It’s Been a Bad Week

First of all my husband had to be out of town ALL week, which meant I had to cook… and I can’t if my life depended on it. Okay, I pretty good with grilled cheese sandwiches, but I have a hard time with timing stuff. So don’t ask me to make an entire meal and then to have it all be at the table at the same time.

And then there was the case of finding contentment. I’m a big time city girl, but just maybe I’m changing a little bit. I found this cutest little cottage sitting alongside a stream. So not me, but I could actually see myself living in a place like that. It’s over at my How to Be Content Every Day lens over at Squidoo. I have to admit… if someone was to ask where the most likely place to find me… it wouldn’t be here. Somethings happening to me I’m sure of it lol… not a department store in sight.

I Need More Work

Had a doctor’s appointment yesterday. I had a list that I wanted to ask him about but no real biggy. But the minute that I got into the examining room, my blood pressure skyrocked . I simply have to look at a medical center and up it goes.  The nurse took my blood pressure and all I can remember is that it was 152 over something. Can’t remember the last number. She told me to sit and relax before the doctor arrived and picture a beach scene. I did my best but I knew that it wasn’t working. Thoughts kept getting in the way.  He entered the room, I worked my way through the list and when all was finished, he took my blood pressure again and it was down to 132 over something. For me that was good.

I really need to work on this white coat syndrome that I have.   I obviously haven’t been spending enough time on my meditation. Must work on that this week.  Definitely need to learn how to relax and not worry about stuff that hasn’t happened. Good chance that it won’t anyway.

Three Words About Fear…

FEAR ISN’T REAL!

I don’t know where I read that, but it stuck in my mind. Fear isn’t real when you think about it. It is something that we have created in our minds  which is bad enough, but then we proceed to give it  a LOT of power.  I’m going to write those three words on a filing card and put it above my desk where I can see it several times during the day. Yes, I do need reminders as much as anyone.

FEAR ISN’T REAL…

Who Ever Said Happiness Needs a Reason

It both amuses and saddens me to think that when a child laughs for no reason at all we think it wonderful, but when an audlt laughs for no reason at all we immediately fear for his or her health. The point is… who ever said that happiness needs a reason. Robert Holden

I just finished my 15 minute walk, meditating for 10 minutes (I have a long way to go here) and I finished off my session reading Robert Holden’s book, Happiness Now. The man is brilliant and I’m learning a lot from him. If you have the opportunity to pick up the book, it is a very wise investment for your state of mind. The quote above just jumped out at me and I had to share it with you. So… have you smiled today??

*Master The Art of Day Dreaming

 

 Do you remember as a child, laying on your back in the grass on a hot summer day and watching the clouds float by? We imagined all kinds of things.  Well, we are going to do the same thing, and if you want to use a grassy lawn, go for it. If you don’t have a piece of grass handy, simply lean back and close your eyes. It doesn’t really matter where you are as long as you let your thoughts drift to somewhere pleasant. My thoughts often drift to a past holiday in Martinique. Just 15 minutes and I have felt the sun on my face and the beach sand between my toes. And oh yes, there is also a contented smile on my face.

I sometimes think of day dreaming sort of along the same line as meditating. Any way you look at it, when you are done, you feel better.

Yoga Journal… It’s funny how things find YOU!

Just got home from Florida. While at Wal-Mart, I saw this very magazine, began thumbing through it and spotted some Yoga positions that is supposed to help an aching back. I bought it primarily for the meditation article, but thought what the heck… I will give them a try too. Surprisingly enough… they seem to be working!! And even better, they are super simple to do.

Yoga Journal, December 2007 Issue

More on Meditation

I just picked up another book on meditation yesterday. Can’t remember the name because I have packed it up for our long drive home tomorrow. But I was thumbing through  it yesterday and it said something very interesting. You can still benefit from grabbing a couple of minutes here and there through out the day. So, while I’m waiting for the browser to load… I’m working on dial up down here…. and usually sitting here pulling my hair out, I can sit back and do a couple of minutes simply breathing deeply and monitoring my breaths. Apparently all of those minutes add up.

And, when I opened my eyes lol… the page was sitting there waiting for me. It’s a win win situation. Finally, I mastered my meditation… even if it was for just a couple of minutes.

Pink Playdoh for Stress

You might not believe this, but my daughter bought me a 4 pack of Playdoh as a stocking stuffer. I must have said something about it in the past months, because she made sure that she made a point of telling me that I asked for it. So, this morning I opened it for the first time and broke off a chunk and began “playing” with it. The first thing that she asked was what I was going to make with it and I said… nothing. I simply wanted to be able to press it out to a flat pancake, scrunch it back up and start again. That was all it took to relax me. If you spot some in a store in the coming days, grab it and think of it as your private stress ball. But if you want to build elephants with it lol… I say go for it. Whatever relaxes you!

I told you that one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to play more… and I’m off to a good start.

What Went Well last Year?

Actually you are going to make two lists. What did you try that you are actually pleased with. Now what did you try that you absolutely hated? Might as well get rid of the things that didn’t work in your life and work on adding more of what did.  Makes sense to me lol… so, here’s a peek at some of the things on my “good” list.

-reading
-doing nothing (this is really hard for me)
-meditating
-playing
-relaxing

I’m going to try to spend a little time each day on all of those items. The rest of the time can be devoted to working… which just so happens to take up about 90% of my day at the moment.

Why I Watch Birds…

Today I spent a little time outside simply watching the birds soar in the sky. We are in Florida right now and it is sooo nice to sit out on the lanai and simply enjoy the gorgeous weather.  If you can’t get into meditating, this has to be a close second!

 And I can’t believe that I’m saying this, but  I can’t wait to get home and top up our bird feeder. With all of the snow we have had, I’m sure that it must be getting low. While I might not be able to sit outside and watch the birds, but sitting by the window with a cup of tea is almost as good. I’m still waiting to spot my first cardinal!

WHITE GAZEBO BIRD FEEDER B30-209