Go For It

Here's another great DailyOM:

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There are times in our lives when all the signs seem to be pointing us in a particular direction. Our thoughts and dreams are echoed in the songs and stories we hear and the media we see. Maybe the message we are getting from the universe doesn’t even make sense in the “real” world, but somewhere inside, these urges feel right. Maybe you feel you are being told to move to a new city although your life where you are is just fine. Or maybe you feel the desire to pursue a new direction in your career when it never really interested you before. When we spend time getting in touch with our higher selves, our intuition sends us directives to lead us to become our best and most fulfilled selves. And when we are open and listening, the next step is to take action and go for it.

Once we make the decision to pursue our inner urgings, the universe sets into motion the means for all sorts of details to fall into place. A sense of peace will come over us, because we know that any questions will no longer make us wonder if our dreams are possible, but how to make them happen. Instead of deterring us from our goal, these questions only serve to clarify our focus to move us forward. We need not throw caution to the wind to follow our dream. The positive shift in our energy affects everything around us. Like a rush of water, it goes ahead to clear debris from our path so that we can go forward. Our new attitude also attracts likeminded people. Sometimes even the most unlikely angels arrive to help us along our way with the information and support we need.

Wherever your dreams are pointing you today, take a step. Take action and manifest your inner urges and soul whisperings.

Simplifying Life

Here's an awesome DailyOM:

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For many, life is a hodgepodge of never-ending commitments. Yet few of us can be truly healthy or happy without regular periods of downtime. While there is nothing inherently wrong with busyness, those of us who over-commit or over-extend ourselves potentially face exhaustion and burnout. When you feel overwhelmed by your commitments, examining your motivation for taking on so many obligations can help you understand why you feel compelled to do so much. You may discover that you are being driven by fear that no one else will do the job or guilt that you aren’t doing enough. To regain your equilibrium and clear the clutter from your calendar, simplify your life by establishing limits regarding what you will and will not do based on your personal priorities.

Determining where your priorities lie can be as easy as making two lists: one that outlines all those obligations that are vital to your wellbeing, such as work, meditation, and exercise, and another that describes everything you do that is not directly related to your wellbeing. Although there will likely be items in the latter list that excite your passion or bring you joy, you may discover that you devote a large portion of your time to unnecessary activities. To simplify your schedule, consider which of these unnecessary activities add little value to your life and edit them from your agenda. Remember that you may need to ask for help, say no firmly, or delegate responsibility in order to distance yourself from such encumbrances. However, as you divest yourself of non-vital obligations that cause you stress, serve no purpose, or rob you of opportunities to refresh yourself, you will feel more energetic and enthusiastic about life in general.

If simplifying your schedule seems prohibitively difficult and you still feel pressed to take on more, try imagining how each new commitment will impact your life before saying yes. When you consider the hassle associated with superfluous obligations, you may be surprised to see that your schedule is impeding your attempts to grow as an individual. Your willingness to pare down your agenda, no matter how gradual your progress, will empower you to retake active control of the life that defines you.

Windows Should Die a Slow, Painful Death

Many of you know that I am a Mac user. I heart Macs! Unfortunately, there are still a few essential programs that only work with windows (shall we call it Big Irritating Turd Computer Hog or BITCH for short). I needed to download one of these necessary non-Mac programs this morning to take care of a client's request. Poo! Hmmm...I know! I can run a BITCH environment on my Mac!

Downloading BITCH (after paying $80) was not difficult. Activating it was a bit complicated...I had to go onto the third-party website and search my account. Then, BITCH needed a program activation key. That's OK! My husband uses BITCH on his PCs (he has 2). After interrupting his porn viewing to write down the 3,452 character key code, I typed it into the form...IT'S INVALID! OK, not a problem. I'll write down the other key code. INVALID! After banging my head against the wall a few times, I remembered my old PC that's sitting in my office, waiting for me to take a hammer to it (I am totally not kidding about this). WOW! This product key worked!

Miraculously, the program installed successfully and I was able to download the program I needed fairly easily. I did my thang and then went to print it. BITCH can't find the printer, even though I see the damn cord plugged into the computer and into the printer. Oh, right! BITCH needs a printer driver! (I'm so accustomed to the ease of the Mac, I rant and rave to no one in particular about how high maintenance BITCH is)

On the printer's website, I find the driver pretty quickly. I download it, unzip it and run it. I go back to the control panel hopefully. BITCH still can't find my printer! Arrrrrgh!!! Fine! I'll do it all manually! Of course, the model of my printer is not in the list BITCH provides, so I select a random model...and it works. Holy Mary Mother of God!! I look up at the clock. 2 hours have passed and all I have done is print one document. That's why BITCH must die a slow, painful death - much like the slow, painful hoop-jumping I have just spent my entire afternoon doing.

