Get Things Done With Ease!
April 12, 2019
I like to give an update to my first blog post which I posted 7 months ago… First, I did finish the 12 weeks Self-study course, Yay! And I have continued the habit of writing morning pages which is such a great tool for action and reflection! One note though, I still have to be gentle with myself, as sometimes I’m more regular than other times but even that has given me some insight into my habits and ways of thinking and behavior. Currently I’m going through a phase of renewal, so a lot of action and reflection is going on, well, some days it’s more reflection than action which leads me to a piece of writing I wrote in the beginning of the course and it’s so appropriate! Again and again… Here we go:
9/14/18
I notice that it’s been some time that I last wrote on these pages (2 years and 6 months to be exact!) but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been writing, only that I have made notes in other places. And I have also just started a 12 weeks self-study course to recover and discover my innate creative abilities. I officially started on 9/10/18, so this will be the 5th day. I have to write 3 handwritten pages in the morning everyday a total of 84 days that comes out to 252 pages of handwritten notes. Thinking about it that way makes the task very overwhelming but breaking it down into 3 pages a day makes it more digestible so this leads me to the procrastination question which often is a symptom of something that makes you feel uncomfortable or take you out of your comfort zone for some reason and there may be different reasons for why one would procrastinate. So procrastination comes up a lot for me (haha). One way of overcoming it is to break down the uncomfortable task into smaller tasks so not to get overwhelmed by the entire job, of course there may be some of the smaller tasks of the entire job/main task/goal you like better than others, so go with the one that you will do in that moment (as some days we’re up for more challenging tasks than other days, so don’t worry too much, if you still have the hard ones left, if need be you break them into even smaller tasks). Make a plan, to do a little every day, just a little. Make it so realistic as possible meaning when you ask yourself “if I could do as little or as much (I could get away with or that would make me feel that I have made some type of progress) every day, what would that be?” Write it down so you have something to refer back to as you will most likely forget what you made yourself agree to. Then stick to it as much as you can, doing a little every day… even if it’s less than what you originally set out to do every day. The key is to do SOMETHING as little as that may be, even if you feel bad about only doing so little. The difference, in procrastinating (putting things off to do at another time) and doing only a little (less than what you really want to do). Both approaches may create a sense of being uncomfortable and unsatisfactory… But the difference is. The things get done!!!!! It may not be in your ideal time frame or you may learn to set different expectations for yourself but you will get things done! And when you look back at what you have accomplished despite “procrastinating” then you cannot help yourself but feeling accomplished because there’s the evidence! At the same time you’ll also have done it in a consistent way (every day) which is the real magic trick to build new habits “BY REPEATING THEM”. So you’re changing from the habit of feeling uncomfortable and avoiding it to feeling uncomfortable and doing it anyway, getting things done that you actually want to get done but have had a hard time to do for some reason or another. It may actually in the process become clear to you why you would put things off to do at another time but we’ll look at that later…
So back to today! This is a great reminder!
And yoga is a great way to become aware of our habits and once we become aware we can begin to change the undesirable habits with more desirable ones. And spoken in yoga language (not Sanskrit) it starts with showing up (on the mat – wink, wink).
Creativity, The Inner Spark!
September 11, 2018
It’s my first post – Ever! And hopefully not the last – It’s been long underway as in “what do I have to say that would interest anyone?” but my conclusion is that it’s not about if anyone wants to hear it, it’s more what purpose does it serve? And with that in mind I find inspiration to write this blog. So what purpose does it serve? It serves as an outlet for creativity to come through… as we are all creative beings! Pondering small and big things and sharing the processes and the outcomes for everyone to enjoy and learn from (or not). So if you come across these pages and find inspiration to spark your creativity in some way, shape, or form adding more joy to your everyday activities and life experience in general then it has served the purpose…
So my first take on this is that for some time now I have felt flat inside as in not really engaging myself a 100% in what I’ve been doing, maybe 70-75% which have been highly unsatisfactory for me… I’m usually fairly good at coming up with ideas but it has been really lacking to the point where I was afraid my brain was not working properly, it was empty, not in a peaceful satisfying way after having meditated, but in a stuck wall block way, if you get the picture… I’m also usually good at coming up with ideas how to get myself unstuck, asking for help (it hasn’t always been like that though – I’ll keep that open for later) so now going for another (merry go) round (which seems to be more the norm than not but at least the difference between the peaks and lows gets smaller and smaller which is certainly encouraging.)
