So today was a pretty great day, except my kid is screaming his head off in his room right now and even though he is so tired, he is having a hard time falling asleep.
I need to get to work on some BPO's I have the opportunity to do to make a little extra money to buy some "new" car seats because apparently car seats expire, so my thought to "borrow" or get them off of Craig's List will not be coming true anytime soon. Who knew? Due to safety features I suppose, like the wear and plastic and weathering conditions. A friend of mine even googled it today and I guess it is true. They have a 5-6 year life from the manufactured date, and a lot of them have a stamp on the back of the seat that says... do not use after (with a month and year). Which means that if it sits on the shelf for a year of that, then poof you have 1 year less to use it.
So not something I was really looking forward to spending my extra money on, (but at least I have the extra money to use) but I can't imagine not doing the safest thing for my child. However, I suppose I didn't even sit in a car seat, but then again we want to do the best we can for those we love and not let them down.
A friend of mine sent me this quote at work that she got from another co-worker, no one is really sure where it came from, but I really liked it and thought it was worth sharing.
As we grow up, we learn that the one person that wasn’t supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it gets harder every time. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with your best friend. You’ll blame a new love for things an old one did. You’ll cry b/c time is passing too fast, and you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt because every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back.
I thought this was really true. We spend too much time worrying, trying to fix things, being unhappy, blaming ourselves for things that went beyond our control, being afraid to do the things we really want for fear of failure, that we don't concentrate on being happy, and if we did concentrate on this a little harder, we truly may enjoy our lives that much more.
I also saw this quote on the whiteboard at the gym today:
You block your dreams when you allow your fears to grow bigger than your faith.
You have to have faith to pursue your dreams, no matter what your dream is you have to trust your hopes not your fears.
Today I am thankful that I live in a country that allows me the opportunity to pursue my dreams.
Today I will worry a little less, love a little more, and be happy despite my circumstances, I don't want to waste my time being unhappy, because it truly is a minute I will never get back, and being unhappy really doesn't change what has already been done, so I think this will truly change things in my life and my dreams will begin to come true.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Day 7 of 365
At 31 years old I pictured myself in a little different place than I am right now.
How many times have you repeatedly heard that "life is a journey not a destination" yet we are constantly struggling to see our future, to grasp that end result but there never really is an end if life is a journey meant for us to keep learning and expanding our knowledge, our interests and our desires.
Society allows us to create this facid that we haven't yet reached where it is we think we need to be unless we have met some certain status quo created by others, society, peers, and our inner critic think we should be.
Truly, I think we are who we think we are, we are each in charge of our own destiny. We have the freedom of choice and we can be whatever we set our mind to. We can put as little or as much effort into creating our own self.
We however need not see the end picture but the journey we take, the mistakes we make, the triumphs and failures, accomplishments and adjustments and truly live our lives.
Definitely it is less stressful to think that we can continue our journey every day and keep learning, we are not destined to have to be something at any certain time period, unless we ourselves chose to do so.
Today I am grateful that I am where I am in my life, whether it is where I expected to be or not.
-"happiness is permanent, it is always there, what comes and goes is unhappiness. If you identify with what comes and goes, you will be unhappy-If you identify with what is permanent and always there, you are happiness itself." -Poonjaji
How many times have you repeatedly heard that "life is a journey not a destination" yet we are constantly struggling to see our future, to grasp that end result but there never really is an end if life is a journey meant for us to keep learning and expanding our knowledge, our interests and our desires.
Society allows us to create this facid that we haven't yet reached where it is we think we need to be unless we have met some certain status quo created by others, society, peers, and our inner critic think we should be.
Truly, I think we are who we think we are, we are each in charge of our own destiny. We have the freedom of choice and we can be whatever we set our mind to. We can put as little or as much effort into creating our own self.
We however need not see the end picture but the journey we take, the mistakes we make, the triumphs and failures, accomplishments and adjustments and truly live our lives.
Definitely it is less stressful to think that we can continue our journey every day and keep learning, we are not destined to have to be something at any certain time period, unless we ourselves chose to do so.
Today I am grateful that I am where I am in my life, whether it is where I expected to be or not.
-"happiness is permanent, it is always there, what comes and goes is unhappiness. If you identify with what comes and goes, you will be unhappy-If you identify with what is permanent and always there, you are happiness itself." -Poonjaji
Day 6 of 365
Okay so I guess I fell asleep before writing last night, and then I woke up at 12 with a child with a tummy ache… so sad, and should have probably wrote since I was already awake… but did not.
