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How Has Your Life Been Enriched Today?

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To enrich means to improve or enhance the quality or value of…..

Many people conscientiously record a daily list of things they are grateful for – what I call “gratitudes”. But some people just don’t take to that and I think that happens for a variety of reasons. And that’s ok. I have personally learned that gratitude is the strongest force in the universe so it means something very special to me.

I had two experiences yesterday that made me realize there is another way to examine and reflect on your day. Why bother? Well, as you hear over and over – there is no guarantee that there will be a tomorrow so we should make the most of today and this moment.

I had three events yesterday – one was my walk; two was a class assigned group meeting with two other women; and three was my first “visit” with a friend where we could just sit and talk – not only was this a first in over a year but it was really the first time I’ve invited someone into my house (to get to the back patio where we visited) since I’ve done all the decluttering.

If I asked you which one you would think enriched my life the most, you’d probably pick the last. You’d be close but the one that enriched my life the most yesterday (because I think we are different each day) was the second. This is no reflection on the friendship i have with this woman because that is about as solid as it can be. And we talked for hours catching up. So yes, it did enrich my life and enhanced it too – interesting that enhance and enrich have almost the same definitions.

But the call with these two women I didn’t know really added something special to my life. We didn’t know each other and had just “met” in class last Thursday so there was the usual awkwardness of “getting to know you” (my age is showing when I start singing old songs like that). And I wasn’t keen on the assignment we had since it didn’t really make much sense to me. However, I allowed myself to just go with the flow and we all just seemed to open up and learned so much from each other. Then afterwards when we were emailing each other some information, we opened up more and it became an experience of connection that I have rarely experienced with people I don’t know. It helped me see somewhere else deep inside myself (which is part of the purpose of this class we’re taking). It simply felt lovely and those of you that really know me – or even those who have just followed this page – can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used that word. I am not likely to describe anything as “lovely” – ha ha..But this was.

So I have decided that I am going to incorporate a new reflection into my daily life and that is reviewing each day what has enriched (or enhanced) my life that day.

Why don’t you try it? I think the other good thing that will come from it is that we will recognize how wonderful our life is despite the intermittent crap that shows up. Remember my post a few months ago on contrast vs clarity – we need the stuff that we don’t really like or enjoy to know what it is we really want.

Today’s gratitudes:
I am so grateful for my friend’s visit and for her friendship. It means the world to me.

I am grateful I can walk the distances I do walk. I will concentrate on the joy of that rather than comparing and worrying that I’m not doing longer distances. That comparison steals the happiness from what I do and is not worth it. I am trying to concentrate on that more.

I am grateful that I still have a lot to give to people even at my age. It is a blessing and I hope to live up to the intent of this gift I’ve been given

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How Long is 90 Seconds?

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Pretty darn long when you’re in the middle of it!

Did you know that the adrenaline rush you get when you’re anxious, scared, angry or whatever hyped up emotion you’re feeling only lasts 90 seconds?

If you can keep that in mind and realize that although 90 seconds feels like an eternity it isn’t, you can make it through any angry, anxious or scary moment you encounter.

What makes it last longer is our continued reaction/response to that initial spurt of chemicals. And it helps to realize that it’s only chemicals that are making you feel this way – it is NOT the other person or the situation.

Now I’m not saying ‘don’t react’. That would be stupid and inhuman of me. But what I am saying is that if you can keep a clear part of your mind constantly repeating “it’s only 90 seconds” and focusing on that and your deep breathing, you stand a better chance of making it through the initial response without continuing to perpetuate the feelings and making it last and last and last.

While you’re in a calm mood – perhaps after reading this post – try to figure out somethng you can focus on for 90 seconds that will help you get through the chemical reaction. Create an affimation or mantra or focus on a spot or a great memory. Just find somethng that will take your attention away from the situation for those 90 seconds. Of course, if you are in real danger, this is not a method you should use., But so often our responses which are danger responses are not to real danger but to everyday events, especially with other people.

Also remember that most of the time you are responding NOT to the person in front of you but to something that happened in your past. If you can remember that, then you’re better off to start with.

Today’s gratitudes:
I am grateful I got up early so I can get started – today is a busy day

I am grateful for all the technology that makes being at home so much more enjoyable

I am grateful for kindle books

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What’s In Your Brain’s Library?

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The view from my front door

What a fitting quote from Napoleon Hill today:

“Someone once observed that the reason we often fail to recognize opportunities is because they come disguised as problems”

This applies so well to the past year with the pandemic as well as this week’s issues in Texas (and the rest of the affected areas in the country who are much better prepared than us).

Last March within a few weeks of the “use a mask” decree people started making them. Some for profit and some to give away. As the weeks passed more and more companies and people went into the mask business. Since then even more innovative ideas were created and marketed. Big companies started moving from their normal business to making emergency equipment. And of course the rapid creation of the vaccines was amazing.

Look at all that businesses and the government learned about remote working. Their “worst fears” (people being lazy; work not getting done; inability to control the employees etc) never really came true (as far as I’ve seen anyway).

So if big business and even the big government can adapt and make positive solutions (well I guess most solutions are positive lol), we, as individuals, should be able to. On a personal level I wrote about my own plan yesterday.

On Monday I really didn’t know what was up or what to do. You begin to “panic” or get anxious. Then, at least for me, I sat back and let my brain go through its library of memories and recognize similar situations. Then it “checked those memories out of the library” and allowed me to look through them.

These “memories” included growing up in New York where there were occasional hurricane warnings which of course were ‘handled’ by my parents. But I probably absorbed something. Then there were snow issues going to school in Vermont and then Iowa where ‘snow’ is NOT a 4 letter word. I’ve also lived in other hurricane prone areas. Then there was my military training and the field work I had done there. Although not as much as many it helped a lot. Maybe the best memory book I reviewed was all the races in cold weather I’ve done. Especially the fixed time ones. Most of those were cold – especially the one where I met a wonderful woman, Marie Boyd! There are composite memories from the internet and from friends with more experience.

All these memories, once filtered and retrieved by my brain, became easily accessible and useful.

You just have to work your way past the initial anxiety or uncertainty and realize that massive storage system in your brain will provide you with many answers and solutions to your problems.

It starts with how you look at it. Start by realizing you’re alive and then whatever other blessings you have. This will calm your nervous system and then you’ll be able to go to the “library” with focus and filters. You can find the solution to most of your problems from your past experiences. And even if not the entire solution, it will be a good part of it and then your calmed brain should also guide you to where you can go for the rest of it.

Gratitude will also take you out of the complaining mode which simply withdraws energy that you need to find the answers. It also accomplishes absolutely nothing. Be grateful for those helping whose families are probably also affected but they are out there risking their lives for us.

The second and third order effects of this week’s ‘adventure’ are massive and we have to have some compassion for them. I think of all the farmers who have lost their entire citrus crop this week and even the dairy folks who are having to throw away millions of gallons of milk every day because they have no way to transport it.

My comment about not complaining is not meant to absolve those responsible for this massive failure but that situation needs to be examined after all the emotions have been defused.

Use your “private” library (your brain) more than your “public” one when you first need answers.

By the way it’s snowing again in San Antonio lol. I think I’m in a time warp transported to some other place. Lol.

Terrie