My latest idea came to me about 10 years ago, that’s right! 🙂 A friend of mine gave me a book called “The Artist’s Way” A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron. It’s a Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self. It’s a 12 week self-study course. I thanked her and gave the book a seat on my book shelves where it was sitting for a long time. It has even been across the Atlantic Ocean twice (back and forth) and is now in the basement resting in an unpacked moving box. However, over the years for some reason the book title has come up in various conversations and has reminded me that I have it in the basement… So about a month ago I went with my daughter to the local Peach Festival and as always I’m drawn to the (used) books section. I just love books, having a book in my hands while sitting in my favorite sofa (or bed) and reading is one of my favorite activities to the point that I’m missing out on the latest digital book technology but I’m a hopeless romantic in that way. For me it’s not just about the information in the book, it’s a safe space and I have noticed over the years that if I’m going through a period of stress my first go-to remedy is buying a book or books… So I find myself in the used-books section looking through the non-fiction books to see if something will pop out! Actually I have been playing with the idea that I would like to open a book-café. I have a lot of books and it gives me another reason (excuse) to buy more books without feeling guilty. I did find several (unused) interesting books and one of them was… You guessed it “The Artist’s Way” and since I was hoping to open this future book-café I thought it would make total sense to get another copy. 🙂 I left feeling happy with another great book purchase (5 books for a total of $5.- What is there to feel bad about…)
Last week I finally opened the book! One night, I had been looking for something to read in but just didn’t feel there was anything of interest in the house at all and then it occurred to me to check out the latest books I got… And I’m glad I did!
So I’ve decided to follow the 12 weeks course (or at least to the degree that I’m able to). One of the reasons I really like the book already is that it says (paraphrasing) Do this… But if you can’t do that… Then do as much as you can… But minimum do this… And you’ll still see some type of results (creativity)… I feel I can do that! So what I HAVE to do is every morning for the next 12 weeks write 3 pages of whatever comes to mind, also called The Morning Pages, if nothing comes to mind then write (literally) 3 pages with (for example) “nothing comes to mind”. Another thing that has to be done is a weekly “artist-date” by yourself. Setting time aside to be playful, to do something of a creative nature to get inspired. It can be anything from painting to bowling. I can do that! But I began the course yesterday so I still have to do the 2nd part. 🙂
How are the pages going so far?
2 Days and I’m already getting inspired. I am aware though that it could be beginner’s luck! Have you ever noticed that? You start something and it goes really well in the beginning but then you hit some potholes and you begin to question yourself, and either you continue through the temporary drawback which seems to be going on forever or stop the activity altogether and think to yourself it wasn’t working for whatever reason you believe it wasn’t working. Just saying. I have. But you can always get up and try again…
Yesterday, I wrote 3 pages, at first just random things but later it morphed into a lesson about procrastination. Weird! But I actually checked off some things on my to-do-list which had been there for a really long time…
Today, I wrote another 3 pages, same thing happened, it started out with random ramblings about everything that I was dissatisfied with this morning which apparently was what was on my mind when I woke up… Then this… As in an “answer” to my endless stream of making no sense I wrote “I want to live life to the fullest” and then I paused… What does that actually mean???
…To live life to the fullest you have to be thankful for what you already have, and to get the most out of what you already have while enjoying the present moment. Alternatively. …You will enjoy the present moment if you make the most of what you already have and give thanks to what you already have!
There is probably a lot more to be said but that was my lesson to myself for the day starting with 3 pages of random writing!
My heart goes out to everyone who was and still is affected by this day 17 years ago. In memory!