My thoughts on yesterday: I took a Meditation stress relief workshop, on how to relax and calm yourself wherever you are. It was only about 20 minutes long and a lot of it I already knew but just did not take the time to apply it in my life.
I think a lot of people do this. We don’t think we have time for ourselves. It is really sad. I think that maybe if we did take that time for ourselves it may make our life better in other areas.
The workshop posed questions you can ask yourself to help relieve your stress on a daily basis by identifying what is causing you to be stressful on a regular basis, which situations are under your complete control focus on what you can do to minimize the stress from the sources you listed.
How much time do I really take a day for myself? I guess it varies. How much time do I wish I could spend on just me? Probably at least 2 hours of my 24 hour day. I really do love to do things for other people and it makes me feel good about myself to do this, but I rush through things for myself a lot of times to make more time to do stuff for other people and I really do suffer in the long run. I think if we could as individuals commit 15-45 true minutes a day whether it is at one time or in intervals we would be more productive as well as more appreciated by others.
Today my commitment to myself is to give 30 minutes per day to just me. Working out at lunch, meditating before bed or reading a book will help me relax and refresh to be more productive and beneficial in both my job and home life.
I am grateful that even though my son woke with a stomachache I was able to put him back to sleep for the rest of the night within one hour and go back to bed myself.
My thoughts on yesterday: I took a Meditation stress relief workshop, on how to relax and calm yourself wherever you are. It was only about 20 minutes long and a lot of it I already knew but just did not take the time to apply it in my life.
I think a lot of people do this. We don’t think we have time for ourselves. It is really sad. I think that maybe if we did take that time for ourselves it may make our life better in other areas.
The workshop posed questions you can ask yourself to help relieve your stress on a daily basis by identifying what is causing you to be stressful on a regular basis, which situations are under your complete control focus on what you can do to minimize the stress from the sources you listed.
How much time do I really take a day for myself? I guess it varies. How much time do I wish I could spend on just me? Probably at least 2 hours of my 24 hour day. I really do love to do things for other people and it makes me feel good about myself to do this, but I rush through things for myself a lot of times to make more time to do stuff for other people and I really do suffer in the long run. I think if we could as individuals commit 15-45 true minutes a day whether it is at one time or in intervals we would be more productive as well as more appreciated by others.
Today my commitment to myself is to give 30 minutes per day to just me. Working out at lunch, meditating before bed or reading a book will help me relax and refresh to be more productive and beneficial in both my job and home life.
I am grateful that even though my son woke with a stomachache I was able to put him back to sleep for the rest of the night within one hour and go back to bed myself.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Day 5 of 365
So tomorrow is Monday.... The weekend I could say wasn't long enough, but I suppose it is the same length every weekend.
I am grateful that I got a lot of things done that I set out to do.
I think I will start by saying my week ahead is going to be a great one.
I will try to follow the advice of one of my favorite authors, Og Mandino.
One of his 17 rules to live by: Today and everyday, deliver more than you are getting paid to do. The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your privilege to go the extra mile and enjoy all the rewards you receive you deserve them.
A co-worker of mine discussed a book she read that focused on the fact that most people live for Friday, but in fact if we are living for Friday every week for that 2 day weekend, we really aren't living Monday-Thursday, which is the majority of our week. Most of us spend 5 days a weeks at work and only 2 days a week off. Which means if we are always living for the 2 day weekend, we are only living 104 out of 365 days of the year, not including vacation or holidays. That is less than 1/2 of the year. WOW! Makes you think.
If we could only put as much effort into our work week, and actually enjoy what we do on a daily basis, even if it is not our ultimate job, we may tend to add a little more happiness to our lives. We may make a tad bit more effort and put our whole mind into what we are doing at work rather than constantly looking toward the future Friday when the 2 day weekend will be here, which may even lead to us performing better at work and turn into a promotion or two down the road.
So today I challenge myself to put my mind into every day, to give it my 100% like I mentioned a couple days ago, and to track and see if any positive results come my way. I will keep you posted.
I challenge anyone reading this to pay a little more attention to what is going on right now in your life, do not worry as much about your future because you just might miss something, right now today, that will for tell what your future holds.
Under promise, over deliver. Don't try to be all things to all people, do your best and don't expect too much of yourself, because others will too.
I could go through this day oblivious to the miracles around me, or I could tune in and "enjoy." - Gloria Gaither
I am grateful that I got a lot of things done that I set out to do.
I think I will start by saying my week ahead is going to be a great one.
I will try to follow the advice of one of my favorite authors, Og Mandino.
