Can-do Attitude

can-do attitudeJust a short and sweet post on leading with your heart’s desire and a can-do attitude.

Earlier this year I agreed to run a half marathon. I’ve never run this distance before and was puzzling over how I would integrate the long training runs into my schedule. Then, soon after, I made another new commitment to volunteer at my daughter’s school. I started to get concerned about my increasing activities.

Using my best project management skills, I pored over my schedule mapping out my commitments versus the hours in the day and making sure there was some time for relaxation and recreation.

It didn’t look good. Then I stopped. I stopped trying to figure it all out. I stopped trying to reassure myself that I would have enough time. I stopped thinking it through so thoroughly and I just did it.

I added the training runs to my calendar and the volunteer commitment too. Then I adopted a saying that seemed to capture my approach:

“Dunno how I’m going to get it done, but I will.”

This seemed to capture it all for me. My heart was saying, “Go for it! Do these things and the details will just have to be figured out along the way.”

I’m proud to report, so far so good.

  • Did I do it all by myself? No way! I had the support of a loving family and the best running buddies in the world!
  • Did I do it without fear? Absolutely not. I doubted and worried like a champion. Then I noticed. I noticed how I felt in my body when I said, “I can.” versus when I said, “I can’t.” I loved that feeling and I nurtured it.
  • Did fear show up again? You bet it did. Now I’m using it as fuel for my fire, just like one of sheroes does.

Wishing you the joy of a can-do attitude and following your heart’s desire.

We live and die by the clock

Cast Away“Time rules over us without mercy. Not caring if we’re healthy or ill. Hungry or drunk. Russian, American, beings from Mars. . . . we live or we die by the clock. We never turn our back on it and we never ever allow ourselves the sin of losing track of time.” from Cast Away

Time: It is precious and fleeting.  There are people who exhort us to waste time — to kick back and have a good time.  Then there are people who pressure us to live every moment to the fullest — to seize the moment and “go for it” at every turn. Of course, there are time management experts and many, many songs that center around the passage of time.

For me, the finite aspect of our time on earth can be a real motivator. I’m a person who likes to think things through and reflect on my decisions before I leap into action. Over the years, however, I’ve noticed that sometimes I spend so much time in my reflection mode that the opportunity disappears. This has led me to adopt a favorite mantra, “Do it now.”

This can be applied in all types of situations and is not just for life’s “big” decisions. For instance, my family and I were in our backyard admiring a spring flower that blooms for only a couple of weeks.  We knew that we wanted to take a picture of it to remember its beauty and we said aloud, “We’ll do that later.” I noticed the pattern and I remembered the many photographs that are only pictures in my mind because I hesitated or thought I’d do it at another time. So instead I said, “No, let’s do it now.  There are too many photos I’ve missed because I thought I’d do it later.”

“Do it now” is also helpful for life’s bigger decisions like where to go on vacation, which job to take, and whether or not to try your hand at Tae Kwon Do or hiking the Appalachian Trail or whatever other ambitious task might be on your bucket list. There will never be a “good” or convenient time for a month on the Trail and there probably will never be the ideal economic conditions for going to Bora Bora, but if these are things that will make your life meaningful to you, then I say, “Do it now.”

Perhaps this is bad advice and the savers among us will say, “Plan, be careful, you never know.”  Well, it’s true, you never do know.  You never know when your time on this earth will cease and you never know when the opportunity in front of you now will come again. Living here and now and staying true to your highest intentions and your higher self are good guides for this life. Knowing that this moment might not happen again helps me to live from a place of gratitude and of heightened awareness. When I’m gratefully aware of the goodness in this moment, I can soften around it and choose what needs to be done now.

How do you live from a “Do it now” perspective?  Is the finite aspect of time a motivator for you? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Time

It has been awhile . . . How can it be that every nook and cranny of time gets filled up?  Every ounce of energy gets sapped?

Light Photo
Image by Janice Lodato

I worry about time a lot.  Do you?  I worry that I’ll be late for the train, a meeting, an appointment, church, or picking up my daughter.  You name it I’ve probably been late for it at least once.  For some things I am so rarely on time that I’m sure people are shocked when I arrive at the allotted time.

I worry that I hurt some people by my lateness.  Am I late all the time because I don’t respect them or their time?  I don’t think so.  I’m just trying to do so much.  And guess what? That is not working.

A recent Kripalu blog entry http://kripalu.org/blog/thrive/2013/08/22/seven-back-to-school-strategies-to-help-you-stress-less-and-simplify-your-life/ reminded us to keep weekend time for relaxing and rejuvenating.  Really?  How does that work?  If you work during the week, the weekends are for all the fun and all the housework that doesn’t get done during the week.  If you leave the house at 7 a.m., arrive home at 7 p.m. and the evening is for dinner, dishes and family time (and hopefully at least 7 hours of sleep) how is there any time to participate in activities for fun, to do laundry or clean or run errands?

I’m sure I’m not alone in this and I know other people are busier than me, but how do we stop being so busy and still meet our responsibilities?  In the same way that everyone hates their corporate job but so few find a way to leave it; so many of us are overly busy and can’t find a way to stop.

I found this article by Toni Bernhard : http://tinybuddha.com/blog/how-to-reduce-stress-by-doing-less-and-doing-it-slowly/ to be very helpful.  I notice that I often employ the “double the time” trick in some settings, especially those where I recognize the task is complicated, new, or vaguely defined.  However, if it is a task I’ve done often or I consider simply, I usually grossly underestimate the time it will take to accomplish it.

Is it possible for me to double the time allotted to get to the train in the morning?  Or is it possible for me to do less?  How do I do less so I can be on time more?  How do I do less so I can do more of what I like and love to do?  There must be a way.  Right now, I’m asking my wise self for direction and  I welcome your thoughts in the comments section.

Wishing you love and light and moments of stillness!

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