Midlife Summer Camp!

 

Do you remember when you were little and every summer you went to camp?  Do you remember the first time you went to camp? It was a rite of passage and it signaled that you were “old enough” and it “was time”. You likely had never been away from your mother and home and even as you were excited about going, there was a big part of you that was afraid.  You didn’t know exactly what it was that you were afraid of but it was something, and it was big.

I remember the excitement of what became the ritual drive up to the camp with the entire family. The settling in with my parents at my side, the meet and greet, the tour, the preview of the planned activities, lunch, and then the goodbye. That’s when the realization sunk in that although all this was supposed to be, going to be and probably might be fun…I was being LEFT.  There were a few tears and a fair amount of drama at the parting and somewhere in the week of nights there was always someone in need of the counselor for what was termed “a case of homesick”. I also remember after that first camp looking forward to the next year.

It has been quite some time since I have had any first hand or current experience with the camp thing but as I talk to mothers who have they tell me it’s all specialized now. There’s space camp, science camp, gym camp, volley ball camp, you name it camp. It seems that when kids go to camp these days it is to further explore an interest. But in my day you were treated to a variety of projects and activities that you likely had never been exposed to before; canoeing, bird watching, leaf collection, the art project and the end of camp talent show you prepared for with your new friend.  It was a variety of novel, stimulating and interesting activities. Do you remember?

When it was over, although you were glad to see your family, there was a part of you that hated it to end. But when it did you were surer of yourself for having survived and you felt as if you had discovered a new curiosity for the world and what it had to offer. After that first camp you somehow sensed, in a big girl way, that you would be forever different.

I think the two biggest things that can make a woman old, uninteresting and out of touch with her inner self is the lack of a sense of adventure and curiosity. I’m not saying you don’t have things in your life you enjoy. Maybe you play golf, which you love, every weekend, jog or prepare for the annual walkathon or marathon. You eat at the same places and see your same friends. You love them but somewhere along the line you notice there is nothing new in your life and it feels routine.   

When did you quit trying new things to see if there is more and if it might interest you? When did you stop growing and stretching and start to simply grow old?

 

There are wonderful camps, or I guess I should say adventures, excursions or trips for grownups such as the outward bound experiences where you push your limits and overcome fears with the support of fellow females, ( on my bucket list) and of course the spa and relaxation thing. There are also a number of camps that specialize in the interest of your choice, i.e. rock climbing, biking, etc.  You may or may not have the funds and time for a week or so off to take advantage of these but why not indulge in something even better and far more lasting.

 

 

CREATE YOUR PERSONAL SUMMER CAMP ADVENTURE

The weather is beautiful and it’s the perfect time for exploring, stretching and growing.  This camp isn’t structured and you grow it at your own pace. There is no pressure involved and once you begin it takes on a life of its own.  When you go to this camp you will discover that you can tweak your curiosity, creativity and sense of adventure muscles without the need to leave town. The results of your efforts will leave you feeling inspired, younger, alive and hopeful; imaginative, vibrant, interested and interesting.

It’s very simple to do and here’s how it goes:

1.      Pick up your city parks and recreation brochure. They usually offer a good variety of adult activities and they are generally pretty affordable. If you have an idea of what you’re interested in trying, of course the internet is priceless!

2.      Start by taking ONE activity or class that genuinely intrigues you and hopefully something you can pay for by the class. (no commitment) If you like it you can continue but it still leaves the opportunity to explore other avenues.

3.      From there broaden your horizons and experiment to your heart’s content. It is important to go into the “Personal Summer Camp Adventure” with your mind and attitude in the spirit of trying as many new things as possible and hanging on to the new things you discover you love.

  

Think of it as the perpetual life camp adventure whose purpose is to remind you to stay in touch with your inner child and curiosity in your everyday life. Hopefully you will look up one day and find that you are not just living on the surface of things; that somewhere in your adventures you have found the knack for living in the moment, simply for the moment. Maybe you will learn not to take yourself and life’s traumas so seriously. Maybe you will manage to recapture some of the pure joy and authenticity of the child you once knew who danced in the woods pretending to be a butterfly or a fairy without the fear of anyone’s judgment.

