Brave

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brave |brāv| adjective – ready to face and endure danger or pain;

showing courage

I’ve always been a tad stubborn and have mastered the art of embarrassing myself. For example, I am writing in a quiet library. People scattered from table to table silently working or reading.

Every piece of my being wants to get up and start dancing around the room to the song I am listening to on Pandora. Would that be considered brave or just silly. Or crazy?

Instead, I just tap my feet and settle for lip-synching.

I am determined to be brave this year, and for that matter, the next and the next. Being hesitant and scared did not get me to where I am today and interestingly enough, I have never been so happy in my life.

Keeping up this endurance of bravery is tough, especially when it seems like nothing is happening or people are judging, but, you see, I have been planting seeds. Good seeds of kindness and tenacity. For six years I have been welcoming change and running head first into the unknown. Tears streaming down my face at times, I do not regret one moment of my life. The mistakes, the fashion faux pas, the clumsiness – it’s all me and I am more ready than ever to be brave.

To be bold. Fearless. Gallant. Daring.

Plucky, even!

Peaceful

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Tea BagHave you thought about how you want to feel?

I spoke of the professional rendezvous I had with Debra Smouse in my last post and am on to my second word – peaceful

peaceful |ˈpēsfəl|
adjective
1. free from disturbance; tranquil: Everything was so quiet and peaceful in the early morning.
2. inclined to avoid conflict; not aggressive: Elizabeth was a peaceful, law-abiding citizen.

Oh, how I wish to have peace every moment of the day and as long as I stay in the confines of my little bubble and let no one in, I can have peace. But alas, I do not aspire to be a hermit. I am a social being and love to interact with people, especially those who live differently and have opinions that clash with my own. I seem to control myself when it comes to acquaintances and strangers, chalking any conflict or disagreement up to “everyone is entitled to their own opinion” and “to each his own.”

It’s the pesky people I love in my life that usually derail my peace. I would say about 60% of my day I am at peace. After 6 years of meditating on positive thoughts, spilling out my soul to various therapists and sprinkling my brain with a dash of meds, I am only at sixty percent. But everyday, I see myself having peace in my relationships and a calmer state of mind when I am in a battle of wits with a 6-year-old.

Unexpected disturbances to my familiar routine are getting easier to manage, all without a meltdown that eventually only led to a big pimple on my cheek.

I am not perfect and do get consumed by the stresses of life, finances, work and relationships, but with consistency, (and over time) my response to pressure and my overall mood seems to be rooted in patience. The seed I planted 6 years ago to lead a more peaceful life has sprouted.

And I want more.

A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.

― Eleanor Roosevelt

*Definition from the New Oxford American Dictionary

Clever

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clever |ˈklevər|glasses

adjective

  • quick to understand, learn, and devise or apply ideas; intelligent: a clever and studious young woman | how clever of her to think of this!
  • skilled at doing or achieving something; talented: she was clever at getting what she wanted | she is clever with her hands.
  • showing intelligence or skill; ingenious

I had a virtual VIP pow wow with my dear friend, editor and coaching extraordinaire, Debra Smouse, who single-handedly helped me de-tangle my life in about 5 hours. Her approach to getting results is realistic and no-nonsense and I like that.

The most powerful part of our meeting for me was talking about how I wanted to feel. To quote Debra:

“In order to fall in love with your life – in order to achieve a life of your dreams – you need to follow your desired emotion.  Let it roll.  It’s deep inside your heart for a divine reason:  it’s a guide for you to fulfill your purpose.”

I dug deep into the recesses of my soul and knew I wanted to feel clever. I like the feeling of my heart beating faster when I come up with a snappy idea. I also want to be quick to learn and have ingenious ideas that makes no one else but me smile.

As I settle into a new schedule, one that finally flows from my professional life to my personal life, I am focused on goals, yes. But at the end of the day, and truly, at the end of my days, my memories will not be about how I got results. It will be about how I felt during my life.

In the next few weeks I will be talking about the words I have chosen to start feeling: peaceful, brave, overjoyed, good-natured, and giddy.

Renewing the mind takes practice and I always up for a challenge.

How do you want to feel?

 

Definition from the New Oxford American Dictionary

Swill

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teaSeventy-two hours of skull ripping head aches.

She knew her effort would not be in vain.

Moving from jittery ups to teeth grinding lows, she had enough of this obsessive dependency.

This poison coursed through her for years, clouding her mind and abandoning her just as quickly as it shot into her blood stream.

Clear thinking and sweet peaceful brain power was within her grasp.

A caffeine detox was in order.

Oh, how she longed to be a tea drinker…

“Never confuse …

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“Never confuse movement with action.”
― Ernest Hemingway

wavy linesI have been moving and acting like mad lately. Writing here, there and everywhere. While my brain pours out story after story, I realize, I am living my dream. But I must continue to act and resist being distracted by the noise of the world. Yes, I adore certain distractions in my life and do not consider them to be a diversion to my creative process, but adding to the creative supply in my imagination…

Busy, busy, busy

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Life seems to be picking up speed whether I like it or not lately. I often feel bound to so many responsibilities,Rocks turning the various roles in my life into consuming (and often irritating) “assignments”.

This saddens me, because I deep down, I am truly happy. But the word busy keeps reminding me that I must feel obligated to do more.

SLOW DOWN is written on a post-it in my kitchen, strategically stuck to the cabinet I frequent the most so I can see it often throughout the day. My mantra today is slow down. Slow everything down. Even the so-called little things, like snuggling with my daughter at 2 AM instead of rushing back to my bed or holding hands with my husband a few minutes longer in the car instead of checking my iPhone.

I have given myself permission to stop sprinting through my day and the more I remember to slow down and observe, smell, touch and feel, the more productive I become. (And incidentally, I am finding an overall sense of peace.)

Are you struggling to keep up and sabotaging your own day?

The Powerful Optimist

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For years I have been searching for a better definition of the word optimist. I consider myself a confident and hopeful person, yet find I can be seen as naive or easily pushed around. Good-natured, yes, but certainly not timid. I give people the benefit of the doubt and never stand on the side lines waiting for life to happen to me.

While searching for an uplifting quote about energy, I found a lovely excerpt from Vera Nazarian’s, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration which embodies my idea of being a buoyant soul, free from the embarrassment of skipping through life looking on the bright side.

“People who are too optimistic seem annoying. This is an unfortunate misinterpretation of what an optimist really is.

An optimist is neither naive, nor blind to the facts, nor in denial of grim reality. An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all options available, no matter how limited. As such, an optimist always sees the big picture. How else to keep track of all that’s out there? An optimist is simply a proactive realist.

An idealist focuses only on the best aspects of all things (sometimes in detriment to reality); an optimist strives to find an effective solution. A pessimist sees limited or no choices in dark times; an optimist makes choices.

When bobbing for apples, an idealist endlessly reaches for the best apple, a pessimist settles for the first one within reach, while an optimist drains the barrel, fishes out all the apples and makes pie.

Annoying? Yes. But, oh-so tasty!”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Leisurely Labor

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Take a couple of moments today to just breathe. I thought maybe you could benefit from breathing as you catch up from the weekend.

It is so easy to take a look at your list of responsibilities for the week and start rushing around to complete them. If you are like me, my momentum builds and like a crazy person, I end up sprinting – attempting to finish everything quickly.

I am not multitasking, like I tell myself, I am flailing. The projects I am completing often missing crucial elements.

My ideas become so-so and not extraordinary. The interaction I have with my loved ones becomes surface level and shallow.

Slow down today.

Take your punch list and give it a hug instead of slapping it around.

At the end of the day, you will accomplish more.