Worthwhile Day by Jessica Dang #Trust 30 (Day 38)

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could.”

What is one thing you can do that would make today worthwhile? What’s stopping you from getting started right now?

(Author: Jessica Dang)

I have to be honest—I need to clean the house.  The only problem is that I do not think it makes my day worthwhile.  I would much rather be reading, writing, talking to my best friend, playing Band Hero (no, don’t laugh, I love the drums!!), or searching for quotes and inspiration in my books or on the web.  Then, I was on Facebook and saw this post:

"Simple household chores are a snap for me. I make housework fun. I begin anywhere and move through the rooms with artistic flair. I toss out the garbage. I dust and polish those things I treasure." - Louise L. Hay

Tossing out the garbage, and polishing the things I treasure—I can make this fun!  All I need to do is change the way I look at it.  I need to come from a more positive attitude about housework.  If I do not view it as dreadful, then it will not be dreaded.  If I believe that even though it may seem trivial and uninspiring, I can still find satisfaction and take pride in my ‘menial’ work.   Who says it has to be ‘menial’ except me?

The lesson I learned:  I realize that this is exactly the way we need to deal with our day to day lives.  We need to de-clutter our brains, ‘toss out the garbage’.  Then, we ‘polish’ the things we treasure about life.  By doing this we feed our passion, because all of life should be a passion to us.  Even the ‘menial’ should become our treasures because that too is a part of our life. 

So—I am off to clean the house!!  I hope!

Peace!

Be You by Elizabeth Presson #Trust30 (Day 37)

In one sentence, who are you?

I am who I need to be in this moment.

Number 1 Passion by Eric Handler #Trust30 (Day 36)

What is your #1 passion in life? Now, imagine what would happen if you incorporated that passion into your life daily. Write down your passion and keep it close to you. Remind yourself of it daily, just like brushing your teeth.

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” ~William Shakespeare

I have numerous passions at this time in my life.  To narrow it down to one is very difficult for me.  However, evolving into a new creation is my greatest passion.  My thinking is in the process of being changed.  

I am learning to unlearn; I am learning to break out of the mold into which I was poured; I am learning to think for myself, unburdened from the ‘tapes’ of the past; I am learning to be ME.

I will continue to do this each day for the rest of my journey—that is my hope. 

Without freedom from the past
there is no freedom at all...
because the mind is never new, fresh, innocent ...
~ Krishnamurti ~

Peace

Energy by Julia E #Trust 30 (Day 35)

“The world belongs to the energetic.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

It’s easy to blame our failure to meet our goals or to live our dream lives on a lack of energy, and we don’t always stop to think about the quality of energy in our lives. Yet we can choose to create and manage our own energy flow.

Think of an instance when you’ve been so involved in an activity that you’ve lost track of time, and then identity the passions and energies you were feeding. Who was there with you? What were you doing? What will you do to make time for moments like that one more often?

Dear Blog followers:  I lose track of time every day!!!    It is called D.I.D.  Now to get serious about this post!

Energy can be a fleeting desire.  But, I have found when a passion becomes activated within, the energy flows freely.  To create and manage our own energy flow then we must learn to live in our passions; we must learn to have a passion for life in its entirety.

There are several instances when I become totally absorbed in something and do not realize the time is passing.  They all relate to my passions.  The first one is writing--whether it is writing poetry, venting in my journal, or writing for the #Trust30.  I also lose track of time when I am camping in the mountains and sitting in front of a campfire. Then of course, there is always music. 

As far as the energy I am feeding, they are similar for all three activities.  It is my journey inward, towards growth; a time of reflection; a time to just be me; a time to be one with nature and connect to the Creator.  When I am in this state, usually I do not even notice who is with me.  It is hypnotic.  The energy passion emits flows into me and I flow into something else larger than me.

In my opinion, anytime we can reach this level, we are creating the ‘breath of life’.  For me this means we are uniting the mind, the body and the spirit to flow as one.  Our life is breathing.  We are in the ‘Self’.  "Energy is eternal delight." - William Blake

Allow all the creative experiences and choices of life to open your heart and move you towards your joy and truth.

What would you be by Ryan Allis #Trust30 (Day 34)

If a year from now you weren’t in the profession you’re currently in, what would you be in your wildest dreams?

Currently, I do not have a ‘profession’.  I have not worked very much over the years.  When I graduated from high school as Valedictorian, I dreamed of going away to college.  Unfortunately, I was not given the opportunity nor did I have the fortitude at that time in my life to pursue my dream on my own.  I was in the ‘run away’ state of mind. 

The only training I received during that period of my life was in accounting at a trade school.  I was a math geek…so it fit!!  And...a lesson well learned from a short ‘run away and get married’ abusive relationship.

My first job was at a racetrack in the money room.  I must say it was a very fun job!  It did not feel like work!  I managed to advance to Assistant Money Room Manager.  Then, for a summer, I decided to be a groom on the ‘backside’ of the track!  I love horses.  Now this felt like work, ‘stinky work’, but only manually.  Mentally it was a joy being around the horses and learning each of their unique ‘personalities’.  As I kept running, I found myself as an Inventory Clerk for an oilfield company, climbing the shelves like a ‘monkey’ J counting every little screw!  Then, I ran into a ‘dark’ time, but emerged married and raising a child.  I worked for a travel agency as Office Manager/Bookkeeper.  Then I worked at Compaq Computers on the assembly line, building laptops and PC’s.  So, I have 'run' the gamut, all the while, in the dark, victim, running state of mind.

