Here's an update on the 50 in 50 list. So far, no fast food since the week of November 6th. In fact, I'm learning to cook a few easy staples. I did a 3 day Reduce Stress diet last weekend and I really felt great after it so it inspired me to keep going. Bought a Clean Eating mag and am going to pick up the ingredients for a couple of new dishes this week. Of course, it's Thanksgiving on Thursday, so I'll be enjoying a bit of holiday eating with mom and our mutual beasts (one dog, one cat -- no harmony in that duo!)
So I spent some time working on some more of my list. Here are my new additions:
11. Learn conversational spanish.
12. Create a gift box with ready to go presents for friends and family.
13. Reorganize my storage closet.
14. Begin using coupons for shopping trips.
15. Learn to stock a pantry.
16. Learn how to cook several basic foods: hummus, roast chicken, chicken noodle soup.
17. Find a dentist and schedule 2 cleanings.
18. Send my nephews a monthly care package.
19. Learn to knit a basic scarf.
20. Learn to make icing flowers.
21. Create a computerized address book.
22. Update my will.
23. Get a mammogram.
24. Learn to juggle.
25. Get a catalog of birthday and anniversary cards ready for next year.
I already have the shoeboxes on my counter to make next week's boxes for my nephews. And I cut out a bunch of coupons and used them on my last two shopping trips. Yea me!!
Only 25 more things to come up with.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Happy Birthday to Me!
It's my 50th birthday today.
Spent the weekend with two wonderful friends being pampered and relaxing. Lovely.
Home now. Trying to maintain the sense of calm and quiet mind that accompanied most of my weekend.
Trying.
Happy birthday to me!! :)
Spent the weekend with two wonderful friends being pampered and relaxing. Lovely.
Home now. Trying to maintain the sense of calm and quiet mind that accompanied most of my weekend.
Trying.
Happy birthday to me!! :)
Thursday, October 13, 2011
12 by 2012
A sweet, little blog I read is doing a 12 by 2012 goals challenge for the end of this year. This seems to fit very nicely with what I'm trying to do here, but with my 50th just around the corner (and ready to leap out and bit me in the ass..) I'm upping the ante to be 50 for 50. Fifty things to do, clean-up, create, see and/or just have happen in my 50th year.
Sounds like fun!
Here we go:
1. Check my credit score and start fixing it.
2. Average 4 hours of exercise per week.
3. See the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico in the same day. (Not so hard when you live in FL, which I do)
4. Revive my Sunday letter writing tradition.
5. Take a golf lesson (or two).
6. Create a wardrobe plan and begin assembling quality pieces.
7. Visit each nephew at their current home.
8. Finish my cross stitch Christmas stocking.
9. Add meditation to my daily routine.
10. Stop eating fast food.
That's my first 10. 50 may take awhile (but less time than my "willing to do list" which is still germinating.)
Maybe I'll eventually link this to Oh, hello friend! and go public. Maybe.
Sounds like fun!
Here we go:
1. Check my credit score and start fixing it.
2. Average 4 hours of exercise per week.
3. See the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean and the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico in the same day. (Not so hard when you live in FL, which I do)
4. Revive my Sunday letter writing tradition.
5. Take a golf lesson (or two).
6. Create a wardrobe plan and begin assembling quality pieces.
7. Visit each nephew at their current home.
8. Finish my cross stitch Christmas stocking.
9. Add meditation to my daily routine.
10. Stop eating fast food.
That's my first 10. 50 may take awhile (but less time than my "willing to do list" which is still germinating.)
Maybe I'll eventually link this to Oh, hello friend! and go public. Maybe.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Balance versus Harmony
After a luncheon where the speaker suggested that perhaps it isn't balance we should be seeking, but harmony, I found myself thinking about this whenever my monkey mind wandered from it's usual path of worrying and trouble making.
According to Merriam-Webster, harmony is the "pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts; inner calm" while balance is defined as "an aesthetically pleasing integration of elements; mental and emotional steadiness." At first glance, the definitions seem very similar - "pleasing", "parts" = "elements", "steadiness" = "calm" - but in my mind, they are completely different.
To me, balance implies the ongoing struggle to maintain a perfect equilibrium. Think tight rope walkers - do they ever just relax during their time on the tight rope and let something else take over? Um, no or they fall off and either have to start all over again or see a doctor immediately. Same with juggling balls or spinning plates. All similes used to demonstrate how much focus it takes to keep our lives in balance.
However, harmony.....now I'm thinking music or dance. One section or group or performer has the lead for a while then another comes to the front while the others rest, pose or play in the background. Each note or movement contributes to the overall effect, but there are built in rests for everyone. Yes, it's a balance of parts because everything or body can't just play or perform at their loudest or at center stage all the time and being able to physically balance oneself is important in dance, but when a group is resting, they are really resting. Not practicing. Just waiting. Sure, they have to count a bit to know when to come back, but the more you practice, the less you have to count and the more you are aware of the rest of what is going on around you to know when to step back in or start playing again (that would be that mindfulness thing that keeps rearing its ugly head in my search). Sometimes the other part is completely offstage somewhere changing into a new costume, having a drink during the saxophone solo or is even finished for the day.
I think for me harmony represents that it's okay to put something down and leave it down for a bit. Or be really focused on and put most of my energy into one project while just sort of dinking around on another project which may appear to be of equal importance to an outsider, but which I just can't get to right now. Balance would dictate that I give everything equal importance and try to compose my day or life in such a way that I touch on everything equally. That old pie chart where your life is supposed to look like a Trivial Pursuit game board with all your colorful little wedges so nice and evenly spaced. I have never had much success with that. I know all the parts - spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual, etc., but I'm not sure I've ever had a balance among them. However, I do know that there have been times when they have worked together in harmony and I have felt the beauty of the moment without a worry that I was neglecting something to be doing something else.
