the goddess notebook

when days get blurry...

I must be on vacation.

Yesterday I had to really, really have to do some serious thinking to figure out what day of the week it was.  With some major brain effort, I decided to break it down...

Sunday...
We arrived.  We set up, hit the beach, hit the park, back to the beach, ate, road bikes and went to bed late.

Monday...
Major beach-combing session, over to the playground, into the water park, rode bikes, back to the beach, swam, went to bed early.

Tuesday...
Playground first today , water park, bike riding, walked to the store, went to the beach, back to the playground, stayed up late.

Wednesday...
More of same.

This is how I know today it is Thursday! Whew.  That having been done, I can safely turn my brain off again and head back to the beach!  My kind of vacation.

I hope if you are reading this, you are having the vacation of your design.

To blurry, blissful beach days,
beth

Easing into 2008

Ahhhh....the new year.  Perhaps you are thinking about reinventing yourself?  This time of year certainly calls us to DO something.  Quit smoking.  Join a gym.  Eat better.  Whatever.  Just improve dammit.

Well, I for one do not feel like doing that this year.

While I may do a bit more yoga this year, eat a little less refined sugar and try to be a better person in general, I do no feel compelled to create a whole bunch of big ass goals to start working on.

Nope.  I am spending my time this January focusing on two main things:

• who do I want to BE this year and
• can I love myself a little bit more?

They might seem like two little things but I assure you, those two items will keep me busy.  For sure the latter. The who I want to BE goes something like this:

I want to BE...organized, effective, relaxed, creative and inspiring.

Now, as for loving myself, it shouldn't be that tough in theory and intellectually I can tell you that I have many gifts and ways I contribute to the world.   However in the spirit of total honesty, the loving part really comes in when I let go of all the judgments I have about what I didn't do, the shame I feel when my house does not look clean and organized, the critical voice in my head that pounces every time I am a less than perfect parent or spouse.  My 'perfect' parent hat fell off this morning...

Perhaps you can relate or at least may be inspired to create your own BE list this month.  If you do, I would love to see it.

to your inspiration and best year yet!

b

taking a minute

Today I watched a Dad drop off his kids while I waited with my own kids for their bus.  The place I was waiting in is a bustling kid drop off zone with cars zipping in and out, barely slowly down and kids laden with backpacks jumping out to do their thing with parents zipping in the other direction to do theirs.  Everyone that is except for this Dad.

They pulled up and the Dad turned around to speak to his two young daughters.  I do not know what he said but I do know is that he did not say it quick.  I watched his older daughter in the back seat listening and then she smiled.  A huge smile and then hugged her Dad.  Then the other daughter did the same and a few more words were exchanged.  Then they got out of the car. I figure the whole exchange took an extra 60 seconds than anyone else's drop off this morning but not every kid I saw  had the look these two girls had.  It was a look of contentment.  A slowed down, take your time, my Dad loves me version of happy.

Happy kids is a good thing. 

And definitely worth taking an extra minute for today.

This of course got me thinking which led me to blogging a bit about this whole time thing.  We often ask ourselves "where did the time go?" but do we really stop to plan the minutes of our day?

I think minutes matter.  A lot can be done in a minute - a hug, a kiss, a linger, an email, a phone call, a text message, a dog pet, a snack eaten, a bill paid, a paper filed, a letter addressed, an affirmation read, a moment of silence.  All good ways to spend a minute.

Take a minute. 

Then write to me about how you chose to spend it.

getting committed

Have you ever been known to waffle?  Not the ice crean cone but the wavering back and forth between a decision.  Should I? Shouldn't I? Has this ever been you?  I have been known to make endless lists of pros and cons and never once did they really help.  Lists provide clarity yes.  Lists provide a way to get everything out of your head down on paper but lists do not do the one thing we need. They do not make the decision and they do not guarantee the results. In the end, it is a bit like sky diving. You either jump, trust and have a wild ride or you stay in the plane. There is no in between.  No kind of jumping. No sorta pregnant.  Just one or the other.

This got me thinking about some things I have been hesitating about and I realize, it is time to make some decisions.  Because...

"until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Conerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignornace of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:  that the moment one defintiely commits oneself, then Providence moves too" - Goethe

Who am I to get in my own way of Providence?

C'mon... let's Jump!

walking up to success

Have you ever passed up a really good opportunity?  You see the opportunity, you know its an opportunity and then...you do nothing. You watch it go by.  Then you think, I should have gone for it.  Yet you don't.  But you could have...

That almost happened to me yesterday.

This May I have been hosting pole walking clinics at a local rec centre where I live.  It gets me out of my office and I never lose the thrill of teaching someone for the first time how to add poles to their walking regime and get double the results.  I just love it.  Last week an eighty-year old showed up and wowed all the forty-somethings in our group.  But I digress.  Yesterday, though no one showed up for the clinic.  I decided to go for a walk anyway and at least get some exercise myself when along the path I was walking on, I past a number of walkers.

I thought to myself "self, you should ask them if they have ever tried poles".  But I didn't.  I kept walking and so did they. I passed another group of three people and thought "I should talk to these guys for sure".  But I didn't.  We all walked our separate ways.

Then I remembered a joke I heard once about a guy who was waiting for God to rescue him during a flood sent away three different attempts saying each time "God will rescue me". But He didn't.  So the guy asked God when he got to heaven and said "why didn't you rescue me?".  And God said, "what do you mean?  I sent you three boats!"

I remembered this joke as I passed the third person along the path.  I did actually spoke to this person who unfortunately was listening to her ipod so no connection was made.  Then, just as I thought "no more boats for me" I came upon the three people I passed before and (finally!) mustered up the courage to strike up a conversation.  Before long, they all wanted to try out the poles and we all ended up walking the 3k loop again together.  Plus, they are all coming back next week.

This got me thinking.

How many opportunities do we walk by and what might happen if we just were willing to just say "hello"?