Thursday, August 12, 2010

Taking Care of Number One

 
  Take care of your self is number eight of my top ten ways to eliminate negativity. I am more apt to believe the lies of negativity when I am run down or sick.  Yes, that’s right, I said, negativity is lies. Denial, complaining, critical judgments, unpleasantness, malicious thoughts and words, all negative, all lies. My life runs better without it. I’m happier and that is reason enough to keep it out of my life.  And reason enough to take care of myself.

                                             Ten Ways to Take Care of Number One
    
  1. Start and end the day with God in silence and prayer. You are not your body. You are not your life. You are not your thoughts. You are a precious child of God. Take time to remember that.
  2. Look good and smile often. You feel better when you look good.  What’s the saying? When you got it flaunt it. You got it honey, so flaunt it. 
  3. Eat healthy life sustaining foods. Sugar and processed foods are not your friends.  Yes, that includes cookies, the tea is fine. Lose the cookies.
  4. Drink enough water.  That crystal carafe on your bedside table is nice with flowers but water would be better way to start your morning. Just a suggestion.
  5. Get some exercise everyday.  A walk around the block will do. Remember your misspent youth and crank up a little Grateful Dead or Little Feat. Pull the blinds, put on a swirly skirt and dance until you can’t stop smiling.
  6. Plan something fun to look forward to. It doesn’t have to be much, a video on Wednesday or some music on Thursday.
  7. Go to bed at a reasonable hour. You get up at 4:30.  Do the math.
  8. Bring beauty into your life. Your soul feasts on beauty be generous with it.  
  9. Be grateful.  Repeat after me, I am grateful that….. I am grateful for….I am grateful that I….. I am grateful to be able to……
  10.  Slow down. You are not the Energizer Bunny. It will get done, it always does.

   Women don’t always take care of themselves, my self included. That’s why I need this list as a reminder. Take care of yourself. And that means you too. Now, get off the computer and go do something good for yourself.  You are the only you the world has and we need your gifts.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

I Need An Attitude Adjustment



   I need an attitude adjustment. It’s either that or run away from home and what’s the point of that? Where ever I go I take me with me and today that includes my rather snarky attitude.  The answer is not running away, the answer is in me. Go Figure.
    School has started. Yes, I know, it’s only August and it’s hotter than forty hells here in Georgia but school has started. 15 hour days are the norm and let’s not even talk about how much money I’ve spent on my classroom already. My washusband used to say that they should stash all the teachers in a hotel for the first and last month of school because we were crazy.  When school starts teachers go from 0 to a 100 mph trying to get ready for our students. It’s not a pretty picture.  Last night around 11:00 p.m. it caught with me. I let myself get away from me. The minute I noticed that I was not me, peaceful and at ease, I called time out. 
   I made a cuppa tea and while I was waiting for it to brew I picked up A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and just flipped through it.  I found this underlined passage on page 295, “If you are not in the state of acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others.”  Well, duh. 
    I took a cuppa tea, went outside and sat in the still, relatively cool air and brought myself back to myself and enjoyment.  I love my job, I want to love my job and I do when I don’t let the pressure get to me, when I stay in the moment and out of fear. We want to blame someone for our own unhappiness or stress and most of the time it's caused by our thinking and a lack of awareness of our inner being. We lose touch with our selves and our connection to God. 
    An attitude adjustment is as simple as being aware of your inner state of and returning to one of the three states of “modalities of awakened doing,” joy, enthusiasm, or acceptance.  It is as simple as remembering that you are not your thoughts, you are a child of God and He delights in your joy.
  Today I am going to work some more. I’m a teacher. It’s the first week of school. It’s what we do. I am also going to bring joy into my life. Today joy looks a lot like a good book and a nap in the hammock