Quiet time

How does one make the time for inner reflection? Perhaps time for meditation? Simply time to reflect upon the day? Where do you even begin?

Working full time and raising a family leaves, I'm sure, all of us asking these questions.  I've been at my job a year and a half and I've yet to find a way to find the balance.  Maybe this is something we all constantly battle... finding the time for your pleasure. Going further, the deeper question that is probing at me tonight is: what happens when we become complacent? Is this how people get "stuck in a rut"? Do people slowly accept that they can never find the proper balance in life, thus leading to the complacent life?  I'm not saying complacency is a bad thing; I'm sure it is fine for some.  However, my conundrum is that I still have so much more I want to do.  My list could go on for quite a while of all the things I'm constantly trying to find the balance between.  What seems to notoriously happen is instead of achieving, or at least working towards these ambitions, I become overwhelmed by "I can't find the time" syndrome, and everything seems to slip away.

I've always hated the excuse, "I can't find the time," because deep down I know it is just that - an excuse. Instead I revamp my wording to a little more honesty - I haven't made the time, and to be a little more honest, I don't know how to make the time. Apparently time management is not my forte. Sure, when it comes to the family I am incredibly prompt and manage to get everywhere early, but when it comes to my own goals, I don't know where to start. I come home from work and of course I'm exhausted.  Where do I even begin finding the energy to do all that I'd like to do?  Worse off, if I don't make the time, am I just going to fall into that terrible place of complacency.

I don't want to look back on life and say, "Coulda shoulda woulda."  I don't want people to look at me and say, "She had so much potential." What I want is people to look at me and say, "She's going places."

Maybe the place to start is with the Law of Attraction mentality. I need to keep telling myself I will achieve my goals, and tell myself that each day I will be give myself time for inner reflection or work on my goals.  Perhaps that has been the problem all along is allowing negative thoughts to penetrate my mind when really they must be filled with good blissful thoughts to achieve the goals I'd like to achieve.

Those who are reading-- how/what/where/when do you find time to reflect on the day, to work towards your own goals?

PL365: Jan 4

Catching up on posting Project Life photos

Jan 4 PL365

Gratitude

After watching The Secret, one big message I took out of it was the importance of gratitude.  It is so easy every day to forget to be thankful and grateful for something. When attempting to think more positive thoughts, one suggestion was to think of all you are grateful for to help bring positive attractions into your life.  I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly would like to say I find ways to be grateful for something every day... but how much do those feelings really stick?  Is it just a passing thought, "I'm grateful for this," and then it quickly fades out as fast as it came in?  Those who pray or meditate, is it just a quick prayer or brief meditation, or do you really sit down and think of different things you are grateful for today?  These are things I have been questioning my own self.  Being the instinctual writer I am, I have decided to make an effort to write (and blog) things I'm grateful for. I even saw in the App Store somebody makes a "gratitude diary" --now there really is no excuse for me not to say what I'm thankful for, right?!  I also truly feel if I take the time to consider what I am grateful for, this will help me find deeper meaning to my One Little Word: Bliss.

Here are some of the thoughts of gratitude I've had thus far this week (in no particular order).
I'm grateful...

• to be around to see another new year.
• for having friends like the Boldgers to celebrate in the new year, 2013.
• for a decent job, especially during these times.
• for more friends like the Harris', and spending a great evening with our families together.
• to catch precious, playful moments with "good guys" and "bad guys" in our living room.

PL365: Jan 3

January 3


Seeing this certainly is bliss.

PL365: Jan 2

January 2

I used the CY365 prompt today. I took tons of photos (96 to be exact, LOL), and the inspired prompt from CY365 which was new. What came to my mind is my young animals, and how new they are to the world still! The puppy, Regulus - although he doesn't look like it because he is huge - is 7 months old, and the kitten Molly is 6 weeks old. I love how they are sitting together.  I even had another where Molly was actually snuggling on Regulus, but I couldn't resist the personality shining in his eyes here!