 

Try this, not because it is good for your business, resume, children, mate or anyone but because it is good for you. Maybe, while finding the treasure that is the zest for life and living, you will find you have become the treasure!

 

I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

Diane Ackerman (1948-present) quoted in Newsweek, September 22, 1986

 

 

 

v  Sound like fun? Share your thoughts and what you are exploring for your midlife summer camp.

  

Procrastination, a Disease or a Habit?

Procrastination, A Disease or a Habit?

Whichever it is, it can have very negative effects on the quality of our lives. It is responsible for:

·         Deterring our progress for any goal we are trying to achieve

·         Creating stress in our lives

·          Making you feel  incompetent and guilty which are big red flags for self esteem

·         Producing negative self talk, (which can cause some pretty nasty welts on your wrist if you’re using a rubber band to help retrain negative self talk, or wear out your pretty stretch bracelet prematurely. Yikes!)

 

Isn’t it curious how closely related low self esteem, negative self talk, and procrastination are?

 

 

 

This procrastination thing has a tendency to feed on itself and grow into quite a large monster if you’re not careful.  When you avoid doing one task, there are usually a couple more related items you also put on the back burner because you need to complete task one first.

 

                               

 

Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back.  ~Charles Kingsley

 

Now you’re feeling overwhelmed, and it’s likely that you are, as you realize there isn’t enough time in each day to accomplish all that’s on your plate because you avoided that task you hate.  No problem, I’ll just put in extra hours until it’s done and promise myself I won’t let this happen again. We won’t talk about the regular mundane tasks your letting go while you slay the monsters.

 

                               

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.  ~William James

 

 

Now you’re mentally and physically exhausted which leads you to feel stressed, like a failure and you begin to question your decisions and ability. Instead of feeling better when the original task is completed you find you’re staring at three or four more monsters that have grown to adulthood and are on the attack.   

 

 

There are a number of excellent resources full of strategies for getting through the process and getting things done and most work pretty well. Here are a few I have tried and found to be very helpful:

 

·         Prioritize your goals.

·         Set realistic goals.

·         Break overwhelming tasks into a series of small steps.

·         Make sure to do something on your big goals everyday. (even if it is small)

·         Go ahead and start a task even though you don’t have time to finish it that day.

·         Plan and write everything you want to accomplish each day and cross off items as you complete them.(Builds confidence)

·         If there are items you don’t get to, place on the next day’s agenda.

·         Have an idea, in writing, of what you would like to accomplish for the week.

·         Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t complete everything you planned.

·         Reward yourself in some way for your accomplishments.

·         Don’t over commit yourself. (This will set you up for failure!)

·         Get the clutter out of your space!

 

 

 These are but a few of the multitude of options available on how to cope with procrastination. All of them are good and like child rearing, dog training, diet and exercise, whatever you decide to do, if you are tenacious and consistent, it works. But for me, this seems to have the effect of treating the symptom while not knowing what the disease is.

 

The best success I have had is trying to understand where my fear and reluctance for a task or goal comes from. Most of the things I procrastinate about are things I fear or believe I am not good at. Of course we can’t be good at everything and we don’t love everything we do.  But if we are willing to undergo high levels of stress and the consequent difficulties of avoiding something we need or want to do, there has to be a reason or a belief that is at the root of this avoidance.

 

Here is a good personal example. When I was VERY young, like most of us, I held a number of positions while trying to find my wings. My father was an incredibly gifted salesperson and could, as they say, sell ice to Eskimos. My brother was also gifted in the field so it was only natural, especially since I was fired from my first secretarial position in a matter of two months that I would gravitate to the field as well. Long story short, I was hired to sell specialty advertising, taken to a specialty advertising convention and show, given a huge number of lines to sell, told I was a natural, gifted and sure to be their best salesperson. I was pumped. On the very first day I walked into a clothing store that my mother and I had often shopped in thinking it would be a safe first attempt. I didn’t get two steps into the front door with my catalogue when the sales person saw me and said in a loud voice for the whole store to hear, “Oh no, no. Get out, out, out.” She literally chased me out of the store. I cannot begin to tell you how devastated, embarrassed and humiliated I was. I ran to my father’s office in tears to tell him my story. He assured me that it was not the end of my career, I shouldn’t and couldn’t wear my feelings on my sleeve and that I would be fine. Although I found success in the field of sales, I made sure whatever I sold did not require cold calling!

