To Do

Many of you have heard me whine before about the mountain of "to do's". Well, Mary Ellen Golden sent me this article. In it Srikumar S. Rao talks about improving your efficiency through first taking note of your mental chatter.

Not a problem! where do I sign up?

He starts with
"Odds are you sometimes feel like you're swimming in molasses. Your strokes are good, with power in them, but you're just not moving forward as fast as you'd like. You look at your to-do list at the end of the day, and too many items aren't yet scratched off and will lengthen tomorrow's list."

Oh, TOTALLY! I am SO on board.....

And here's his crystal clear nugget:

"Listen. Here is a fact of life. When you label something as bad, you are very likely to experience it as bad. In fact, you're almost certain to. But as your own experience has shown you, you never really know at first whether what happens to you is good or bad. You may not know for years. You may never know..... When you refuse to label something that happens to you as bad, then you don't experience it as adversity, and bouncing back is much easier. When you don't fall down, you don't have to get up."

SO wonderful! I have been trying to teach my daughter this, I try to help my friends through crises with this type of thinking! I just need to be reminded myself.

Last night I was distressed about a million things. I was laying staring at the ceiling. Robert walked in took one look and said,"What's wrong with you?" I told him.
He sighed and said,"How can you think that when your the luckiest person I know!" "I AM?!" I reply.
"Yeah, you wanted to be accepted to grad school, Ding!
You wanted to teach at Artfest, Ding!
You wanted to be accepted at more art retreats, Ding!
You wanted a job at CFCC, Ding!
You wanted your daughter full time, Ding!
You wanted a studio at Wabi Sabi, Ding!
then you wanted a studio at home, Ding!
You wanted to live in this house, Ding!
then this spring you wanted a new (used) car, specifically a Subaru, Ding!
You wanted your summer school class to fill, Ding!
You wanted me, Ding! (I know right?)...
the Universe just LOVES to give you stuff!"
Obviously I was laughing by the time he listed himself!
Hmmmm, he has a point!
Well then! Now I want to do a book! I want to travel to Europe again. I want a Dumore small precision drill press... all doable!
but I better not get toooo carried away! ;-)