Project Life: 365 {2013}

Project Life -
Our lives are like a big show that never stops.  There is no intermission, and if you blink too long or not pay attention you could miss out on such key moments. My Project Life focus is to capture the moments and memories on our own stage, from our show called life.
Becky Higgins, Project Life

365 -
A photo for every day of the year.  Life is more than just the big holidays and birthdays.  In the blink of an eye life flashes by, and as years pass, those precious little moments quickly slip from our memory.  By taking a photo each day, 365 days, not a moment shall be missed: the big moments, the little moments, the mundane, the everyday: life.
Capture Your 365

Added focus for 2013 -
One Little Word: Bliss. To use OLW projects to assist with Project Life: 365 and finding bliss everywhere. To help me follow my bliss.

bliss (noun) \blis\
1 : complete happiness ; supreme happiness
2 : utter joy or contentment
3 : paradise; heaven

January 1

It's the first day of the NEW YEAR - I decided to try something NEW! Chocolate nacho dessert from El Pollo Loco.  I must admit, while it was good, it was also sugar overload - and this coming from a person who has a crazy sweet tooth! I took about three bites and my sweet tooth was gone. I still have nearly a full plate leftover!

One Little Word 2013: BLISS

I rarely get into the "new year" spirit. I never make resolutions. I don't set "goals" for that year. In fact, it rarely ever phases me. The last time I even got excited about a new year was in 2000 only because it was the new millennium. Even then, I didn't make a new years resolution.  They never seem to stick or mean anything.  This year though, it is different.  For the first time, ever, I am excited about a new year. I really think it is just coincidental timing - or perfectly planned timing - that all these goals, ambitions, motivations, and aspirations from different paths I've been mulling over seem to merge into one road. Suddenly, everything feels like it is overlapping in perfect ways.

While I didn't pick a word for 2012, looking back it felt like a big year of transition. It was a big change spending the whole year, start to finish, as a working mom striving to (eventually) become some career woman. Life seems all about learning how to flow with the transitions and whatever is tossed your way. 2012 was a good year; it went by incredibly fast and I learned and grew a lot in the process.  However, now that things are finally feeling a little more routine, slightly more settled, and a tad more stabilized -- that brings 2013 for the year I want to do all those things I've been saying for years, "I'd like to do that. I want to do that. Someday I'll do this."  Now is the time. Carpe diem!

I'm feeling motivated.  I'm feeling excited.  I'm feeling adventure.  I'm ready to conquer.

This being said, something I've been wanting to participate in for two years now is the "One Little Word" (OLW) year long challenge from Ali Edwards, you can read about the OLW class here. Since I am feeling oh so excited this year, I decided to jump on and go for the OLW class. Almost immediately, however, I couldn't decide on that one little word. HELLO, I have my degree in ENGLISH, my mind is filled with words! I struggled with different ones that felt like they should be that one little word for 2013. Boy they fought it out.  Those words battled, their dictionary definitions pulled out their sabers in a duel over "who is best suited for Marlana."

- Motivation - Ambition - Momentum - Aspiration - Achieve - Conquer -

None of them fit.  I loved them all.  They are words I would like to incorporate more in my life, but they didn't completely encompass what I was looking for in my word.  

Sure, I have a lot of motivation this year. I'm more determined to go further in life. I'm aspiring to write more. I'm going to take a photo every day for Project Life:365 (Project Life with help from CY365). I'm trying to achieve greatness. I'm feeling the momentum of fitness pushing me further., I'm inspired by law of attraction. I want to live in a positive mindset. I want to master The Secret. I want to remind myself daily of all the things I'm grateful for so that helps with the positive thinking.  I want to praise God who gives me these things.  I'd like to conquer things that seem impossible, I want to achieve these goals.  (Ambitious, much?)

But how on earth was I supposed to condense this all into one little word?

Then I thought about my favorite saying from Joseph Campbell: Follow your bliss. 

I realized, in the first few days while pondering on the OLW, I was forcing these words on myself, however bliss kept coming back. I really am wanting to do so much more this year. As I mentioned, it is so unusual for me because I have never been a New Years Resolution person, but this year I'm striving for so much more.  I kept thinking of words to help motivate me, to help push me, but then realized none of these words were summing up to one little word... until I started thinking of what I want the outcome of all these motivational words to be... and it is bliss. To find my bliss, grab it, hold, follow it in all aspects of my life. I want to find the ways to follow my bliss in ways I wouldn't have thought. I know Campbell meant more to bliss than just "find what you like and do it."  Campbell lived bliss.  He found ways to incorporate that feeling of bliss into his every day life -- and that is what I want to do.  So eloquently he explains, "If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living.  Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time."  Ultimately, all those ambitions, motivations, achievements are all directing me to the one big thing I want to feel in life -- BLISS! It's going to be crazy and busy but I know the end outcome will be beautiful bliss.  I want to find it and treasure bliss in my heart and every day.  Here's to BLISS.

Happy New Year!

-M

Bliss