 

The example above is obvious but sometimes there are more subtle things in our past that are at the root of our reluctance to tackle a goal or task.  Perhaps it was a remark a boyfriend, relative, boss, teacher or family member once said.  Maybe it was something you read or heard and it stuck with you. You repeated it to yourself over and over and created a pathway in your brain as we discussed in the article on self talk. If you find yourself repeatedly and consistently procrastinating on a goal or task it is very useful to spend some time and ask yourself:

 

1.       Is there something about this task that I think I can’t do or might fail at?

2.       Where is this thought, belief or feeling coming from?

3.       What proof do I have that this is true?

4.       Have I made a sincere effort to accomplish or improve my skills for the task?

5.       Is this something I really need or want to do?

6.       Is this something I simply don’t like, need or want to do and I can delegate to someone else?

 

Spending some time to discover what the disease really is can make the cure far more efficient and effective. Procrastination is a drain on our self esteem and the quality of our life. The next time you find yourself unable to promptly begin a project try asking yourself these questions and see if you discover a long excepted myth in your life that is holding you back!

 

v  What do you do to avoid procrastination? Share your thoughts and comments and if you enjoyed this article don’t forget to book mark it on del.icio.us. Your support is appreciated!

 

v  By the way, to receive your free Life Journey Tools, simply click the “register for a site account” button on the right, enter your name and email and you will have access to all downloads! (I value your privacy as I do my own, your information will never be shared.)

 

Outside resource:

·         Book: Feel The Fear and Do It Anyway

·         Book: Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can Positive Self Talk Make A Difference?

 

 

 

I know, I know, it’s been talked about to death. It is a part every book on self esteem, motivation or happiness and we all know what it is. It’s about paying attention to what we say to ourselves and what we think. Whenever we are awake we are thinking. This thinking plays out as private subliminal messages and conversations that only we hear. Since we have been thinking since birth, it becomes automatic, like breathing, swallowing or moving about. It is something we do and no longer recognize how or when we do it. We talk to ourselves every waking moment and we no longer consciously hear what we are saying. It’s like living near a freeway. After a period of time you don’t hear the traffic unless you consciously listen for it.

When a subject is talked, written and spoken about so much it becomes something we skim. When we see something more on the subject we think we know what it is and if we read about it at all we think, oh yeah, that’s the self talk thing. Good idea and I’ll have to do that sometime but right now I have to conquer the world, plan the party or family gathering, get through this meeting or figure out how I’m going to replace what I lost out of my 401k for Pete’s sake and off we go.

There is a reason this subject is brought up every time self esteem is talked or written about.

 If you are attempting to improve your self esteem and life it is imperative that you actively take notice of what you are saying to yourself and why.

 Once you do, it is an excellent indicator of what you think about yourself and what you are attracting into your life. If you’re not in the habit of monitoring what you regularly say to yourself here are some examples that might be easy to recall.

What did you say to yourself the last time you were;

·         Preparing your resume.

·         On your way to an interview.

·         Driving home from the interview.

·         About to give a presentation at a meeting.

·         Preparing for a blind date.

·         Opening an invitation to a pool party.

·         Attending a party where you only know the hosts.

 

It seems it is easiest to hear and recall our self talk when we are doing something we are uncomfortable with.

 

I think we all agree that in order to change anything you must first acknowledge that it exists. I also think that in order to create the enthusiasm needed to make a sincere effort to change we need to believe that it is possible.  While I was exploring “self talk” I was surprised to learn the depth of scientific research on this subject and the impressive findings on the potential of the brain to literally change. (Even old brains!) I read and listened to a large amount of information on habits, self talk, the brain, and here is a synopsis of what I discovered that reinforced my belief in the power of self talk.

 

·         The brain is like a computer.

·         From the moment you take your first breath it absorbs all the information you get from your five senses and stores it.