BUT MY WILDEST DREAM…it is still the dream of why I wanted so desperately to go to college out of high school—I wanted to be a Psychiatrist or a Psychologist.  Back in the early ninety’s, I went to a community college for two years.  Then, as fate would have it, my husband lost his job in the ‘oil patch’ and I felt I had to quit…never to return.  While the saying goes, ‘It is never too late’, I do feel it is too late for this career.  But, I have not given up on the dream of trying to help others through the pain of childhood abuse.  I do not need a degree for helping.  I have not given up on the dream that I will find a niche in the world outside.  I think the fact that I am still searching is a good sign!  Maybe my dream for connection to other survivors has helped me survive on my own journey to my authentic self.   

In his book, “Dark Nights of the Soul”, Thomas Moore writes, “Feelings are wet and damp, inundating us and preventing us from thinking clearly.  Ideas are drier and allow a vision to emerge from a sea of feelings.  The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said that a dry soul is a wise and wonderful soul that steps back from the torrent of events to glimpse the eternal realities.”

This is my ‘stepping back’ from ‘running away’.  I am ‘drying my soul’.

Peace!

A BIRTHDAY EVENT: by Seth Godin #Trust30 (day 33)

Congrats on completing 30 days of writing reflections! The feedback on #trust30 has been so great that Amber has volunteered to continue the prompts as a personal project. The hope is that these daily emails will guide you on your writing journey, and help you to look within and get to know yourself.

To kick off this new leg, here’s a prompt from Seth Godin:

Find something that happened on the day and date you were born. Write about it.

August 17, 195* (Do the work!!!) was evidently an uneventful day in history, except for the fact that I became human!! J J J

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

“Eric Johnson (born August 17, 195*) is an American guitarist and recording artist from Austin, Texas. Though he is best known for his success in the instrumental rock format, Johnson regularly incorporates jazz, fusion, New Age, gospel and country and western music into his recordings.^[1] Johnson also composes and plays vocal pieces, and is an accomplished pianist.

Guitar Player magazine has called Johnson "one of the most respected guitarists on the planet".^[2] Johnson's stylistic diversity and technical proficiency with the guitar have been praised by Bill Hicks,^[3]. His critically acclaimed, platinum-selling 1990 recording Ah Via Musicom produced the single "Cliffs of Dover", for which Johnson won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.^[4] ”  (Wikipedia)


Since I am a lover of ALMOST all music,
You can listen to a couple of his songs here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Interrutpion?feature=mhee#p/c/0863FA85B030BD25/0/aGI2zUsDkHw


ODDLY COINCIDENTAL IS THE FACT THAT HIS ALBUM COVER HAS AN ANGEL ON IT AND I COLLECT ANGELS!  "LONELY IN THE NIGHT" IS SOMETIMES HOW I FEEL.  THE TITLE OF HIS SECOND SONG "Cliffs of Dover" has a connection to my heritage as my father was English, Irish and Scottish.  Also, Eric Johnson was born in the same state as myself and many of my relatives.

Group Life Insurance Program

Low-cost group life insurance, a very important addition to the Federal personnel program, was provided when the Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance Act was signed on August 17, 195*. This law authorized the largest group life insurance program in the world. It was a key point in the Eisenhower administration's plans to revamp Federal personnel practices to accord better with practices of progressive private employers. By January 1958, approximately 2,100,000 Federal employees were covered and the insurance in force amounted to $11 billion. The families of about 36,000 deceased Federal employees had received approximately $175 million in benefits.

OTHER EVENTS ON AUGUST 17^TH:

Davy Crockett was born, 1786

The Woodstock Music Fair ended, 1969

Hurricane Camille killed more than 300 people and left 70,000 homeless in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, 1969.

PEACE

Fault and Change by Carlos Miceli #Trust30 (Day 32)

I must be myself. I cannot break myself any longer for you, or you. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Think of all the things that are not working in your life. That job you don’t like, that relationship that’s not working, those friends that annoy you. Now turn them all on you. Imagine that everything that’s not working in your life, is your fault. How would you approach it? What would you work on to change your life to the state that you want it to be?

(Author: Carlos Miceli)

The word fault has several definitions.  If you look at the word fault as a noun or a verb and think defect, personal shortcoming,  imperfection, or blame, I disagree vehemently with the prompt that everything in your life is your ‘fault’.  This definition promotes shame-based thoughts and beliefs.  If however, you use the definition ‘responsibility for a mistake, failure, or act of wrongdoing’, then I think we are on the right path. 

We all need to take responsibility for all our actions and decisions we make in our life.  We have choices.  People that live in illusion tend to blame others for everything bad in their life.  People who have become aware, awake, and have broken through their illusions realize that they are steering the direction their life is taking. 

I have been working on my life for twenty-two years now.  But, I have to say that for the most part, I was doing the work still living in my illusion, behind the mask, and protected from the many walls that I had built over the years because of my past.  When my therapist first mentioned the word choice, I absolutely hated it.  I kept saying I had no choice.  I kept blaming my past and my abusers.  YES, it was their fault that I was abused and learned so many negative thoughts and behaviors. It was because of the past that I had become the person sitting ‘on the couch’ depressed, confused, suicidal, anxious, filled with self-loathing and self-doubts.  What I did not understand in the beginning was that I could choose a different path.  I had never been given choices.  I did not know how to choose. 

Over the years, it has become very clear that CHOICES=FREEDOM=TRUST=SELF-RELIANCE=HAPPINESS!  Choice has become the most joyful, liberating word in my vocabulary.  No more blame.  Blame is the flip side of the coin SHAME.  Living in blame/shame keeps you on the road of negativity.  I continue to work on myself to change my life into what I want it to be.  For I am the only person I can change.  You cannot make anyone else change.  Change has to come from within.  I am working to change a little more each day.  This will continue until my journey on this earth is over…because ‘Change is the only constant’ (Heraclitus).

Heraclitus: by Johanne Moreelse (no copyright on picture)