This post is evidence of a re-commitment. It's all too often I fall off the band wagon of my good intentions. Thankfully, falling off is not the point.
The point is... Can I pick myself up, dust myself off, let go of self-judgment about it, and get back on the wagon?
I can do that relatively well at times, and other times it requires loving support from someone, or even a good kick in the pants. This time it was loving support--from a friend/colleague checking in with me, as we had arranged last week, for mutual support on a goal--and helping me see the self-judgment that was creeping in. Once I could see it, I was able to let it go and nimbly hop back on the wagon.
The wagon I speak of today represents a return to the practice of "chunking it down" -- an approach to overwhelm (yes, I'll admit I hit that place more often than I would like) that Betsy Wexler (a colleague who expertly combines organization support with therapy and Buddhist principles) has been supporting me in applying more consistently in my life. It's a process of turning those old habits upside-down.
When there's a task or project that I keep putting off, it's usually because I am overwhelmed by it and think I need a whole day (or even a week) to tackle it. Who has that kind of time?! So, I procrastinate or entertain excuses why it's not important. We're talking about the basic stuff of life here. The pile of clothing (that simply needs a button replaced or a hole mended--which I'm perfectly capable of doing) just doesn't seem important enough to warrant my attention right now. Those stacks of last year's finance records can wait--I'll get to it eventually. And the basket full of business cards--oh my! Is it even worth putting them all in a database? What kind of system is best? At least I have them all contained here in the basket so I know where to go if I need to find someone. Until I can't... and the basket is overflowing, and it takes excessive time to dig through and find someone's info.
That's when the unnecessary suffering shows up and overwhelm easily sets in. Bringing me to my new practice of chunking overwhelming tasks down: setting a short time frame to work on it, and committing to doing it on a regular basis. So, today it's 30 minutes to write a blog. If I'm not done at 30 minutes, I'll stop (yikes, that's the hard part if I'm on a roll!) and come back to it tomorrow. I'm working on the same for my basket of biz cards and emptying my overloaded Inbox -- just 10 minutes a day, and it will eventually get done without feeling overwhelming. And the larger projects when I do have a couple hours... I work for 45 minutes, with a 15 minute break, then another 45 and 15. Well, that's my intention, anyway. I haven't tackled that approach solidly yet. However, I do have the intention to this week.
____________
OK... so now it's the next day. It feels good to revisit this essentially complete blog I wrote in only 30 minutes (wow--that's a record for this recovering perfectionist!), give it a few editorial tweaks, and be done.
And the 45-minute chunk I gave myself yesterday to tackle the stacks of receipts from the last year (actually, I think it was two years) that were cluttering a cubby hole in my office? Done! I'm breathing easier with that clear space in my environment.
Here's to turning old habitual ways upside-down, with focused commitment and follow-through... and the loving support from within and without to make it happen!
What will you commit to today?
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Occupying My Dream
I am starting to live my dream. Literally.
Last week I was grateful to be at the debut screening of the film Occupy Love here in Baltimore. Several words and phrases jumped off the screen as they resonated deeply with visions, images and ideas that have been stirring within me for years - new ways of expressing and inviting us to that which is being born in the world at this time of great chaos and great potential.
“Imagine non-monetary abundance” was the first one I wrote down. It was on a cardboard sign someone was carrying in the crowd of people at an Occupy event. What a perfect phrase to capture what I am super passionate about... and what is also at the core of the non-profit I started, Community Supported Wellness. (More on that in a bit.)
I am humbled and inspired by the ways I've been experiencing non-monetary abundance in my life recently. After getting clear that a change of my living location is important to pursue in the near future, a more-than-I-could-ask-or-imagine place showed up within 5 minutes of sending an email to friends asking for leads and connections. Then, soon after I had been entertaining fears about finding enough people and not having the funds to hire others, several friends volunteered out of the blue to help me move. Several “coincidences” nudged me to show up at the Occupy Love screening despite there being a super long list of things to get done at home... and within minutes of being there, I bumped into an acquaintance who I didn't know has non-profit consulting experience and offered to join my advisory board before I could even get the words out of my mouth to ask! And the love, connection, community, resources and opportunities that flowed from the sharing and discussion time after the film.
These are a few of the cornucopia opening up in recent weeks. I could go on and on.
