The year of allowing is in week three. Allowing awareness has been my focus this last week. I am a great goal setter. I tend to sit down, plan the deeds and execute them whether at home or work. However as a strategist I know that if one doesn’t stop and take in new awareness, look at their life, work, or project with AWARENESS, often ruts can happen in their thinking. I’ve been allowing new awareness to happen in our home by using some tools to prod my thinking personally and professionally. For me it’s a visual thing this week. I took pictures of pieces of my life. E.g. pictures of environments I work in, live in, and live through to see what awareness I could gain from the glances into my living environment. It lead to some ease of living changes for my daily life. Once I saw that some issues were ongoing (like over stuffed book shelves where I truly needed to access a few of them over and over) I ALLOWED myself permission to find time and resources to change what I allow to frustrate me every day in the office. When I gained awareness that there is no reason to have a writing tool that isn’t fun and comfortable to use, I allowed the others and excess to be given to someone who can use them and got what I needed. Not every change involved any cost at all, but when it did, within reason I allowed my needs to be met. How about you?
At our house that means that 14 boxes of excess clutter has been allowed to leave the house. A preferred coffee brand has been allowed to become our ONLY coffee brand. Two couches were tried and released allowing a comfortable one to finally be in the den. The final big change has been the daily schedule has been allowed to work for our family at home. The smaller choices for allowing have included:
- Only favorite brand pencils and pens are now in my office pencil cup (I write 4-6 hrs per day, so this is a luxury for my hands!)
- Organizers were chosen for my top office drawers that are pretty and functional (Dollar General $3)
- There was a throw away fest of underclothes that didn’t work
- I met with coffee with one of my favorites, Paige, and set the date for our next time together too!
- We as a family, set a new guide for how we handle the kitchen and it is working!
- Doing #10MinuteMiracles (allowing one day a week to focus on 10 minutes at the end of each hour to declutter, then celebrate 5) that resulted in now 12 boxes given away, 9 bags of trash gone, 5 heavy traffic clutter spaces to be cleared…..all in 2 weeks where I took a DAY and focused 5 times each day that day on #10minutemiracles at the end of each hour for 5 hours. (so a total of 50 minutes, though I had prepared the boxes for sorting before the day)
More than physical, tangible choices, I have been focused on “allowing” myself to feel whatever it is I feel. For me the unword: BUT, has been really helpful to watch in my mind and words, for it has indicated to me many things I avoid (self-care, avoiding saying no when I truly want to, and my sometimes habit of forgoing my own needs when others become fussy) and stepping up to the awareness to pay attention. Does that mean I change it all? Heck no, for habits die hard and the truth is my feelings do not need to be addressed 24/7 or I’d be a chocolate fluff with only fuzzy shoes who prefers to ice skate regularly instead of work. Our feelings can deceive us and self serving thoughts can make us awfully selfish, lazy, and fleshy. However, denying your heart is another thing all together.
The tone of my days are different as I actively focus on allowing a life I’d want to live. It is amazing what comes up when I think on that each day. Reflect on what and how we lived and so many days, just have heart smiles as the reflection back from the day is in fact more a life I am enjoying living, not just living through!
What are you allowing in your life in 2014? How is it enhancing or distracting you from the life you want to live?
Awareness. I like that! It requires conscious choices, saying ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ setting priorities and boundaries. And follow through. Accountability!
No wonder we fall short … we allow too much to sidetrack us, distract us off the path.
When I was a teacher of behavior disordered profoundly gifted children there was a consistent thing about “flashy object syndrome.” Their minds were always on multiple channels, and stress was often high. The country girl in me felt that there were too many choices, all the time, in the progressive school. At first other teachers thought it was perhaps bare, not enough stimulation to keep them on task. However, as the awareness of one.thing.at.a.time increased through developing container awareness (how much time is available, how much space is available, how much hungry are you, how much peace do you need) etc the choices became clearer and clearer and the belief that they could do everything all the time released to a more manageable, peaceful, happier child who could call their own boundaries by being in touch with their mental, physical, and emotional clues. It is something I remind myself often…to listen to the clues of my heart, mind, and the Holy Spirit. Thanks for coming by Linda! Hugs! Sweetie