One of his 17 rules to live by: Today and everyday, deliver more than you are getting paid to do. The victory of success will be half won when you learn the secret of putting out more than is expected in all that you do. Make yourself so valuable in your work that eventually you will become indispensable. Exercise your privilege to go the extra mile and enjoy all the rewards you receive you deserve them.
A co-worker of mine discussed a book she read that focused on the fact that most people live for Friday, but in fact if we are living for Friday every week for that 2 day weekend, we really aren't living Monday-Thursday, which is the majority of our week. Most of us spend 5 days a weeks at work and only 2 days a week off. Which means if we are always living for the 2 day weekend, we are only living 104 out of 365 days of the year, not including vacation or holidays. That is less than 1/2 of the year. WOW! Makes you think.
If we could only put as much effort into our work week, and actually enjoy what we do on a daily basis, even if it is not our ultimate job, we may tend to add a little more happiness to our lives. We may make a tad bit more effort and put our whole mind into what we are doing at work rather than constantly looking toward the future Friday when the 2 day weekend will be here, which may even lead to us performing better at work and turn into a promotion or two down the road.
So today I challenge myself to put my mind into every day, to give it my 100% like I mentioned a couple days ago, and to track and see if any positive results come my way. I will keep you posted.
I challenge anyone reading this to pay a little more attention to what is going on right now in your life, do not worry as much about your future because you just might miss something, right now today, that will for tell what your future holds.
Under promise, over deliver. Don't try to be all things to all people, do your best and don't expect too much of yourself, because others will too.
I could go through this day oblivious to the miracles around me, or I could tune in and "enjoy." - Gloria Gaither
Saturday, August 14, 2010
day 4 of 365
Well, i would have to say for the night that it was I was surprised that today was a good day in a lot of ways. Tracker was up 15 times in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, I guess he consumed WAY too much water swimming last night... Really crazy stuff, but despite the fact that the dog interfered with my sleep schedule....
I am thankful that Steve and I both got our tires rotated, and walked around the shopping plaza with our son in the stroller. I am grateful I was able to help my mom and take her to get her tire fixed. I am thankful that Paxton was happy most of the day. That I was able to spend quality time with the family and take Paxton to visit Grammy. I just love to see the joy that she shows when she gets to see him, to see her 94 year old face light up. This is truly a blessing that she is still here to enjoy and be a part of our lives.
It is the simple things like watching your son try to let go and walk all by himself and try over and over, eating cookies at Paradise Bakery with your husband and child, and leisurely taking your time to enjoy the moment; all of these things make life not seem so rushed and chaotic but enjoyable and worth savoring.
Tonight is but short and sweet... but I really want to get some sleep..... night all.
I am thankful that Steve and I both got our tires rotated, and walked around the shopping plaza with our son in the stroller. I am grateful I was able to help my mom and take her to get her tire fixed. I am thankful that Paxton was happy most of the day. That I was able to spend quality time with the family and take Paxton to visit Grammy. I just love to see the joy that she shows when she gets to see him, to see her 94 year old face light up. This is truly a blessing that she is still here to enjoy and be a part of our lives.
It is the simple things like watching your son try to let go and walk all by himself and try over and over, eating cookies at Paradise Bakery with your husband and child, and leisurely taking your time to enjoy the moment; all of these things make life not seem so rushed and chaotic but enjoyable and worth savoring.
Tonight is but short and sweet... but I really want to get some sleep..... night all.
Friday, August 13, 2010
day 3 of 365
Wow, what a day... it all goes back to the what if... when something goes wrong... as guess what it sometimes will, can we really make it better by playing the what if game, what if we were in the wrong place at the wrong time, what if we would have just done this instead? Are any of these what ifs changing the outcome of the day? I think not, but as humans we insist on going to that place over and over again, trying to rehash what went wrong and how we can change it, and guess what folks? WE CAN'T. So to me running it over and over in your head will only make it worse, because we can't rewind time and make it disappear. So if we stop pretending we can we would probably get over it a lot quicker by just excepting it as what happened and really move on.
Being a natural multitasking women who is full of emotion, compassion and sensitivity I often think like many women out there that we let others dictate what we should expect of ourselves and I think that is what makes us try to hard and end up disappointing not only ourselves but others along the way. Guess what, we can't do it all and we can't be all things to all people. When we accept that we are who we are and be a strong person in that sense instead of trying to be so many things, we will definitely prosper. I think we definitely learn these things from our parents and others we encounter along the way. We can chose to be a victim in any circumstance or we can chose to learn from it. We can have a little pity party.... cry a little, pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, because if we can't erase it we might as well accept whatever the circumstance and move on. Why things happen is literally beyond my knowledge... but maybe God has some reason that we may never know. So i will just go with that, accept it.
