Fall Down Seven Times Get Up Eight

How to get what you "order" - Step 4

Step 4 is focus.  You need to focus on what you say you want.  That's why it's important to get clear on what you want then block out the distractions so you can then focus. ( Ah the beauty of following steps...) Not brain surgery as the old saying goes...but sometime harder than it looks.

I know what I want but in the swirl and whirl of my life these days it's hard to cut out the distractions and focus.  But if I do not continually address that...six months from now I will be saying the same thing..."I want, I want" instead of "I have." And that I do NOT want.

When we focus the next step unfolds and that would be....tomorrow :)

How to get what you order - Step 3

Well this is turning into a great review for me! 

Step 3 in getting what you order is cut out the distractions!   And right now for me distractions are an issue.  And you cannot stay on track when things distract you.  You simply can't.

The best example of distraction and losing focus was my dog Frank Sinatra who died almost two years ago.  Lord I loved that boy!  But he was the poster dog for distraction!

If he were in the backyard peeing and a butterfly flew by...off he ran "mid stream"!!!  Then when he would come back into the house he would apparently remember he forgot to finish peeing and leave a puddle on the kitchen floor.  Gosh I miss him every day...wet socks from walking in the kitchen...not so much.

I am distracted these days by the jobs I have taken on in order to enjoy housing and food ...  both priorities in my life.  But distractions all the same from what I say I want.  So I need to streamline those activities and make sure I keep the distractions to a minimum.  I know it's possible but wait..there goes a shiny butterfly!

How to get what you "order" - back to Step 2

We took a brief side trip for a few day :)  but now we are back on the track to describing the seven steps to get what you order.

To review...Step 1 is Get Quiet.  Step 2 is Get Clear.

Part 1 of Step 2 was writing out your perfect day.  Did you do it?  If you have not done it...take the time to do it.

Now Part 2 is to take that Perfect Day and make a vision board based on that day. 

What is a vision board? It's a visual representation of what you want.  That simple...  It can be any size. Poster size or pocket size.  You use pictures you pull out of magazines or other resources to give you a visual reminder of what you want in your life.

Once you have it together you then put it somewhere where you can see it on a regular basis.  It's a reminder of what you say you want.

It can be fun to do. Finding pictures isn't as hard as you may think...then glue, tape and poster board and you are in business.

Do it over the next couple of days. It's for you. It gives color and form to your dreams...what you say you want in your life. What could be more important for you to do in the next few days?

Next time the next step... #3.

 

 

What if this is it?

I know I was writing about 7 steps to get what you "order"...but a funny thing happened on the way to that writing...this :)

The last few days I have had all these thoughts and you know me...I gotta share them. Blame it on the vacuuming!

I am working seven days a week right now.  I end my night at the bar/restaurant vacuuming. Kind of zen in a way.  It's a time where I get quiet and then my little mind just goes where it needs to.  Lucky I don't have you on speed dial or I would be sharing my vacuuming insights at midnight! :)

Last night...all the sudden I thought...what if this is it?  Not where I expected to be at this point in my life. Not where I expected to be six months ago.  Not where I expected to be a year ago. But here I am.

And you know what I remembered yet again....this IS it.  This is all we have.  Right now in this moment.  We can plan...we can dream...we can plot.  All good activities...unless the plotting is about taking over another country :) but truly all we have is this moment.

Everyone has the same reality.  This is it.  So how are you using your "moment"?  Are you pining for what is ahead so much that you are not making the most of now?  Just asking... 

Are you continuing to rehash what was or what wasn't?  Just asking...

Are you waiting "to get there" before you do your best work? Or are you showing your best "stuff" every day no matter where or what you are doing?  Just asking...

Or do you use this instant to the up-most?  Just asking...

I wake up every morning and ask that my heart be filled with joy.  In this moment that's what I want to experience most of all...whether I am vacuuming, writing or whatever.  I want my heart filled with joy. Anything else that happens in this moment is just frosting on that cake.

Do I achieve that every day...in every moment?  Well no 'cause I am not a robot silly...but it's the target that I am setting.  And like that old saying goes.."shoot for the moon because if you miss you will still end up among the stars."  And I can live with that in any moment.

 

 

 

What if this is all crap?

Interesting question that has been rolling around my head the last couple of days.  What if all the stuff I believe in and practice is crap...ya know it really doesn't work?

How do you know?  I think you don't.  I think you use your best judgement.  Look at other people's results who have used the things you are thinking about using ... see if it feels like a fit and go for it. 

There is rarely anyone with any credibility in my eyes who will say...if you use this ...it will 100% work for you. That's an impossible claim.  Everyone is different.  Everyone comes to each thing with their own experience...their own framework.

The best someone can say is..."this worked for me and this will how it may work for you.  Give it a try." A 100% guarantee doesn't exist.  Nor should it.  If we were all that alike it would be like looking in a mirror.  I, myself, like a lot of variety in what I look at!  :)

Here is what I know about what I write about.  The things I use and write about have kept me moving.  They have helped me stand back up, dust myself off..okay hose myself off a couple of times...help me find my footing yet again and continue on.  That says a lot. 

