- Today I read about allowing instead of forcing. A great reminder. When we force anything, resistance automatically arises. When we let go and allow, we find ideas and thoughts arise that are useful. I need to ask myself throughout the day when I start to feel constricted or tense, what am I trying to force? Then tell myself to relax. Get up from my desk, move around, take a walk, drink some water, let go. When I come back, my mind will be calmer and freer to do whatever it is I want to do.
2. I am thinking about the weather this morning because it is getting cold again this week, especially at night. Our frost date is April 15, but we’ll have temperatures in the high 30s Wed night, and I’ll have to bring my plants in again for a couple of days. This situation is a good reminder that I should think about my thoughts like the weather. They come and go, some good, some not so good but always volatile, changing, never fixed. Thoughts only become fixed when we grab and hold onto them. If we can let them come and go like the weather, they’ll have less impact on our day-to-day lives and we can just get on with living.
3. I had a revelation in my new writing class yesterday. I reviewed what I wrote over the past four days and did a suggested audit. Of the entries I wrote over the past few days, 2/5 of the words were adverbs and adjectives. OMG! But I learned an extremely useful lesson. It doesn’t mean I shouldn’t use these types of words, just use them with more care and less often. In just one class I learned something great. Can’t wait to learn more and see how much my writing improves.
4. Well, we are off and running on the RCA book project. First draft is due June 1. Since I am contributing just a chapter, it shouldn’t be a problem. I can apply some of what I am learning in my various writing classes to this project. I am excited to be working on it and I love my topic: understanding that retirement is another of life’s transitions.
5. I watched a webinar from a previous coaching experience and it seemed to me that so much has changed. I thought it was the coach who changed but maybe it was me. Her approach, which initially drew me into the coaching world, now seems much harsher and less accepting than I remember. But what I think has happened is that I have moved on from what she teaches. She has a very direct and practical way of coaching which initially appealed to me. The coaches I work with now take a different approach, one that is quieter and more contemplative. Kinder, softer, deeper and harder to grasp at first but more affirming.
6. I am thinking about putting pictures back up on the walls after we painted the house. But I have too much art and not enough walls. I need to spend some time pulling everything together in one place and looking at each piece. Kind of like the Marie Kondo project. I want to consider letting go of some pieces. What do I want to keep and what do I want to let go of? How and where could I sell the ones I don’t want to keep? It’s a big project but one I want to tackle soon. I love the idea of reducing, simplifying, letting go.
7. Part of the Creating the Impossible workshop was “the big ask.” What this means is to ask someone to help you with something you think is impossible. Without realizing that this was what I was doing, I applied for a wine writing symposium. Yesterday I got an acceptance email. I applied on a lark and was accepted. How fun is that? Just putting stuff out in the ether to see what happens.