There is nothing that will happen to me today that God and I can't handle together. And I say to myself, I am an upbeat, hope filled enthusiastic woman who trusts her hopes not her fears... I said this in an email to a friend several years ago, and she pointed out to me over the phone just a few days ago that she reminds herself of this saying many times in her life when she starts to think twice, get scared or doubt her choices. It almost gave me the chills that something I said years ago stuck and made an impact with someone else,; I was reminded that I must continue to say this to myself every morning I wake up and look into the mirror.
Today I am thankful for all the sacrifices my mother made when I was growing up to help shape me into the person I am today, despite losing my father.
I am thankful for my husband who loves my son with his whole heart.
I am forever grateful for the support I receive in all that I do from my family and friends.
Fear Thou not; for I am with thee- Isaiah 41:10
Being a natural multitasking women who is full of emotion, compassion and sensitivity I often think like many women out there that we let others dictate what we should expect of ourselves and I think that is what makes us try to hard and end up disappointing not only ourselves but others along the way. Guess what, we can't do it all and we can't be all things to all people. When we accept that we are who we are and be a strong person in that sense instead of trying to be so many things, we will definitely prosper. I think we definitely learn these things from our parents and others we encounter along the way. We can chose to be a victim in any circumstance or we can chose to learn from it. We can have a little pity party.... cry a little, pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, because if we can't erase it we might as well accept whatever the circumstance and move on. Why things happen is literally beyond my knowledge... but maybe God has some reason that we may never know. So i will just go with that, accept it.
There is nothing that will happen to me today that God and I can't handle together. And I say to myself, I am an upbeat, hope filled enthusiastic woman who trusts her hopes not her fears... I said this in an email to a friend several years ago, and she pointed out to me over the phone just a few days ago that she reminds herself of this saying many times in her life when she starts to think twice, get scared or doubt her choices. It almost gave me the chills that something I said years ago stuck and made an impact with someone else,; I was reminded that I must continue to say this to myself every morning I wake up and look into the mirror.
Today I am thankful for all the sacrifices my mother made when I was growing up to help shape me into the person I am today, despite losing my father.
I am thankful for my husband who loves my son with his whole heart.
I am forever grateful for the support I receive in all that I do from my family and friends.
Fear Thou not; for I am with thee- Isaiah 41:10
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Day 2 of 365
So as I woke this morning and went about my day with a little weight lifted off my shoulders, i did my work with less stress, I was pleasant with everyone I encountered today, I was a little more calm and collected, why, I'm not certain. Was it the reflection from the night before. I guess we will have to wait and see if it continues on.
I had a student tell me that it was unfair that their instructor didn't give them points for trying, even though they got all the answers wrong, I thought to myself, what really is trying? The dictionary definition of trying in this case means to attempt to do something, but just because we attempt does that mean we are giving it 100% and if we are not should we really be rewarded for it? I think that if we are truly giving anything our "all" we will see good results, and if we are giving it 100% we shouldn't expect any more of ourselves. It is when we procrastinate do something with half the effort or do not give 100% of our commitment that we are quick to point fingers that it is unfair or we are not being rewarded for our partial credit. She also stated that none of her other instructors in classes other than English had marked off points for grammar or punctuation mistakes as quickly as this one, and another thought popped into my head. That could either make her lucky that so far in her program she had such lax instructors that she got by with her mediocre work or it could make her unlucky in that she was close to being finished with her program and she either never learned the proper way or developed some lazy habits.
How often in our lives when we don't give 100% or we take the easy way around things do we not only feel less adequate about ourselves but also need to redo or repeat something because it wasn't good enough, and if we would have just done it right the first time, even if it took longer or was more involved... we would have been better off.
My daily reflection is that I will try my best to give each person I speak to, every situation I encounter, every problem I am trying to solve, 100% of my attention at the given moment I am faced with it, rather than giving partially and then having to fix it later on, just causing more anxiety or stress that could have been avoided.
Today I am extra grateful for my really awesome connections at work- you know who you are... that make my day a little brighter!
I am grateful for my amazing son, who brings joy to my life.
I am grateful for my mother who taught me to be myself and to do the things that would make myself proud of me.
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort- Elizabeth Gilbert
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats."
