Category Archives: Lessons Learned

Lessons learned from my walks

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Are Your Habits Serving You?

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Terrie’s Tip – It’s time to take stock of all the habits that may be keeping you from enjoying your life more.

So so much of what we do is habit driven. Many of these are from childhood and we don’t alter them – kind of like the beliefs we talked about yesterday.

Quick and easy way to start:
Write down what you think are your primary habits and don’t forget to put your phone attachment down. I say primary habits because so much of what we do is a habit. To start with at least10 habits (preferably more) that govern how you live. Examples are “i get up and check my phone first thing in the morning.”
“I make my coffee in the Keurig every morning”
“I workout every day first thing in the a.m.”
“I make my husband’s lunch every morning”
“I make a post on Facebook and then browse my favorites”
“I clean the kitchen counter every night keeping it totally empty”
“I do the dishes just before bed to make sure the sink is empty and all the dishes are clean”
“I leave for work at 0600, get in the car, turn on Joe Blow’s podcast, and drive to work.”

There are many more that you can write down – just do it without judging.

Then take a look at them all and see how they serve your purpose in life and in your day,

James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits” is one of the best books I’ve read on habits.

Terrie

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Counting My Blessings

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This goes on from yesterday’s events as this weather “thing” has not ended and is now being pursued by another one rolling in in a few hours. Power has been on and off today but at least it’s been what i do call rolling, not setting up shop as it was yesterday.

But it has made me be more conscious of some things – and being more conscious of them is vital for keeping them alive and well in your psyche.

The primary thought is that no matter how uncomfortable I think I am or how “bad” things are, I’m really full of baloney (or is it balony?)

I was intermittently cold – but I have a roof and walls to shield me. I have blankets and a sleeping bag and jackets and gloves to keep me warm. I even have those handwarmer things. I have food which is essential to keep your body as warm as it can be. The body doesn’t need to be fighting using whatever nutrients it has in spare while also trying to stay warm.

I didn’t have access to the internet and either verizon or something is really hosed up. When the blackouts occurred, it would go to LTE which i think means Less Than Ever as far as coverage and capabilities is concerned. But do I really NEED the phone other than to call in an emergency and I think that would work? I don’t because I have great neighbors to whose houses I could crawl if I needed to. I don’t really NEED anything online. Sure it’s fun but i don’t need it. Guess what, I have books to read and paper to write and draw on. If it weren’t icy I’d go for walks. I could declutter some more. There is a lot that I could do without my “smart” phone.

I didn’t have coffee/tea when the power was out. Yeah, and…… it would have been nice to have something warm but not vital.

I am healthy. I am alive. I am happy. I don’t HAVE to drive. I don’t have to go to work and risk my life in a car on icy streets. I fell but bounced and didn’t break anything. How fortunate could I possibly be! I am safe and I am a lot warmer and better off than so many millions of people out there – in Texas and all over the country – and they are going to be hit by the next round of storms too.

I have friends and people who care about me (and I about them). What more do we need. I have it all and I want to share it with those less fortunate. I have to do that in different ways than when i was younger but I still will help whomever I can.

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Lessons Learned From My Walk – Look All Around You

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As you all know if you’ve been reading this page, I walk every day but my walks are not really like others…ha ha.

I am slower than molasses and in my case that’s not just an expression. It’s true. But I also stop to look around and take pictures a great deal. This really started during my trek but has continued since I’ve been back. I love photos.

But also while walking I frequently have “epiphanies” as well. I am trying to share these as they come to me because I think they might help others make positive changes either in their lives or in their thinking.

Most of the time I walk on this same route through a park and a “greenway”(? I think that’s what it’s called). I am also very short. That is the background for this. One day I just looked up at this particular moment and saw all these mushrooms on the tree – way above my head. There were so many of them that they would have been impossible to miss.

But you have to look around you in order to see them no matter how impossible they are to miss. For some reason I never raised my head high enough to notice them. And the strange part is that I had stopped at this tree before to take a lot of other pictures (of its root etc) and had never ever looked up.

I wonder what else I am missing. I try to look up and all around me but I’m not always successful at it because there is just so much to see. This is what life is like. There’s so much around us that we have to keep looking to see everything. But it might, perhaps, become overwhelming since there is so much. You have to focus once you’ve figured out what you are looking for. If you’re just looking at life and nature, then you’ll have to look many times in order to find everything. But if you’re just looking for frogs, you research frogs and find out that you’re more likely to find them on the ground. So, to find frogs, if that is your interest, you don’t need to look up, right? But if you’re just looking at life from different perspectives, then you should look all around you.

Until you know what you want to focus on, that is the way you should go – just put your head on a rotating wheel like the exorcist and you’ll be able to see many things you wouldn’t have ever seen if you’re like me and always walk with your head down.

Enjoy life! We have learned how fragile life is this year.

Terrie