Monthly Archives: July 2012

30 Day Challenge Day 3 – honeymoon!

11 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by in 30 Day Challenge, creativity, making change, managing time, nature

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What a difference it makes to feed your soul while you get things done, and to make that a priority!  3 days, just 30 minutes a day, and I have this:

It’s no Van Gogh, but it makes my heart happy, and that’s what matters.  If you’ve ever been in a cypress swamp in the fall, hopefully you’ll know what you’re looking at.  Otherwise it might appear to be an interesting abstract!

And ten minutes in the grass soothed my soul, and produced this pretty pine cone photo:

Lastly, keeping up with my paper stuff for ten minutes a day means I can take things like bank statements that come in the mail and deal with them immediately instead of putting them in a pile for later that grows and grows until there are three months of bank statements in the pile along with all kinds of other put-off tasks and decisions.  There’s power and momentum in taking care of things now.

But the most power comes from giving myself the gift of time to play at making art. I can’t tell you how delicious that is.

This is typical for me – I start strong, I’m intoxicated by the challenge and love the rewards.  When I have to pay attention is when I get tired or a little overwhelmed or I miss a day and go into “Abort, Abort!” mode.  But right now I’m in the honeymoon phase and I’m going to bask in that!

Want to join the challenge?  Come sign up to our Facebook group so you can have a community of supporters – you can start anytime this month as the challenge goes through the end of August.  Come have fun and make a positive change! Or share more in the comments here about your challenge.  I’d love to hear!

30 Day Challenge – a surprising decision

10 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by in 30 Day Challenge, making change, managing time

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So, I’m starting my 30 day challenge – actually I began it yesterday, and knowing that my focus right now is on time management and accomplishing tasks, you might be surprised that my 30 day challenge isn’t about checking stuff off the to do list.  I’m still going to keep doing my ten minutes of daily paper management which is working so well! I think I’ve got a habit going that I can stick with!

I’m going to continue my 10 minute morning grass time as well.  Sitting with my feet on the grass and almost always a cat or two nearby, taking time to plan my day, read something inspirational and then just sit for ten minutes letting everything be – it’s the perfect way for me to begin every wild and precious day.

Here’s my surprising challenge:  For the next 30 days, I’m going to paint or draw for 30 minutes.  When I first imagined having control over my own schedule years ago, I pictured lots of free time to be creative.  While I have no special talents, I enjoy playing with drawing and painting, and I’m struck with a pang of longing when I go to galleries and admire the colorful paintings, especially when they’re of the Louisiana wetlands.

But painting and drawing always ends up at the bottom of the list.  It doesn’t get priority because I need to do the “important” things first.  Well, that’s changing! The truth is, I have time to paint or draw and get my other tasks done.  When I’ve tried this strategy in the past I’ve noticed that by rewarding myself some time every day with something fulfilling and fun, I manage to be more productive.  Similarly, when people who are trying to lose weight focus less on food and more on doing and finding things that bring them joy and happiness – when they start practicing extreme self-care – they find that something shifts– and their eating habits magically become healthier, without even thinking about it.

So that’s my plan for the month.  I’m excited!

I’m not quite ready to post my “artwork” for all to see, but I’m also going to take at least one nature photo a day – I’ve always loved that and I’ll make it part of my morning grass time, usually.  Today’s photo is a raindrop caught on the ginger.

So are you thinking about it?  What would you like to do for your 30 day challenge?
Join our Facebook Group (It’s open – come on in!) to share your plan and get support from a whole passel of coaches!  And tune in here – I’ll be posting my nature photo and letting you know how each day goes!  I’d also love to hear from you in the comments – what kind of challenge feels delicious to you this month?

Journal giveaway winners!

09 Monday Jul 2012

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Congrats to Stephanie and Lana who won the journal giveaway for commenting on the blog between June 27 and July 8!

“What giveaway?” you ask? Well, if you would like to be in the know about fun announcements and freebies like this, you need to be a subscriber.  It’s totally free but you have to enter your name and email in that little box over there on the right. And if for some reason you can’t see that box because you’re reading this on your mobile device, then click here:  When you do, you’ll get my free Wordless Cure for Busyness e-kit too, and who knows what I’ll be giving away next! You want to be in the know!

I also announced the contest on my Facebook page, so if you find yourself on Facebook as much as I do (it’s for work, I’m serious!), you can like my page, Living Wild and Precious.

So today, I hired Price Waterhouse Coopers to determine the winners.  No, actually I wrote each commenter’s name down once for every comment, then cut them up and put them in a container.  I took the container to my husband (who is very fair and doesn’t know any of you), held it up over his head, and asked him to draw two slips.

