I’ve been a little hard on myself lately. Since I moved to Missouri, I have learned to respect the seasons and the sometimes short windows of opportunity for outdoor upgrades and home maintenance. I start each spring with to do lists and somehow they never seems to get done.
We are all likely to be experiencing some level of grief today. The loss of jobs, relationships, and way of life due to Covid-19 can all bring deep sadness.
Many of the people I talk to have also recently lost friends or loved ones and are struggling with how to master the art of grieving. The death of someone we love is probably the deepest level of grief we can experience.
I know because I’ve been there.
When I was young I could eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight so I’ve never been much of a dieter. Even so, I did fall for the low fat craze and actually believed low fat twinkies were real food. I sure ate a lot of them.
Once I hit my 50’s my body began to change and even though I walk regularly I was adding extra pounds. My move from CA to Missouri complicated things even more and I soon found myself 20 pounds over weight. I have since lost half of that and am working on the rest.
It often starts as a small voice and then builds into a yearning for a simpler life and the peace it brings. I believe it’s the voice of your soul calling you away from worldly distractions and back into your heart.
You can try to avoid the calling or postpone taking action, but you will never be able to turn it off fully. It will be there until you make changes that realign your life with your heart’s desire.
There was a time in my life when I was a little girl that I felt very insecure. One of the ways I coped with this was to tell people made up stories that made me sound more important than I felt. I told so many falsehoods that I couldn’t keep track of them, which became a source of extreme stress. Eventually, I was found out and became more ostracized than ever.
That was when I became a lover of truth.
Today is the 4 year anniversary of my move from a large Southern CA city to a small town in Missouri. I was born in California and had lived there for 62 years, so this move was a really big change.
I feel really settled in my new town now. I’ve made friends, support the community by being on the library and Women’s Network boards and love being within walking distance of my family.
If you know me, you know I like to keep things simple and this may be one of the simplest posts I ever write.
After decades of learning, studying, supporting clients and working on myself, I think I’ve found the secret to living the life I want. It might be something you will want to try, too.
As I write this we are experiencing a global pandemic and there have been racially charged riots around the country. It feels like there is a lot going wrong in our world and if you are like me, it can impact how you feel.
In the early weeks of staying home due to Covid-19, my microwave broke. I panicked. My first thought was literally, “How will I eat? I’m going to starve!”
I realized very quickly that I was over-reacting and started problem solving instead, but it made me wonder why my mind would even go there.
I work with a lot of women who have creative minds. Their creativity is a gift that allows them to do amazing things, but sometimes they get lost in their thoughts and ideas and find it difficult to stay focused.
This happens to me too. I am an idea person. Brainstorming is one of my favorite things and my clients would tell you that some very interesting things can come out of my mind when I do this. But, I can get lost in it.
Now that it has been almost 2 months of living within a global pandemic, I am realizing there are additional consequences I hadn’t previously considered.
One is that I seem to have lost my sense of direction. Self-direction, that is.
Whether you have been an essential worker or in lock down mode Covid-19 has changed your world. For many of you, it feels like your life has been put on “pause”, leaving you with extra time to fill and new challenges to meet.
This in between time is an opportunity to listen to your heart and refresh your over-cluttered and busy life. You get to choose how you use it and what to bring forward out of it.
If you are human, you are likely experiencing some ups and downs during your Covid-19 experience. I know I am. My worldview and thoughts are mostly positive, but last Sunday I ended up having a good cry. The next day I was back to normal again.
Even if we feel we are handling these unusual times well, they may still be taking a toll on us.
I noticed that I’ve been a little more nervous and jumpy even though my thoughts are mostly positive. My comfort zone seems to be shrinking as my life gets smaller and smaller. You may be noticing something similar or completely different, but I feel sure it’s impacting you too.
Now that many of us have been staying home for awhile due to Covid-19 we can find ourselves dealing with feelings of boredom, frustration or even depression. It can be challenging to stay positive when your world has been turned upside down.
A few years back I moved to another state to be close to my family, but I remember how isolated I felt before then with no family near by. That is why my mind keeps going to the seniors, shut ins, and people alone during these trying times of Covid 19.
Many of us are staying home in cooperation with various quarantines and lockdowns due to Covid 19. This creates an unusual pause in our lives that we can fill in many ways.
Most people get restless after a few days of rest and watching Netflix. It’s an odd feeling to have a forced staycation. But, there are several meaningful ways that you can spend your time. Here are a few I’m recommending to my clients:
It seems like almost all of my coaching conversations include the coronavirus these days. Clients are expressing their own fears, frustrations over their spouses reactions and their desire for answers.
I’ve been on this earth long enough to be able to look back and have regrets about things I wasted time on. I can now see how they didn’t serve me and am amazed at the amount of time lost to them.
We all have time wasters in our lives. Things that hindered us and made us feel bad, while stealing the hours of our days.
One of the first self help books I read was “Your Erroneous Zones” by Wayne Dyer. It was the first time I realized that worrying is just a fantasy about negative outcomes and a waste of precious time and energy.
I wish I could say I never worried again, but I’m human – just like you. Most of us still spend time on negative fantasies when we get triggered and worry takes center stage. We don’t have to stay there though, once we realize it’s happening. We can shift our mind out of worry and into something better. Here are 5 ways you can do just that.