·         Like a computer, it doesn’t question or evaluate the information you put into your computer.

·         Repeated messages create pathways in the brain; the more you repeat the message the bigger the pathway becomes.

·         The largest pathways become the programs you use.

 

When you Think- it triggers a Thought - which triggers a Mood - which triggers an Action

 

·         Those programs you have created through repeated messages are the instructions your brain sends you on how to respond.

·         The best information I discovered is that new pathways and programs can be created at anytime through repetition.

   

Positive self talk is not just a trend, it is very powerful. What you say to yourself over and over becomes what your brain believes you to be. What you believe yourself to be is who you are.

 

Still not convinced?  Whether you believe it or not, let’s say you have been ordered to spend 30 days locked up in a house and you can bring one of two friends with you.  One of your friends is sarcastic, always points out the negative side of any situation you bring up and is quick to point out ways you can improve. (For your own good, of course.) Your other friend consistently sees the positive side of your situation, expresses confidence in your decisions, abilities and always comments on how good you are. Which friend would you choose to spend your days of confinement with?

 

 

 

 

 

Now isn’t it exciting to know you have the ability to make dramatic changes in your life? It costs you nothing, you don’t need anyone’s help and you can start immediately! Commit right now to actively listen for those negative thoughts or statements about yourself. The moment you hear them stop and replace them with positive statements. You can use the tried and true method of popping a rubber band on your wrist when you make a negative statement about yourself but, I am a woman, I prefer a stretch bead bracelet, special necklace or anything pretty to touch for reinforcing the habit change in my mind.

 

While you’re at it reinforce your positive self talk each morning before you start off for your day. Stand in front of a mirror and find as many nice things to say about yourself as you can. Say them out loud.  Set a number you are comfortable with and don’t leave the mirror until you have accomplished it. Start with 5 and work your way up to 10.

 

Make a tape of your positive statements and play them in the car or whenever you catch yourself thinking negatively about yourself.

 

Write your positive statements on sticky notes and stick them in places where you will find them throughout the day. Put one on the visor of your car, in your makeup bag, on the inside of a kitchen cabinet or any place that you frequent.  

 

Get creative and come up with as many ways as you can to reinforce your positive self talk. Before you know it you won’t need the rubber band or bracelet, you will believe what you say and you will become what you believe.

 

v  Do you believe that positive self talk can make a difference in your life? Please feel free to share your suggestions and ideas in the comments or email me at deborah@womenintransitiononline.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

v  By the way, to receive your free Life Journey Tools, simply click the “register for a site account” button on the right, enter your name and email and you will have access to all downloads! (I value your privacy as I do my own, your information will never be shared.)

 

 

 

 

Outside resources:

§  Book: Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain

§  Book: Mind-Power, The Secret Of Mental Magic

§  Book: A New Beginning II

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Digging for Personal Treasures

When was the last time you took great pains to plan and do something by yourself? I am not talking about getting your nails done or a massage. Good things for sure, but do you, on a regular basis plan something special to do with yourself; as if you were you were going out with your girlfriend or your mate but you are the girlfriend or the mate? When was the last time you stopped to really remember parts of you from long ago? Sound strange? In order to know and love yourself you need to nurture this relationship and I hope by now you are beginning to realize that your relationship with yourself should be above all others.  Without you, there are no other relationships.

In the beginning I can tell you this was really hard for me to wrap my brain around. It was hard enough for me to make and keep a date out with the girls. I considered that “self time”.  After all, as a single person, I was alone all the time unless I was out with friends, family or at work. And yes, I follow the “don’t turn on the TV” rule unless there is something specific I want to watch or hear. Yes, that allows me to be more present and hear myself think. So what was this take time out to do something special with me thing I kept reading about? I can tell you that once I forced myself to do it I began to understand and really enjoy it. The result; I began to acknowledge  that I was important, special, worth knowing and understanding and it made a big difference in how I felt about myself. In fact I found that I am more interesting than I thought or remembered! I began to feel more creative, self confident, relaxed and comfortable with myself. Eventually I noticed I was nicer and more considerate to myself when I wasn’t on my date! I also found myself enthusiastic about discovering and trying new things.   Knowing that this might be a new concept the following are some ideas to get your mind going. We are all different, so find things you enjoy. It will grow and I think you will find yourself looking forward to your outings!