I do not always get the results I expect. Lord that is an understatement!  But I am not done yet...so who knows?  If it is all crap...we will find out together down the road.  In my mind it's way to early to make that call...something grand may be coming together right around the corner.  Here's to finding out!

My early warning system....named Bert

I name things in my life.  A very good friend who was a therapist told me years ago there was a clinical name for that.  I don't care. I like doing it.

Bert is back...Bert is what I named my little shingle. And he is my early warning sign that trouble may be coming.  I got shingles from stress a few years ago.  Actually ya would have thought my head would have exploded with everything that was happening at that time...but I got shingles instead.

Actually one...just one but it hurt a lot and the knowledge that most people have many...well I was very grateful for just one.  Right in the middle of my forehead :) 'cause it wanted my attention...thinking the pain it gave me was not attention enough! So I named it Bert. Don't know why but that's the name that came to me.

Well Bert is making himself known.  Just a faint outline of where he is...that's all.  Probably no one else can even see him.  They don't have to...he is not their early warning sign.  He is mine. 

A sign to relax and breathe deep.  Focus on the now and let everything else just go about its business. Some days are easier to do that than others.  Especially if you are not always sure what the next steps will be.

I am on a new path.  It's quite charming but new all the same.  I would like to say I am totally fine with how "unknown" things continue to be...but Bert's appearance would say otherwise.  So I need to breathe deep...and just be for a few days.  That needs to be enough.

That's Bert's and my agreement.  He backs off if I pay attention.  He's got it.  I will.  What early warning sign do you have?

How to get what you "order" - Step 2

Step 1 -  Get quiet.

Step 2 is Get Clear.  Sounds easy....but it's not always.  It's not easy if you don't take the time to figure out what you want. 

Some days life feels like it is whipping by at lightening speed. When you feel like that it's hard to say..."Oh I would rather have this than that."  Sometimes it feels like all you can do is hang on for the ride.

But you and I have to hop off that roller coaster every once in awhile and get clear on what we want. And don't worry..my experience is that the roller coaster will be waiting for you to hop on again!  LOL

Still don't know what you want?  You cannot be clear if you don't know.  There are two great tools I have written about before ...both favorites of mine that can help.

First one is writing out your perfect day.  Take pen and paper or colored markers (my favorite) and write out what your perfect day looks like.  What are you doing, who are you interacting with...what do you look like...what are you wearing?  Every thing in as much detail as you can.  Your perfect day.

Go do it now...I will tell you the next step when you are done writing.  And use the markers..ya want lots of color in your life don't you?! Go write...I will wait.

How to get what you "order" in 7 steps.

You know me...I love steps.  The things about steps is that in the beginning you need to take them one at a time.  When you know where you are going.  When you have done whatever you are going to do several times...you can start to take shortcuts.  Take steps two or three at a time (oh you of incredibly long legs!!!)...but in the beginning taking steps one at a time has great value. 

Part of the value is in earning the process, part of the value is enjoying the trip along the way.

In that spirit... here is Step 1 in making sure you get what you order.  Step 1 is get quiet.  Quiet the clutter, quiet the chatter...quiet the distracts.  Get quiet so you can hear yourself think. Think your world is NOT noisy...just listen.

You need quiet to figure thinks out.  And you need quiet when you say what you want.  Shouting out your needs above the noise can only guarantee the possibility that you will be misunderstood. Maybe even by yourself.

So get quiet. Notice the difference it can make...

Next time Step 2.

 

What did you order?

If you truly get what you ask for in life...what did you order?

I went through the drive-through at McDonald's yesterday. I always think they have my picture posted by the window as the crazy Mc Flurry woman!  Once when I was in the middle of a Mc Flurry craze I stopped to get one.  As I was driving away I thought they did not give me enough M&M's so I literally backed up in the lane and said I needed more!  The poor kid at the window looked stunned that a car was going the wrong way...but heh...I got more!  :)  Every since then however I have felt that they deal with me just a little differently LOL!

Anyway..yesterday I ordered something and when I got it at the second window it was not what I thought it would be.  The guy at the window said, "This is what you ordered."  I responded, "It is not."  But being I was on my way to work...I took it and went on my way. Yeah..they were all probably waiting  for the squeeling tires backing up..but alas I continued forward :) .

But here is my point...maybe I did get what I ordered.  Maybe I just was not clear enough.  No matter  how good someone or something is...nobody can read your mind.  You have to be clear about what you want.  I have to be clear.

After everything that has happened to me in the last six months. .it's time to be clear again.  Tomorrow I will give us both the steps to do that. 

It is said "Those who need to know teach."  That's why I am in the front row :) .

Every day you get the chance for more. You decide more what...

Every single day you get to choose.  How cool is that?! 

You get to choose what you want more of in your life.  More joy, laughter and love.  Or more sadness, angry and resentment.  The choice is yours...always yours.

Circumstances can "set the table" but you decide if it's a party you want to attend.  Do you want more complaining or more solution seeking? More interaction with others or more withdrawal? More energy flowing into you or more flowing away?

Rarely in my experience do things ever stay the same.  So if things are indeed always changing...and every day truly comes with the opportunity to bring more into your life. What will you choose more of today?