A Flexible Mind = A Successful Mind = A Happy Mind

By on May 20, 2013 in Uncategorized

flexibility

 

How flexible are you? Your mind, not just your body…

The DailyOm has this great explanation of mental flexibility and it struck me how inflexible I can be at times…actually most of the time…

Flexibility is the capacity to bend without breaking, as well as a continual willingness to change or be changed in order to accommodate new circumstances. People with flexible minds are open to shifting their course when necessary or useful; they are not overly attached to things going the way they had planned. This enables them to take advantage of opportunities that a more rigid person would miss out on. It can also make life a lot more fun. When we are flexible, we allow for situations we could not have planned, and so the world continues to surprise and delight us.

I tend to have rigid plans and rather specific expectations…and I find it very difficult to accept and appreciate new possibilities when the road swerves into the unknown. I certainly could do with a bit more flexibility and I am not alone.

It’s one of those things that really can’t be practiced, instead it has to be allowed. That makes it very scary. We don’t like things we can’t control, but ultimately our clinging to inflexibility is really what is controlling us and in leaning toward flexibility we will find freedom…and a lot less stress.

What about you? How flexible are you? And do you think that’s good or bad?

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What Would You Do if You Had One Month to Live?

By on May 17, 2013 in Life Juice, Mind Matters

What would you do differently if you only had one month to live? Would you change jobs or leave relationship? Would you apologize or be more caring to others? Would you take a risk you’ve always wanted to take? Everyone’s answer will be different. The book One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life by Kerry & Chris Shook can help you answer those questions and guide you along that journey of changing the way you live your life.

From the book:

“Be brutally honest with yourself. Your time on earth is limited. Shouldn’t you start making the most of it? If you knew you had one month to live, you would look at everything from a different perspective. Many of the things you do now that seem so important would immediately become meaningless. You would have total clarity about what matters most, and you wouldn’t hesitate to be spontaneous and risk your heart. You wouldn’t wait until tomorrow to do what you need to do today. The way you lived that month would be the way you wished you had lived your whole life.

If you knew you had one month to live, your life would be radically transformed. But why do we wait until we’re diagnosed with cancer or we lose a loved one to accept this knowledge and allow it to free us? Don’t we want all that life has to offer? Don’t we want to fulfill the purpose for which we were created? Wouldn’t life be a lot more satisfying if we lived this way?

I’m challenging you to start living your life as though you have one month to live, and I’ve designed this book to help you. There are four universal principles in the one-month-to-live lifestyle: to live passionately, to love completely, to learn humbly, and to leave boldly. I’ve divided this book into four sections or “weeks” accordingly, and I encourage you to live these next thirty days as if they were your last.”

I find this book to be fascinating, thought-provoking and inspiring. Happy reading! What will you do with your one month?

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Top 5 Health Needs You’re Probably Neglecting

By on May 15, 2013 in Health & Wellness

walking-the-dog

Most of us are guilty of neglecting our health from time to time…myself included, embarrassing so.

The question I guess, is how much damage are we doing to ourselves? Short-term? Long-term? I’m not sure that can be measured…though there are many organizations working very hard to do just that. But while they’re arguing over the data, we can all agree that it’s a quality of life issue…

Namely, we are either improving our quality of life…or we’re harming it…there is very little room in between.

(Feel free to tweet that)

The Big 5

 

1. Sleep – Get good quality sleep in sufficient amounts (varies a bit by individual, but don’t kid yourself, most people need 7 -8 hours to live a full quality life.)

2. Doctor appointments –This includes dental and eye exams and even that chiropractor who eases your back pain. Be proactive with your health, rather than reactive.

3. Clean up your diet – You don’t have to be perfect, just make better choices most of the time. C’mon…You know what you should be eating…..and what you shouldn’t.

4. Some form of activity or exercise – No marathon running necessary, a daily walk, swim, yoga, bike ride, Zumba class, whatever gets you moving. A body in motion tends to stay in motion. It’s easier to maintain fitness than to get it back.

5. STRESS RELIEF – Anything you can do to lower your stress levels will benefit your health in particular and your life in general. Try meditation, yoga, journaling, vacation or maybe just a daily walk with your dog. Stress is, at best doing serious damage to the quality of our lives, at worst, it’s literally killing us.

Start with just one of the Big 5 if that’s all you can do. Once you start building good health, the next steps come a bit easier.

I don’t know about you…but while I’m here…I’d like to have a good life…and have it for a long time…this is a good place to start.

Share: How well are you doing with the Big 5? What are you neglecting?

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2 Words That Help Me Stay Sane in a Crazy World

By on May 13, 2013 in Mind Matters
Buffer

toobusypeople

There are days, more and more the older I get, when tasks seem to be everywhere I look, piling up faster than I can even capture them; a full dishwasher, dishes in the sink, laundry to be done, an errand list as long as my arm, emails to be returned, papers to go through, posts to be written, articles to be researched, appointments to be made…

When I start feeling…hmmm. Frantic is the word I guess. The only thing I can do is keep repeating over and over “one thing,” “one thing,” a mantra of sorts to remind myself to focus on just one thing at a time. Just one thing…, then the next…, and the next. I started out whispering it in my head, but now I just say it out loud and don’t care who thinks I’m crazy. Crazy or not, it helps…a lot.

One thing…

Put away the dishes – Check

Throw in a load of laundry – Check

Answer email – Check

Write blog post – Check

Conference call – Check

Research article – Check

Brainstorm name and domain for new project – Check

Call mom – Check

Text kids – Check

Make vet appointment for dogs – Check

Do a few errands – Check

Go to son’s track meet – Check

Try not to think about work I should be doing while at track meet – Sort of check

Make dinner – Check

Walk dogs – Check

Check homework – Check

And so on…

One thing…one thing…one thing…

It works for me…Maybe it will work for you…

Repeat after me…One thing, one thing, one thing…

Let me know if it helps!

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Enjoy It While You Can…The Secret to a Well-Lived Life

By on May 10, 2013 in Life Juice

 

Have you ever had one of those weeks when everything seems to be going well, maybe it’s only little things, but stress is pretty low and life is good?

Victory

It just occurred to me, that I’m having one of those weeks…son promoted to supervisor, college daughter named to a national list for architecture students, other children well and happy, husband home with no deployment in immediate future, my mother who has kept off significant weight loss walking 5 miles a day and enjoying good health. Yeah, life is good…for the moment.

The unfortunate thing about these days, weeks, periods, is that they don’t last. They can’t last. Life just doesn’t work that way.

…But they do help to balance out the nail-biting, hand wringing, anxious or tearful, what am I going to do weeks.

Life is like a seesaw, some days are good, some days are bad, and some days are just there. The problem is that we don’t often notice the good days until they’re replaced by the bad ones. We only see them in the rearview mirror after the time for celebrating them is past.

I think I’m learning that the key to a good life is the ability to revel in the delight of a run-of-the-mill, pretty darn good day while it’s happening.(Feel free to tweet that)

And though I can’t claim to always whether the bad times with grace, I hope at least I can meet them with determination, and a conviction that they will pass.

I truly believe that when we can master both of these practices then we will have found the secret to a well-lived life.

 

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