Ground Rules:

·          Turn off all distractions, phones, TV, computers. I promise you the world will not come to an end if you are MIA for a few hours. The purpose is to be alone with yourself, to remember, experience and get to know you.

·         Don’t do something that is a “kill two birds with one stone” thing. Make sure it is either something you really enjoy or something or someplace that is new to you and you really want to try.

Ideas:

·         Pack some fruit and bottled water and go to a pretty park and read a book.

·         Go to the mall and purchase a book.  Then get coffee and pretend to read but people watch instead!

·         Go to a Jazz bar and drink a glass of wine and listen to some music.  

·         Rediscover the Zoo or botanical garden in your area. Take your camera and make a photo journal of the day! The dollar stores have wonderful inexpensive little albums that are great for this.

·         Take a day to wander around a flea market or the farmers market.

·         Take a class about something new you’ve never done before and want to try. (My most recent was an African drum class. Loved it, and plan to continue)

·         If you like to cook buy a new cook book or find a recipe in a magazine that looks interesting and plan a night to cook a nice dinner for yourself  with candles and wine and then curl up with a good book or watch your favorite feel good movie.

·         Buy a hammock on a frame and put it on your patio with a pretty throw and pillow. Spend some special time alone in it to read, daydream or write in your journal while sipping herbal water or tea.

·          Whenever you are out on your adventures purchase little nonsense things you know you love and put them in a special drawer or box. Spray your favorite fragrance inside it or add some scented candles. Collect special soap, your favorite chocolate, a new book, music, perhaps some profoundly frivolous slippers, ( think fluffy feathers), a pretty new nightgown, scented eye mask, a special tea cup or wine glass you that doesn’t match anything you have and tea or a special bottle of wine to go with! Then on your special day, when the time is just right dig in your drawer or box and craft a perfect day or evening. Mmmmmm.

·         Buy a special frame and place a photo from one of your outings that made you happy or inspired on your desk. Change the photo weekly. A perfect way to remind yourself of how special you are.

·         Take a day or evening to dig out those boxes of photos that are stashed away in the closet or garage and go through them. Pick several pictures of you that bring back memories of a time when you felt really good about yourself or what you accomplished. Make a photo journal and write about what and how you felt at that time in your life.  Frame a few and put them where you can see them for inspiration to recapture those feelings and characteristics you want with you today. When I did this I suddenly realized that I had photos of family and friends scattered about my house but not a single picture of only me doing anything. This one was fun, here’s how mine turned out:

·         Here is another treat. I don’t know if any of you have saved mementos but I discovered a whole box of memories while scavenging for photos. There were cards, letters and poems written to me from long ago relationships, and occasions. Wow.  I discovered very interesting buried treasures here.  Some made me remember parts of me I want to magnify again and some made me proud that I am no longer that person. Powerful stuff! Dig around; go find them, this is really worth the effort.

 

 There is opportunity for real growth as you spend time with yourself and recapture your most important relationship, YOU. It is so easy to become numb and regimented about our lives as the years tick by. There are forgotten treasures within you to be remembered and explored. Find them and discover how unique and special you are.

§  Happy hunting! Feel free to share your comments or suggestions below or email me at deborah@womenintransitiononline.com.

Enjoy yourself, you deserve it.

v  By the way, to receive your free Life Journey Tools, simply click the “register for a site account” button on the right, enter your name and email and you will have access to all downloads! (I value your privacy as I do my own, your information will never be shared.)

Outside resource:

§  Book: Simple Abundance

 

 

 

 

If I knew then what I know now…

We have all heard this line a thousand times. My mother meted out this wisdom on any occasion when wise counsel or gentle consoling was needed. It was dispensed with love and affection and was the moral of the story she told of a similar survived event in her life. It was intended to assure me that whatever perceived devastating event I was experiencing I would certainly recover, hopefully learn from and move on to a brighter day. She was right. Yes, of course she was right. Does any of this sound familiar? Can you feel yourself sobbing, sitting on your mom’s lap pouring out your tale of woe and feeling safe while wrapped in her arms with your head on her strong wise shoulder.