Bertie Charles Forbes
1880-1954, Financial Journalist, Author and Founder of Forbes Magazine
I had a student tell me that it was unfair that their instructor didn't give them points for trying, even though they got all the answers wrong, I thought to myself, what really is trying? The dictionary definition of trying in this case means to attempt to do something, but just because we attempt does that mean we are giving it 100% and if we are not should we really be rewarded for it? I think that if we are truly giving anything our "all" we will see good results, and if we are giving it 100% we shouldn't expect any more of ourselves. It is when we procrastinate do something with half the effort or do not give 100% of our commitment that we are quick to point fingers that it is unfair or we are not being rewarded for our partial credit. She also stated that none of her other instructors in classes other than English had marked off points for grammar or punctuation mistakes as quickly as this one, and another thought popped into my head. That could either make her lucky that so far in her program she had such lax instructors that she got by with her mediocre work or it could make her unlucky in that she was close to being finished with her program and she either never learned the proper way or developed some lazy habits.
How often in our lives when we don't give 100% or we take the easy way around things do we not only feel less adequate about ourselves but also need to redo or repeat something because it wasn't good enough, and if we would have just done it right the first time, even if it took longer or was more involved... we would have been better off.
My daily reflection is that I will try my best to give each person I speak to, every situation I encounter, every problem I am trying to solve, 100% of my attention at the given moment I am faced with it, rather than giving partially and then having to fix it later on, just causing more anxiety or stress that could have been avoided.
Today I am extra grateful for my really awesome connections at work- you know who you are... that make my day a little brighter!
I am grateful for my amazing son, who brings joy to my life.
I am grateful for my mother who taught me to be myself and to do the things that would make myself proud of me.
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort- Elizabeth Gilbert
History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats."
Bertie Charles Forbes
1880-1954, Financial Journalist, Author and Founder of Forbes Magazine
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Day 1 of 365
Today was a day like any other day! I realized(already knew), no wait I was reminded.. that sounds better... That life has so many more things to be thankful for then we actually reflect on. We are so busy in our lives worrying about the future, comtemplating the past and trying to fix what has already went wrong or hasn't yet happened. Do we ever really live in the present for the moment? Many of us don't. We know that we should but we are too busy "what ifing" the past and preparing how we will take care of the future. I may sound a little redundant, however I think we need to reflect that this is something we do out of habit.
Humans in general are habitual. When we forget that we are living in the moment and we can only control what we have at any given moment. Dwelling on the past will not rewind time and allow us to do it over, no matter how many t.v. shows they have made allowing us to think that this is a possibility, nor can we worry about what may become of our future for it hasn't yet happened. We can only control our present. We cannot always control our circumstances, but we can control what we do, what we say and how we act. Our attitude has a lot to do with our outcome.
Over the next year I hope to live more in the present by spending the end of each day reflecting on only the good that has happened no matter how small and refusing to let others negativity bring me down.
Today I will start by saying I am grateful to be alive, to have the family that I do and to be on God's earth to share this experience with others.
I am grateful for my home and car, my job - no matter how much I would rather have less of a commute, get paid what I am worth or something I am better suited to do.
I will continue to be happy, strive to do the best job I can at all I do, and that is all I SHOULD expect of myself.
I want to be able to say that I no longer let my life or circumstances no matter how unfair they may seem control my life, I will control my life.
I am starting today committing to myself that I will no longer be a victim to circumstance I will only allow it to make me a better person.
thought of the day:
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors.
Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.
- Gandhi
Humans in general are habitual. When we forget that we are living in the moment and we can only control what we have at any given moment. Dwelling on the past will not rewind time and allow us to do it over, no matter how many t.v. shows they have made allowing us to think that this is a possibility, nor can we worry about what may become of our future for it hasn't yet happened. We can only control our present. We cannot always control our circumstances, but we can control what we do, what we say and how we act. Our attitude has a lot to do with our outcome.
Over the next year I hope to live more in the present by spending the end of each day reflecting on only the good that has happened no matter how small and refusing to let others negativity bring me down.
Today I will start by saying I am grateful to be alive, to have the family that I do and to be on God's earth to share this experience with others.
I am grateful for my home and car, my job - no matter how much I would rather have less of a commute, get paid what I am worth or something I am better suited to do.
I will continue to be happy, strive to do the best job I can at all I do, and that is all I SHOULD expect of myself.
I want to be able to say that I no longer let my life or circumstances no matter how unfair they may seem control my life, I will control my life.
I am starting today committing to myself that I will no longer be a victim to circumstance I will only allow it to make me a better person.
thought of the day:
Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors.
Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.
- Gandhi
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