No television
piano -- seriously
pray pray pray
eat pray love
Make life full
Be patient
Get the cork (dream) board
No overnight results
I'm committed to feeling better.
Here's something I read in A New Earth: The joy of Being, which is the only true happiness, cannot come to you through any form, possession, achievement, person, or event -- through anything that happens. That joy cannot come to you--ever. It emanates from the formless dimension within you, from consciousness itself and thus is one with who you are. (Eckhart Tolle)
Chew on that for a minute. Not that profound, really. What I'm looking for is inside me. I get that. But I've been preventing myself from seeing that or truly operating in that knowledge because I'm so easily distracted. I think the world revolves around me so when things don't go my way I'm thrown all out of whack.
It's not all about me.
So I took the above notes.
no television - you'd be appalled to know how much time I waste in front of the t.v. I think I've earned the right to veg out. But the problem with that is ... just that ... I'm a vegetable. No productivity and I'm totally unaware of anything. So for the last two days I haven't watched any television (baby steps).
piano -- seriously -- my guy bought me a keyboard three years ago and I have not made any significant progress with learning how to play the thing. Why? Because I think I'm special and I think I'm some kind of prodigy so it all should come easily for me. Practice is boring and if I don't get it right away I get up and watch television. So today I practiced for an hour (again, baby steps).
pray pray pray - I need to stay connected to the only One that matters.
eat pray love - read that book again.
Make life full - I'm not sure how to do this but one of the men at last week's retreat appeared to have such a full life and he is one of the most contented, centered people I have ever met. We've worked together for about nine months and I have never seen him stressed or out of control. He's married with two children, he works full time, teaches part time, very active in his community, he's renovating his house, he pays attention to what he eats and he exercises everyday. I asked him, "You seem to have such a full life ... how do you do that?" He just shrugged his shoulders and smiled and said, "It doesn't leave me a lot of downtime." That wasn't even a complaint ... just an observation.
Be patient - I think the piano is going to help me with this one. I didn't reach this state of being overnight and I'm not going to change it overnight either. But I'm encouraged because at least I'm aware.
Get the cork (dream) board: I saw this somewhere (probably Opr.ah) ... I bought a cork board and I add things to it that remind me of what I want in life. There's a picture of the piano, a clipping that says, "best sellers list", a picture of a chaise on the beach, a lady in a yoga pose. I've encouraged my kids to add their dreams to the board as well.
no overnight results - again be patient.
So that's where I'm at and how I'm doing.
For those of you that are wondering about my writing progress, I'm still working. The goal is still a completed first draft before the end of the summer.
Happy Easter!
3 comments:
I'm feeling you on the patience thing. I really am.
For our last journal writing meeting, we had to make a "vision board", i.e., a board containing our vision and dreams. I think it's a good idea. Depressed me something terrible early on, because I couldn't think, and I had to do A LOT of writing and skimming back through my blog and journals to "see" what was on my mind, and where I wanted to go. Uh, I should've been required to do one since the age of 5 for at least once a year, lol. Maybe my head wouldn't be so far up in the clouds right now if I did it on a regular basis. It is REALLY helpful, gave me a lot to think about and focus on. I even came up with a 125 word "moral" vision statement for myself. A scary thing to do, but I feel it gives me something to strive for, you know?
We had a fast at church that included watching no more than 2 hours of telvision a day. It is AMAZING what you can get done when the idiot box is OFF. TV = chewing gum for the brain, that's for sure.
Gotta pray, Oldgirl. But I am learning that this must be a continuous thing, all day, when you have small bits of time alone. Keeps me mindful of His presence and what's really important.
Play that piano, girl. PLAY IT!!
I like your list. Got me wanting to conjure up a list of my own!!
what a fantastic entry my goodness! I love that Eckhart, he's come to my Spiritual Center and he's spot on, over and over again. Just what he's saying about joy is Rev Beckwith's regular message...he's trying brainwash us with the RIGHT kinda information!
A full life. That has been my intention lately. I've been really working to stretch my life with the knowledge that I have enough to support it..
Sigh, life is big ain't it?!
"He just shrugged his shoulders and smiled and said, 'It doesn't leave me a lot of downtime."
I think that is the key. Staying focussed on living and not dwelling as we do on this blog! LOL
Post a Comment