Sea Change

A friend of a friend of a friend of mine, always puts the IF condition on her happiness statement.

e.g. I'd be sooooooooo happy IF I had a house by the sea ... the surf ... not just the bay.

Have you ever caught yourself doing that? I bet you're not happy after saying it!

Notice what happens when you turn it around.

e.g. It'd be really amazing if I could have a house by the surf. Fortunately, it is not required for happiness.

I don't know about you, but after I say that turnaround pair of sentences, I get a thought with a smile that goes something like this... 'O yeah, that's right, now what was I going to do?' I'm happy and I move on to DO something. Now that's gotta be good.

Your turn. Fill in the gap with your IF condition for happiness, then go DO something. And leave a comment below with your thoughts about it all.

“It’d be really amazing if I could __________________.

Fortunately, it is not required for happiness.” alexandrafranzen.com

Tour de France cancelled

I'm raising my cycling game. I'm returning to the commuting world.

Today was to be the first day of cycling to my new work site. I had my flash new recycled bike and bits ready to go.

BUT I ALLOWED MYSELF TO BE PUT OFF BY FRIENDS COLLEAGUES PEOPLE who acted shocked surprised doubtful that I would could do it!!!!

So I was flexible. I thought I would drive some of the way with the bike in the back of the car and then ride the rest of the way.

But NO. I couldn't get it in the car easily. Slight stamping of feet happening at this stage until I gave in and took the dog for a walk and put off the cycle commuting re-entry.

I thought I had sorted it out in my head and was comfortable cycling next week until I noticed I was mumbling f^@> and shaking my head and not noticing the sunrise over the low tide revealed sandbanks while walking said dog!!! 

Why did I do that? Why did I let myself be persuaded to think I shouldn't have a go at this? By now I'm really getting pissed off at self!

Geez, it's not the freakin Tour de France.

I wasn't even going to wear lycra pants.

So... thanks to someone/something that helped me to notice that I do that to myself - stop myself from doing something that I want to do because other people think that I can't do it.

Thanks also to me noticing my angry/frustrated behaviour and acting on it in a proactive way without harming others (not even slightly like with a dark scowly sort of look). 

Has that ever happened to you? What did you do? What do you now do so that you can keep doing what you want to do?

I'm grateful that I noticed it and I'll be better prepared next week!

Please leave a comment. Thank you. xo

Chocoholic

I just decided to not be a chocoholic anymore.

Just like that.

How brilliant is that?!!

I really can do it.

I did it.

I'm not a chocoholic anymore.

I think the trigger was when a colleague described me to a new staff member. Now I like to think of myself as many things, but I didn't get off on the fact that chocoholic was the first thing that came to her mind!

Within hours of this decision, I saw an ad for Michelle Bridges' book, Losing the Last 5 Kilos: your kick-arse guide to looking and feeling fantastic. I bought it.

Page 35 got the sticky note bookmark. She compares motivation and consistency. Motivation is about feeling, but consistency is about doing.

She has a special term to remind her of the steady, relentless action to see a journey to its end - the action of being consistent.

She talks about JFDI!. Just _ Do It! The exclamation mark is mine!

So what will you JFD this day? What's been getting up your nose about yourself for too long? Put a JFDI! sticky note on your computer for a giggle and JFDI!

LEST WE FORGET

ANZAC DAY 2013

Renovator's Delight

I love my little house by the sea... well, walking distance to the sea. A renovator's delight.

I'm at the point where I'm wondering where I should stop.

I'll have to keep working the rest of my life to pay it off if I keep going with the 'finishing touches'!

I thought about that. I thought that would be the worst thing that could happen (not counting deaths of loved ones). No free time to do whatever you're supposed to do after you stop working.

And then I thought, nope, worse than that would be to not have your health to be able to keep working.

Get to the bottom of what's meaningful to you right now.

What's the worst thing that could happen to you?





... and then, what would be worse than that?




... and then, make a small change to appreciate what's most meaningful to you.

I discovered my health is most meaningful to me. With my physical, mental and spiritual health in top form, I can access all that I love.

Leffe Blond psychology

You just have to read this.

I wrote a piece for a psychology unit I did once upon a time. I wrote how lucky I was. I'd had the usual abuse, but I really felt lucky and felt uncomfortable about it. I felt I possibly should be suffering and resentful. I didn't. I don't. 

I love that. Alexandra Franzen's article really sums that up. We don't have to suffer or go through adverse situations to have valid wisdom that helps others. Yay.

My life can be as easy as a Leffe Blond goes down at the end of a day.

So can yours, whether you like Leffe Blonde or not!

It's all a story, so we might as well make it a good one.

Take a moment right now and write your future story, the good one, the ideal one.

What would you be doing? Who would be there? What would you smell, see, taste? How would you be earning your living? What would you be contributing to the world or your community?

Post that up on your mirror or the toilet wall or somewhere that you'll see it every day.

The Black Hole v Tom Jones

If you were in a black hole and Tom Jones walked by, could you summon up a smile, or even just an ironic grin?

Could you put on your best you attitude?

O yes you could.

Easily.

OK. So Tom Jones doesn't float your boat! Fill in your own person that you would want to meet or have in your world... Julia Gillard... Gran... 

Let that person keep you honest.

Let that person keep you true to who you know you can be.

Let that person allow you to be who you know you can be with everyone currently in your world. If Tom Jones were here, would I want him to see me acting like this?

Don't let that Black Hole thing take over.

When you are bright and a beauty, that's the real thing, not a face.

Leave a comment. Who is that person who could have influenced you to act decisively and gracefully if they had been present, instead of acting in a way you are not happy with? Put their on your phone's home screen! See what happens.

Stoked

Before you were conceived, I wanted you. Before you were born, I loved you. Before you were here an hour, I would give my life for you. This is the miracle of love.

Maureen Hawkins

This poem infiltrates my thinking and stokes my fires to do what I say I want to do.

It invites me to live the story I want my kids to tell after I've exited the stage left (deadibones).

It provokes me to tell the already lived stories they wouldn't know about me, and helps clarify assumptions they may hold about me after the family's separation and divorce.

What's the story you want told after you're deadibones? (Start acting it out right now)

Who do you want to tell it? (Tell them now)

Who do you love?