I'm calling the massage place.

Appreciating Suggestions

Another great DailyOM:

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As children, our parents had dreams for us. They wanted us to do well in school, and to do whatever was necessary to reach our highest potential. Later in life, friends may try to set us up with their idea of the perfect partner or the perfect job. Spouses may have agendas for us, too. People close to us may have ideas about how we should live our lives, ideas that usually come from love and the desire for us to be happy. Other times, they come from a place of need within them—whether it is the parent who wants us to live out his or her dreams or the friend or spouse who wants us to play an already-defined role. Whatever the case, we can appreciate and consider those people’s input, but ultimately we must follow our own inner guidance.

There may come a time when all the suggestions can become overbearing. We may feel that the people we love don’t approve of our judgment, which can hurt our feelings. It can interfere with the choices we make for our lives by making us doubt ourselves, or filling a void with their wishes before we’ve had a chance to decide what we want. It can affect us energetically as well. We may have to deal with feelings of resistance or the need to shut ourselves off from them. But we can take some time to rid ourselves of any unnecessary doubts and go within to become clear on what we desire for ourselves.

We can tell our loved ones how much we appreciate their thoughts and ideas, but that we need to live our own lives and make our own decisions. We can explain that they need to let us learn from our own experiences rather than rob us of wonderful life lessons and the opportunity to fine-tune our own judgment. When they see that we are happy with our lives and the path we are taking to reach our goals, they can rest assured that all we need them to do is to share in our joy.

People Pleasers

Another great DailyOM:

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Many of us, from childhood on, are taught that saying yes is right and saying no is wrong. We learn that acceding to demands allows us to avoid conflict and criticism, please people, earn praise, and prove that we care for the important people in our lives. Yet the right to say no is indelibly intertwined with the ability to make choices. When we sense we are limited in our options, compelled to say yes even when doing so is not in our interests, we are effectively robbed of our ability to choose. Growing out of this tendency to say yes even when we desperately want to say no can be challenging because we suspect that others will reject us for our assertiveness. But the reward we receive upon facing this challenge is true freedom of choice.

When others ask you to take on work or do favors, consider their requests carefully. If you feel pressed to say yes, consider whether you are acquiescing out of a desire for approval or to stave off disapproval. Remind yourself often that the ability to say no is an important aspect of well-being, as it is an indication that you understand the true value of your energy, talents, and time. As you learn to articulate your personal power by saying no, you may feel compelled to explore the myriad consequences of the word by responding negatively to many or most of the requests put to you. The word “no” may even become your default response for some time. When you see that life moves forward without interruption, however, you will grow more comfortable saying no and will resume making decisions from a point of balance.

There is nothing inherently wrong with acceding to the requests others make of you, provided these requests do not infringe upon your health or your happiness. Keep in mind that it is only when you feel you have the legitimate right to say no that you can say yes with utmost certainty, sincerity, and enthusiasm. While saying yes almost always has a cost, you can feel good about offering your agreement when your reasons for doing so are rooted in your individual values and your appreciation for the appeal before you.

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Great Words

Tracey shared this with me and I think it's very cool:

Winner's Circle Network with Lou Tice - 8/19/09 - "Talking to Yourself"

Do you ever talk to yourself out loud? Quite a few of people do. However, most of your self-talk is silent, and it's very powerful. You see, we talk to ourselves all the time. In fact, most of it happens in the form of thoughts, and it usually happens so fast, we don't even know it.

While you are reading this right now, you are talking to yourself three times as fast. When you stop reading, you speed up to about six times faster. These running thoughts, or "self-talk" as it is called, are very powerful. It is important that you become aware of what your self-talk contains.

Your self-talk builds up or tears down your self-image, determines what kind of relationships you have with other people, influences what kind of income you have and what kind of work you do. It affects virtually everything in your life.

If you tell yourself good things don't happen to you, believe me, they won't, because your subconscious will make sure that you find a way to prove yourself right. And if you have a positive expectation of success, chances are excellent that you will succeed. You will persist in your efforts and you will persuade others to help you until you achieve your goal.

So, pay close attention to the kinds of things you say to yourself. And, if you hear putdowns, derogatory labels or harsh criticisms, deliberately stop them and answer back in a positive way. When you take charge of your self-talk, you go a long way toward taking charge of your life.

Lou Tice

The Pacific Institute

www.thepacificinstitute.com