Oh Happy Day!

What's your idea of the perfect work day?

Mine would look something like this.

Wakeup and work out while the rest of the house is still asleep.
Start Coffee. 
Shower.
Turn on some tunes.
Cook breakfast for the family.  Enjoy it together before starting our day.
Kiss the husband goodbye and drop the kids at school.
An hour or two of house cleanup, to do listing, bill paying, menu planning, house management whatever.
3-4 hours of brainstorming, research, writing, or whatever creative process strikes my fancy.
Pickup the kids from school.  Hear all about their day, play games, finish homework.

Or maybe it's simply waking up and figuring it out as I go along.

Now....  Let's turn our picture into an exercise.  Think of it as toning your mind.  Sexy, eh?

Each morning, I want you to envision your idea of the perfect day.  Pay attention to the feeling it brings. 

Peace.  Freedom.  Contentment.  Elation.

Focus on that picture throughout your day.  See yourself doing whatever it is you desire.  Next, start asking yourself, "What changes can I make to get me closer to my perfect day?"  No matter how small or insignificant they might seem.  Before you know it, you'll be living your idea of perfect. 

Dream.  Believe.  Act.  Inspire. 

I read somewhere, "Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. 

If you want more love in the world, create more love in your heart.

If you want more competence in your team, improve your competence.

This relationship applies to everything, in all aspects of life.

Life will give back everything you have given to it". -Author Unknown

Why Not Now?

There have been times I thought to myself, "I wish someone would've encouraged me more.  Someone would've cultivated my garden of dreams.  Told me to reach for the stars because they were within my reach."  Because if that had happened, I'd be amazing, remarkable, EXTRAORDINARY!

One of those stars must've fallen and smacked me on the head.  "Wake up fool!  You're not dead.  You have your whole life ahead", she said.  Fourth of July in my mind's eye.  To realize I'm not resigned to the daily grind, if I don't want to be.  Epiphany. 

The only person holding me back from greatness is ME.  The little engine could, so why can't I?

Lead by example to my children I say, but do not do.  I'm not being true to myself or to them.  My father and Shakespeare would be sad.  I can not command greatness from the sofa cushion of life.  Do as I say and not as I do.  Who respects that?  No one.

Great minds create great ideas, which become great realities when put into action.

Who will believe in me, if I don't believe in myself?  I can do ALL things through Christ who strengths me.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me.  Faith is not about everything turning out ok; faith is about being ok no matter how things turn out.

Dare to be great!  Dare to be bold!  Dare to fail! 

Whether I succeed or whether I fail, I am trying.  I refuse to look back at the end of my days and think, What if.  Or I wish I would have.  Instead, I will pursue each day as a challenge, an adventure to be had.  What dragon shall I slay today?  What action puts me one step closer to my goal?  Freedom, passion, and purpose are mine.  if. i. choose. it.


-Our children are watching us live and what we are shouts louder than anything we can say. 
Wilferd A. Peterson

Space Oddity

According to Wikipedia, Space Oddity is written from the perspective of an unnamed person who is questioning Major Tom intensely about the purpose of life.

Seems like an appropriate theme song for today.

Speaking of purposes, I am currently reading Stephen Cope's, The Great Work of Your Life: The Yoga of the Bhagavad Gita.  It's incredibly insightful and reflective; and hopefully, a valuable resource for someone seeking there true calling, or dharma, in life.  I'll let you know once I've finished.

I've decided to take a few vacation days.  The plan is to start on the Sell Your Crap Get Out of Debt journey.  As a matter of fact today, we sold the extra vehicle we had for $2,500, which went toward paying off my car.  I'm proud to say we owe just over $2,000 now.  Not sure if it was the wisest thing to do.....selling the one vehicle that was paid off.  The logic, I suppose, was it was almost 15 years old and had seen better days.  Do we continue to pay to have things repaired or buy a more reliable option? 

Beginning tomorrow, I will start the inventory process.  Going through each room and deciding, does it stay or does it go?  Does it add joy, value, or purpose?  These sort of tasks always leave me feeling overwhelmed and the end result is no action.  No action is unacceptable this time.  Start small and big things will happen. 

Stay tuned.

Blinded by the Light

Epiphany is the only way I can explain it.

Or perhaps the perfect storm; a collaboration of events that lead to one pivotal moment.

It started with a simple lifestyle change.  I'd heard about a diet, The Paleo Diet to be exact, and it had me intrigued.  I went to my local library and grabbed a copy of Robb Wolf's, The Paleo Solution, and upon completion decided to make a change.  I also started checking different Paleo websites and stumbled across Nerd Fitness.  Steve's posting of his Epic Quest of Awesome caught my attention.  Literally, I sat up in my chair and cocked an eyebrow.  The farther I read, the more it made me think.



Fast forward a few weeks, the sermon at church is regarding stewardship.  How many of us say, "If I had more money, I do more!"  That's not how God instructs us.  As a matter of fact, the only time God tells us to challenge him in the Bible, is in regard to our tithe.  Malachi 3:10, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house.  Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out SO much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."  Our associate pastor said it best, "God instucts us to do our part and see what happens; not hey! that guy says he'll do more if he has more.  Give him more money!"  And stewardship is more than just our money(tithe), it's our time as well. We show our faithfulness and he showers us with blessings.  Go on...test him!

So, I received Steve's latest post on How to Finish What You Started and clicked on the link about writing  your own destiny.  He references his buddy Baker's blog Man Vs. Debt.  Get inspired, sell your crap, pay off debt, and do what you love.  Anyway, Baker has a video posted on his site.  In the video, he asks the question, What is Freedom to You? 



I started thinking, "How do I define freedom?".  I'd already been stewing on things for awhile now, and it came to me!  We (my family) should sell our stuff, pay off our debt, and be free!  Free to do more, free to be more!  We are so caught up in the "American Way of Life", the day to day, that we forget this isn't a script.  You don't have to work in corporate America ten hours a day, buying (or more likely financing) the latest and greatest whatever just so you can keep up with your neighbors, who you probably don't even know.  Instead, what if you bucked the system, deviated from the norm, became the societal outcast.  What if you were free?  Free to pursue your passions, your interests, your deepest desires?! 

Baker said something that really struck a cord with me.  When going through your stuff, ask yourself one question, "Does it add value, joy, or purpose to my life?".  That's pretty heavy chiz right there. 

Now, I don't know about you, but I don't want to be a robot. 

I want a life of passion, experiences, and reward.  I want my kids to know that life isn't about the stuff you have, it's about the stuff you give(patience, kindess, hope, love).  We only have one life, and if you don't like the script....trash it and rewrite it!

This is only the beginning of our journey to re-script our life.  The preface.  I'm inviting you to join us. 

Stay tuned for Chapter 1.