It doesn’t always work out this way, but this time having multiple comments put our winners at a wonderful advantage.  Congratulations to Stephanie and Lana; send your snail mail address to me at carla@livingwildandprecious.com and I’ll get those journals to you asap! And thanks so much to everyone who comments here any time – it means a lot to me when you take the time to comment.

Tomorrow, we’ll get back to the 30 Day Challenge – good stuff on the way!

 

30 Day Challenge – are you ready?

08 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in 30 Day Challenge, making change, managing time, savoring

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Why is summer the perfect time to make a change you’ve been longing to make?  Because it’s already a more relaxed and quieter time.  Maybe they let you out of work an hour early on Fridays.  Or maybe the kids go to camp.  It’s a time to let loose a little, and try something you’ve been aching to try.  Something to take care of yourself better or something fun you never let yourself have time for.  Or something you’ve been wanting to clean up, go through, rework, rethink – what if you did something intentionally about that something for 30 days?  Don’t worry about vacation – if you have to you can pick up where you left off.

Isn’t it kind of strange that we always start our resolutions in the cold dark of January?  Why not make changes and try new ways of living better when the sun is out, the days are long, and anything seems possible?

My friend and fellow coach Stacey Shanks is starting up a 30 day Challenge project this month, and you can join in on her her Facebook page where she’ll be posting all kinds of goodness to help you stay on track.  I’ll be there, both as a participant and as one of the expert speakers she has lined up to inspire and support us.

So how am I doing with my challenge today?  All is well. (See my stickers?) Grass time was lovely, and my little pile of papers is practically gone – chipped away ten minutes at a time.  I’m making inroads on my big projects too, and taking time to play so that my body remembers that we’re in this for the long term and not going to just flame out in another week.  I’m remembering that summer’s for treats too! And for naps.  There’s always time for a little nap, especially on a rainy Sunday.

I hope you’ll consider joining the 30 day challenge. You can make it something small, something fun – something you’d love to do but just haven’t done yet.  Let me know in the comments about your challenge, or email me at carla@livingwildandprecious.com.  Come join us for summer fun and positive changes!

Wrenches – what to do when they get thrown in…

06 Friday Jul 2012

Posted by in managing time, managing worry, resistance

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Wrenches.  Unexpected events or occurrences that get tossed into the machinery of life.  As in, “Well, that really put a wrench in it!”

What do we do when we start our day all ready for productivity and greatness and then find a wrench stuck in the machine?

I think my answer is to watch for distortion.  I was going to write about distortion anyway today, and then the universe provided me with a giant unexpected wrench.  Here’s what happened.

My bicycle was stolen.  Yes, that cute one on the right that I just took on a Fourth of July picnic with my honey.  That one.  It was stolen while locked up on an extremely busy street in the French Quarter in broad daylight.  (Oh how I hate to tell you this, because I love my city and I don’t want you to think ill of it.)  I haven’t given much thought to who did it or how – in fact I’m strangely unable to wish the thief or thieves ill.  I hope somehow that something shifts in a positive way for them- some kind of change or lesson.  But that is not my business. I don’t know their story and I never will.

So I ironically asked myself, “What’s perfect about this?”  Not a whole heck of a lot. First I just felt disoriented and kind of stupid.  Was I sure that’s where I’d parked it? Was that the light post I’d attached it to?  Then I just felt crappy. And I allowed myself to feel crappy – I even shed a brief tear of frustration and general ickiness. A little bit of “poor me.” But I stuck with my plans and had a lovely lunch with a friend who was able to pick me up and drive me home too.  I had a bag full of goodies from LUSH that I’ll be sharing with my retreat participants. (By the way, there’s still room in the retreat if you want to check it out!) I wasn’t missing anything except the bike.

I wish this story ended like the wallet story, with me turning the corner and forgetting I’d parked the bike in a completely different place, but alas, that’s not the case.  However, when I got home, my sweetheart hugged me and said, “I’m so sorry this happened to you.  You need a bike – let’s go get you a new one tomorrow.” And we can do that.  We have enough money.  We have enough and more than enough, of everything.

So what about distortion? Well I find that my mind can sometimes go into distortion mode.  Sky is falling mode.  Interestingly, my mind is generally better in the face of minor tragedies like petty theft.  My mind’s preferred subject of distortion is in day to day dealings.  It likes to distort how long something’s going to take, or how hopeless everything’s going to be if I’ve missed one day of a habit I’m trying to take up.

So next time you’re dealing with a major or minor wrench in your plans, watch your mind.  Is it going into distortion mode?  Is it whipping up a giant story about how awful everything is or is going to be?  Ask yourself if you need to believe your mind, or just look around at the actual circumstances, and deal with them in the best way you know how.