And, I'm no one special. I didn't do anything to deserve these gifts any more than someone else. I've spent more hours, days, weeks and months of my life stuck in fearful scarcity-based thinking that blocked me from believing I could receive so much abundance without it being attached to or somehow made possible by a flow of money.
At the same time, I recognize that it's not totally random either. I have been doing the inner work to let go of that fear, and the self-limiting beliefs and societal conditioning that one needs to have lots of money to be happy or experience abundance. Abundance is actually what we are at our core. But more on that another time...
As Community Supported Wellness has been slowly evolving over recent years, I occasionally thought that perhaps the simple living-out of the dream and vision - of connection to ourselves, each other and the Earth in ways that wake us up to the “non-monetary abundance” in and around us to the point that “poverty” is no longer a useful term - that imagining and even living that day to day is perhaps more powerful than developing programs and chasing grant money to do them.
Perhaps there's a new way emerging. A way of BEing that which we desire... of presence-ing what appears to be missing. I've been moving in that direction and continue to experience more and more examples that it is a powerful avenue to true transformation and true abundance.
What if we imagined what non-monetary abundance looks like—in our own hearts, minds, families and communities? What if we tapped into our abundant potential and infinite creativity and began to take steps to live it? What if we occupied our deepest dreams?
It's already happening all over the globe. Go see Occupy Love. Catch the vision....especially the unique one that is within you.
And stay tuned for what continues to evolve from mine as I occupy my dream.
Please join me in occupying yours. I'd love to hear what it is and what you notice. And remember... it IS possible.
The survival and thriving of our species depends on it.
Last week I was grateful to be at the debut screening of the film Occupy Love here in Baltimore. Several words and phrases jumped off the screen as they resonated deeply with visions, images and ideas that have been stirring within me for years - new ways of expressing and inviting us to that which is being born in the world at this time of great chaos and great potential.
“Imagine non-monetary abundance” was the first one I wrote down. It was on a cardboard sign someone was carrying in the crowd of people at an Occupy event. What a perfect phrase to capture what I am super passionate about... and what is also at the core of the non-profit I started, Community Supported Wellness. (More on that in a bit.)
I am humbled and inspired by the ways I've been experiencing non-monetary abundance in my life recently. After getting clear that a change of my living location is important to pursue in the near future, a more-than-I-could-ask-or-imagine place showed up within 5 minutes of sending an email to friends asking for leads and connections. Then, soon after I had been entertaining fears about finding enough people and not having the funds to hire others, several friends volunteered out of the blue to help me move. Several “coincidences” nudged me to show up at the Occupy Love screening despite there being a super long list of things to get done at home... and within minutes of being there, I bumped into an acquaintance who I didn't know has non-profit consulting experience and offered to join my advisory board before I could even get the words out of my mouth to ask! And the love, connection, community, resources and opportunities that flowed from the sharing and discussion time after the film.
These are a few of the cornucopia opening up in recent weeks. I could go on and on.
And, I'm no one special. I didn't do anything to deserve these gifts any more than someone else. I've spent more hours, days, weeks and months of my life stuck in fearful scarcity-based thinking that blocked me from believing I could receive so much abundance without it being attached to or somehow made possible by a flow of money.
At the same time, I recognize that it's not totally random either. I have been doing the inner work to let go of that fear, and the self-limiting beliefs and societal conditioning that one needs to have lots of money to be happy or experience abundance. Abundance is actually what we are at our core. But more on that another time...
As Community Supported Wellness has been slowly evolving over recent years, I occasionally thought that perhaps the simple living-out of the dream and vision - of connection to ourselves, each other and the Earth in ways that wake us up to the “non-monetary abundance” in and around us to the point that “poverty” is no longer a useful term - that imagining and even living that day to day is perhaps more powerful than developing programs and chasing grant money to do them.
Perhaps there's a new way emerging. A way of BEing that which we desire... of presence-ing what appears to be missing. I've been moving in that direction and continue to experience more and more examples that it is a powerful avenue to true transformation and true abundance.
What if we imagined what non-monetary abundance looks like—in our own hearts, minds, families and communities? What if we tapped into our abundant potential and infinite creativity and began to take steps to live it? What if we occupied our deepest dreams?
It's already happening all over the globe. Go see Occupy Love. Catch the vision....especially the unique one that is within you.
And stay tuned for what continues to evolve from mine as I occupy my dream.
Please join me in occupying yours. I'd love to hear what it is and what you notice. And remember... it IS possible.
The survival and thriving of our species depends on it.
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