority, it's hard to worry about eating right :-)!

Sometimes it's rest - I stay up too late or allow my mind to whirl in a hundred different directions as I'm trying to go to sleep. And again, my health can suffer. 

Sometimes it's my attitude that needs priority attention and that's one thing that can slip without me even realizing it. That, then, can affect other priorities - trying to be kind, compassionate, caring...instead of disgruntled, irritated, or moody.

Whatever your "life" priorities need to be, I hope you'll take a few minutes to see where you stand regarding those priorities. And I hope you'll re-prioritize if you need to. 

When we have our priorities straight, so many other aspects of our lives benefit. I'm going to keep working on getting it right - how about you?? 

Blessings,
Linda
www.LindasWorkshops.com

Decisions, Decisions

Hi everyone!

I hope you've had a fabulous summer and are eagerly anticipating a nice crisp, clear fall...that's what we're hoping for here in Florida.

Today's word, as you can see, is "decision." You can also see I made a "decision" to add Grover, our handicapped kitty, to the hall of fame known as my blog posts. He gets mentioned a lot, but he's not always photogenic, so finding great pictures of his handsome face is not always easy. I think this one shows his inner beauty, though...

And on to today's word...I was thinking about how many decisions we make on a daily basis - what time to get up, what to have for breakfast, exercise or not, what to wear, which route to take to work, which tasks to tackle first, whether or not to stop for groceries on the way home, which bills to pay this week, what to have for dinner, good china or everyday dishes, load the dishes into the dishwasher or wash by hand, what to watch on TV, what time to go to bed...as you can see, I could go on and on to the point of ridiculousness! But think about it...we do actually make that many decisions and dozens more - every. single. day.

And yet...when it comes to deciding how we want our lives to move forward, we tend to avoid that at all costs. Each 24-hour period that slips by is gone forever. As dramatic as that sounds, it's true.

The question is, what did you REALLY decide today? Did you decide to be angry at the person who cut you off in traffic? Did you decide to be irritated with your co-worker...or your boss? Did you decide to spend money you don't really have because it made you feel better - for about 91 seconds?? Did you decide to eat something you know you shouldn't eat because yummmmm, it tastes so good - and then feels so bad when you see the number on the scale?

Or did you, friends, decide that today is too important to choose a negative attitude? Because decisions are all about choices, aren't they? Are your decisions bringing you joy, happiness, and peace?

Let me know - I'd love to hear what you've "decided!"

Blessings,
Linda
www.LindasWorkshops.com
Linda@LindasWorkshops.com

Seasons...

Greetings everyone...

Well, here in Florida, we are just starting to feel a change of seasons - for about 9.3 minutes per day ;-)  In the early mornings, if I am standing in the shade and there's a breeze, the breeze hints that there are cooler days ahead. In the evenings, I can feel those cooler days getting closer. It's time for a new season.

Sometimes it's time for a new season in life, isn't it? And if you're like me, you might not be ready - or you may even be denying that it's coming.

We just experienced a season like that. Murphy, our 16-year old rescued kitty, died on August 22 and I have to face a new season without him. He slept with me (I know some won't approve, but he was my buddy!), he worked on my desk with me (and sometimes drove me crazy bumping up against the computer to get my attention), and he spent quiet time with me most mornings. The void is noticeable.

Murphy had shown signs that he was slowing down, so it was easy to deny that he was also losing weight and having a few "off" days now and then. He played just 2 nights before we said goodbye. In my mind, I convinced myself that he was still the same, young and ornery, and that we had a lot of years left. But somewhere deep in my heart, I knew he was going downhill. The occasional blood tests were showing signs of some ailments that kitties don't recover from. Still, I did not want to face this new season.

As we've said goodbye to Murphy, we've said hello to Brody, our rescued Australian shepherd. Thankfully, he has made me smile at some point every single day since we adopted him. Sometimes the smiles from Brody come through the tears about Murphy. That's how seasons work, I guess. There are good things and sometimes some not-so-good things about the seasons we go through in life.

There are seasons where we feel financially secure, or relatively healthy and fit, or deeply satisfied with our work - or our relationships - or our cars - or our homes - or our                ...

However you fill in that blank, I'll bet you agree that there are also times when we aren't all that thrilled with the current season. 

So what should we do? Hide until it passes? That didn't work so well the last time I tried it! Instead, we need to be in the moment - recognize a season for what it is...a season. A period of time that eventually passes - whether we want it to or not. 

And maybe while we're living in this season, we can also look foward to the new season that's coming just as sure as that cooler weather carried on the breezes here in Florida.

What season are you struggling with? Can you picture the new season waiting for you? Maybe your new season doesn't actually bring a change in circumstances - maybe it just brings a change in you - peace, joy, contentment...whatever this season has been missing. May you find it as you experience this particular season.

Blessings,

Linda

www.LindasWorkshops.com

Linda@LindasWorkshops.com

Calm...ahhhh!

Hi everyone (the picture is of my daughter and her family - well really, she's my stepdaughter, but I've known her for 80% of her life!),

A few days ago, I enjoyed participating in a workshop to review a workbook written by Dr. Stephen Schacher to accompany his book, Calm.

The human mind, as you've probably figured out, is one of my favorite topics to ponder - as in, what makes us do - or not do - what we do (or don't do!!)? What makes one person react so differently to the same situation someone else is also experiencing? Why can some people tune in to others' feelings, and other people just sort of trample all over everyone - without even being aware of it?