Harmony. It's my word of the week.
Still working on my willing to do list. It would appear I am not yet willing to commit my thoughts to paper on that. My old thoughts on balance would dictate that I should be diligently touching on it daily, but my new harmony paradigm allows me the opportunity to let it rest while I focus on something else. And I like that. I think that might be that "inner calm" thing.
J.
According to Merriam-Webster, harmony is the "pleasing or congruent arrangement of parts; inner calm" while balance is defined as "an aesthetically pleasing integration of elements; mental and emotional steadiness." At first glance, the definitions seem very similar - "pleasing", "parts" = "elements", "steadiness" = "calm" - but in my mind, they are completely different.
To me, balance implies the ongoing struggle to maintain a perfect equilibrium. Think tight rope walkers - do they ever just relax during their time on the tight rope and let something else take over? Um, no or they fall off and either have to start all over again or see a doctor immediately. Same with juggling balls or spinning plates. All similes used to demonstrate how much focus it takes to keep our lives in balance.
However, harmony.....now I'm thinking music or dance. One section or group or performer has the lead for a while then another comes to the front while the others rest, pose or play in the background. Each note or movement contributes to the overall effect, but there are built in rests for everyone. Yes, it's a balance of parts because everything or body can't just play or perform at their loudest or at center stage all the time and being able to physically balance oneself is important in dance, but when a group is resting, they are really resting. Not practicing. Just waiting. Sure, they have to count a bit to know when to come back, but the more you practice, the less you have to count and the more you are aware of the rest of what is going on around you to know when to step back in or start playing again (that would be that mindfulness thing that keeps rearing its ugly head in my search). Sometimes the other part is completely offstage somewhere changing into a new costume, having a drink during the saxophone solo or is even finished for the day.
I think for me harmony represents that it's okay to put something down and leave it down for a bit. Or be really focused on and put most of my energy into one project while just sort of dinking around on another project which may appear to be of equal importance to an outsider, but which I just can't get to right now. Balance would dictate that I give everything equal importance and try to compose my day or life in such a way that I touch on everything equally. That old pie chart where your life is supposed to look like a Trivial Pursuit game board with all your colorful little wedges so nice and evenly spaced. I have never had much success with that. I know all the parts - spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual, etc., but I'm not sure I've ever had a balance among them. However, I do know that there have been times when they have worked together in harmony and I have felt the beauty of the moment without a worry that I was neglecting something to be doing something else.
Harmony. It's my word of the week.
Still working on my willing to do list. It would appear I am not yet willing to commit my thoughts to paper on that. My old thoughts on balance would dictate that I should be diligently touching on it daily, but my new harmony paradigm allows me the opportunity to let it rest while I focus on something else. And I like that. I think that might be that "inner calm" thing.
J.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
What I'm willing to do.
One of the first things I've done in my quest for a life is to begin reading books and blogs and pamphlets, if I find them, on a variety of themes relating to happiness. Keeping in mind something a therapist once told me that "happiness is a transient condition," I'm not trying to become something I'm not, one of those truly, amazingly upbeat people, but just augment my ability to create a more positive outlook. So obviously, I began with Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project. Bought it on a glorious day in the early spring, picked up some lovely macaroons and iced tea and spent a morning in the park reading. Great way to begin, let me tell you. Good read full of nice ways to start paying attention to how you're living your life on a day to day basis. And after a lot more reading on the subject (see links), I am firmly committed to the idea that it is in fact how the day to day things get accomplished that get you to a deep fulfilling life.
What I plan on doing in the next several days is creating a list a'la Gretchen on my absolute truths, 12 commandments, whatever you want to name them. I am calling them my "What I'm willing to do" items. These will be the things I am "willing to do" to build a life that helps me to thrive and live as deeply as I can for as long as I can.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Ready to go, but not what you think!
Today I wrote the resignation letter for my job. Not that I'm quitting my job, but it pays to be prepared. I've done this exercise before when I hit the tipping point in relative job satisfaction to dissatisfaction and I find it particularly liberating to know that at any time I'm ready to go. Of course, this one might need a tweak or two....
Dear Boss,
Life is too short.
Sincerely,
J.
In search of.......what?
In search of .......
.....happiness.
.....my 25-year old body.
.....financial freedom.
.....a great mojito recipe.
.....a job I love.
.....love.
.....fun.
.....all those little intangibles that make up a great, fulfilling life.
These are the chronicles of my attempts to create a bigger, richer, more captivating life. Maybe it's turning 50 soon or maybe it's being bored beyond belief with the career I've chosen (or not so much "chosen" as gotten stuck in) or being limited by what I can do because of crappy financial management. I don't really know, but I do know something has to give here.
So, off we go in search of J.'s life!
Might be fun. Or maybe not so much. Only time will tell. Stay tuned.
J.
.....happiness.
.....my 25-year old body.
.....financial freedom.
.....a great mojito recipe.
.....a job I love.
.....love.
.....fun.
.....all those little intangibles that make up a great, fulfilling life.
These are the chronicles of my attempts to create a bigger, richer, more captivating life. Maybe it's turning 50 soon or maybe it's being bored beyond belief with the career I've chosen (or not so much "chosen" as gotten stuck in) or being limited by what I can do because of crappy financial management. I don't really know, but I do know something has to give here.
So, off we go in search of J.'s life!
Might be fun. Or maybe not so much. Only time will tell. Stay tuned.
J.
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