Sing

When you're feeling kinda down, and are having a hard time getting out of your funk, then try singing. Just sing a song...

Meditation

I've spent the entire day just exhausted and rather blah. Really took it easy today, though and tried to find comfort in all of my friends' words of wisdom and inspiration and most importantly, support. I'll be sharing a lot of those comments later because they really do put things in perspective.

Several months ago, I went to a bookstore with my daughter and her boyfriend. I just can NOT go into a bookstore without buying something. After about an hour and a half of picking up books and putting them back (on such a wide range of subjects) I came across Meditation A Beginner's Guide by Charlotte Parnell. For some reason, I decided that was the one for me. I carried it around in my backpack for about 5 months before realizing, I am never going to read it, so I put it on our bookshelf.

Over the past couple of weeks, with all my thinking, reflecting, trying to get a grasp on 'the big picture' that we call life, I decided to return the book to my backpack. Last week, while visiting with my husband in the hospital, I pulled it out and started reading. This woman understood me! She even starts out talking about 'the big picture'. So, I've been reading it as time has allowed over the past couple of days and finally made it to the first meditation exercise. It was amazing!!!

I feel calmer and less depressed. Definitely a step in the right direction :)

Unsettled

Today was just one of those uncomfortable, slightly stressful days that leave you feeling kind of yucky and glad its over. It was a typical winter day in Ohio: grey, bitterly cold, windy. Every little thing was irritating, and not just to me; everyone seemed to be out of sorts today. Maybe its some sort of pre-storm thing. Tomorrow we're suppose to get 3"-5" of snow. Everyone, egged on by the media, packs the grocery stores and cleans out the staples like we're going to be snowed in for the next 3 months. I try to stay away on crazy days like this, but of course, I ran out of coffee, so I had to go. Survived that.

Ken was on edge. It was his first day of radiation, which he did great with - no problems there, but 2 or 3 different people told him he would need a wheelchair, and that just set him off. Needless to say, we will not be bringing home a wheelchair. The physical therapists are hurting him and he's just so uncomfortable. I feel helpless.

My dad got bit by his dog and his hand got infected.

Then, I get home and Velvet just wants to bark out the window all the time. I just lost it. I put her straight to bed.

Needless to say, I didn't get much "reflecting" done today. Could not focus enough to even try.

Tomorrow is a new day and I'll try again. I'm wanting to pay better attention to what I do and the choices I make and how I feel. Maybe, after the storm passes the sun will shine through and make everything bright and beautiful.

Today

Today is the beginning. I've had so much that I've wanted to write but didn't. Either I didn't have time, or the energy or desire to walk across the room to the computer. At this point, I can't remember what I've written here, or in my notebooks, or in my notes on my flashdrive, but I do know where I need to start.

A. Name the 3 most important things of your life:
1. God
2. Family
3. Friends

I'll prioritize the other aspects of my life later, but for now, I'm focusing on these 3 things. So, step one of my New Year's theme (Faith, Hope and Love) is to make sure my actions and decisions are based on what is most important.

I've already spent a lot of time on this one this past week with everything going on in my personal life which I'll write more about later, but you can probably get the jest of in the About Me section.

I heard that it takes approximately 4 weeks to learn a new habit and its virtually impossible to learn more than 1 habit at time; 2 simultaneous habits are possible, as long as they are closely related.

I'm going to start with the following format. I feel my first task is the biggest one and hope that all following tasks throughout the year will fall into place from this one.

2011 Theme: Faith, Hope and Love
2011 Tagline: Prayer
January Goal: Focus on what is most important: God, family, friends
Step one: Get closer to God.
Actions: Learn to meditate; (as my friend Pauline says:) walk with God, give everything up to God; keep a journal (this blog) and read the Bible.
Habit: meditation - includes time to reflect, to walk and to read
Related habit: journal entries
Hope to accomplish: inner peace and understanding

Tomorrow

This is the song that's been running through my head today, so I thought I would share. Wonderful thought.

New Years Theme

I spent a lot of today thinking how to incorporate my New Year's theme into my day to day life. Too many "things" kept swirling around in my mind and became very overwhelming. The problem with New Years and the feeling or need to completely change yourself, your life, your habits is its too much at once. Its taken me 47 years to become the person I am today and if I want to change that, it certainly isn't going to happen the first week of 2011. What popped into my head and has been swimming around in there all day long is part of a wonderful song from the "Sound of Music":

"Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with
ABC
When you sing you begin with do re mi"

It occurred to me, that's the answer. Start at the beginning. So that's what I'm going to try to do.