Anyway, back to the topic. The workshop was very interesting and I found myself thinking about how to incorporate more calm into my own life. I also found myself thinking how many areas of my life are vulnerable to being "uncalm" (cool new word, eh??).

My husband Guy got a great report from his doctor this morning about the progress he has made in his swallowing issues. I got a decent report from my orthopedic surgeon last week about my progress in "thawing" my frozen shoulder. Are we both in perfect shape in those areas? Uh, NO. But it did give us both a sense of calm knowing we were "growing" in taking care of ourselves.

Finances can easily cause me to lose my "calm" - how about you? Maybe some of you are financially stable and very secure - I am truly happy for you. With Guy and I both being self-employed (and having dealt with some "chronic" health issues the past few years), finances seem to be an area where calm comes to rest awhile before it takes flight again! :-) So I've taken steps to do what I can to encourage calmness in that area. I haven't won the lottery yet (probably because I don't play, ha ha), but I have become very aware of what is important to me and what I don't need to buy to have calm in my life.

Relationships are another area that, when strained, can cause us to lose our "calm" in almost all other areas, too, just from the constant tension. That's why it's so important to try to understand what might be going on in a strained relationship, rather than just putting a label to who's right and who's wrong (since we know we're always right anyway, right? HA!).

What we do for a living can calm us or cause us to live in a state of "not calm." I believe that much of that, though is not due to WHAT we do for a living, but HOW we choose to journey through our vocation. I get decidedly "uncalm" when I get directions to a new client's location, only to find that the directions are not clear and I end up somewhere I shouldn't be. In order to eliminate some of that, I often make a dry run the day before so I know where I'm going. Ahhhhh, the calm I feel the morning of my workshop because I know where I'm headed - that's priceless to me.

And maybe that's the point...maybe we need to know where we're headed in all of these areas so we can try to keep our calm. No, let's change that statement. Maybe we need to recognize what we CAN and can't control in each of these areas to help us hold onto one of my favorite feelings - calm. But here's the deal: be gut-wrenching honest with yourself about what you can and can't control. Example - I've had people in my workshops tell me they are always tired. When we start to dig a little deeper, I find it's because they are up till all hours spending time on the computer, watching TV, or just reading. Even though those activities seem to "calm" them at the time, they also rob a person of what tends to keep us calmer all the way around - sleep!

What area of your life could use a little more calm? And what will you do to achieve that?

Let me know!
Blessings,
Linda
Linda@LindasWorkshops.com

JOY to the world!

Before we discuss this week's word, one little aside about last week's word - LEARN. I was at a luncheon on Friday where we exchanged gifts. One of my gifts was...an Angel of Learning! Don't you just love it when something affirms what you knew all along? :-) She now sits proudly next to my desk where I conduct my online workshops - to inspire me and keep me focused on my purpose...

Now on to this week's word... At this time of year, it seems appropriate to ponder JOY. What does joy mean to you? Happiness? Contentment? Peace? All of the above??

So let me ask you this: has anyone ever stolen your joy? I'm a pretty upbeat person, as most of you know, but there are occasions when someone tries to steal my joy - or if not steal it, at least kidnap it! Today was one of those days.

We had taken a "mini-vacation" (some of you will recognize that term from my "Returning Balance to Your Life" workshop) to Barnes and Noble to enjoy a nice warm quiche and a good, strong cup of coffee. It was the perfect setting for a mini-vacation - for about the first 10 minutes. Then two ladies started discussing the pros and cons of their portable e-book readers - not really a notable happening, except they were sitting tables apart from each other, basically yelling across the room. That abrupt end to the peace and quiet was quickly followed by the always-present cell phone users, who proceeded to talk at a volume at least 50% higher than normal (why do they feel a need to do that, by the way - and does "Lisa" really need another cookbook??). Soon our mini-vacation turned into a hasty exit as we quickly left our relaxing experience - and our joy - behind. We have so little "leisure" time to really soak in joy and contentment, that we treasure those moments - and can get pretty resentful of those who seem determined to "disturb the peace."

But my recovery time is pretty quick with "joy stealers" these days. Life is just too short to let something (or someone!) that I cannot change have an effect on my joy that lasts more than minutes (of course, life can throw us curve balls that tend to keep our joy hidden for much longer periods). So in my typical fashion, I adjusted my attitude as I walked to the car and by the time I was home, I was feeling at peace again.

I think part of the reason for my ability to "recover quickly" is due to a speaker I heard several years ago (thank you, Pastor Tharp), who said something about joy that I found very profound. I have since adopted it as one of my life principles. He said that whenever he is around someone who is negative, mean-spirited, or seemingly doing all in their power to turn an experience from positive to negative, he offers these simple words: "I will SHARE my joy with you, but I won't allow ANYONE to steal it."

Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? I decided I didn't want to BE one of those people others think of as a joy-stealer, so I chose to change my own attitude. And I certainly wasn't going to allow the Barnes & Noble gremlins to steal my joy, even if they did manage to camouflage it for a few minutes.

So I'll ask you again, "Has anyone ever stolen your joy?" Maybe it's time you share it instead...

Have a blessed Christmas and a healthy, happy, and JOY-filled New Year!
Linda
www.LindasWorkshops.com
Linda@LindasWorkshops.com