Fast forward. Now I am 57. Like a lot of us from this generation, when the glass ceiling was decidedly lower than today and more akin to a brick wall, the bulk of our education came from living and doing. Sometimes doing because we wanted to, (lessons) and sometimes because we had to, (more lessons). For us this education came from the things they do not and cannot teach you in school, whether you attended or not. This is knowledge gained from being adventurous, foolish, sensible; getting married, divorced, perhaps married again; raising beautiful children to adulthood through good times and bad times, sometimes alone, sometimes not alone; experiencing joy, love, hate, despair, rejection, acceptance; sometimes feeling important and sometimes feeling foolish and often times feeling overwhelmed. Working for need, want and sometimes for passion; succeeding, failing, succeeding again, maneuvering through hardship, heartbreak and untold number of circumstances, overcoming, sometimes just surviving and many times, in fact most times thriving. Now this is Wisdom.

And now we are here. Women of “a certain age” armed with a collection of more or less half a lifetime of experiences, failures, successes, wisdom and the knowledge that this is it. We have earned the right to say the line and know exactly what it means. IF I KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW… We know what we didn’t know THEN and the time is NOW. Exciting, exhilarating and a little frightening to be blessed at this time of unparalleled opportunity for women to craft a life we love. Now we are empowered with our wisdom and ready to discover and grasp exactly what we want for the second half of the rest of our lives.

We know what we do not want, right? We certainly have learned that. With so much time spent sacrificing, nurturing and caring for the needs and wants of everyone else the question is;

WHAT DO WE WANT?

How do we go about getting it? What do we take with us on this journey? What do we leave behind? Are there pieces of ourselves back there that we put away for “later” that we want back with us? Are there things that we put away so long ago that we don’t remember and we need them?

For me the journey began by taking time to seriously reflect on who I really was. Armed with an impressive library of inspirational and educational books inherited and collected over the years I at last started with a theme that was central to all of them. I turned off the noise and cast away the many roles I had played and began the process of answering my first question:

DO I LOVE MYSELF?

I remember feeling a little uncomfortable even asking the question and unsure how to begin to answer. I took a number of self esteem assessments from a number of sources which helped me to begin to focus. The following is a sampling of some questions that will help to shed light on the subject:

How many of these can you identify with? 

•  A friend at a party only briefly chats with me and appears to be in a bad mood. Did I do something to offend her? Is she upset with me?
•  I obsess and worry about attending an upcoming party because I know a certain person who is younger, always looks fabulous and is the bell of the ball will be there.
•  My co-worker receives high verbal praise in our weekly meeting and it makes me feel incompetent and that it must mean I haven’t been doing a good job.
• Something that I don’t understand is brought up in a class I am taking and I don’t ask for clarification for fear of looking stupid.
•  I’m afraid to ask for a raise even though I feel I deserve one.
• I don’t apply for a job I am interested in because I assume they will think I’m not qualified.
•  When I walk into a gathering and people look at me I feel there is something wrong and it makes me uncomfortable.
•  My food is not prepared properly at a restaurant but I don’t mention it so as not to be a bother.
•  Someone compliments me and I feel the need to counter it with a self depreciating comment about myself.

If you identify with some of these statements you might be feeling you are not good enough. As surprising at you might believe, some of the people you view as the most self assured are the ones who might relate more than you think to these questions. We are all very good at wearing masks to get us through what we need. What would our lives be like if we could find our true selves and never feel the need to be anything or anyone other than who we really are; if we knew we were more than enough?

Here are 5 steps to help you discover who you are and what you want:

Commit. Remember you have spent many years changing and adapting your personality to accommodate the circumstances you encountered. Most of the roles you played were based on the expectations of others; families, companies and bosses. You need to be prepared to slow down and spend some quality time with yourself. Start by writing down how you feel about your life right now and how you would like to change it and why.
 

Be Quiet. There is so much noise in our lives! The drone of the TV, constant background music at home, in the car, malls, grocery stores and even in our places of work. Set aside as much time as possible during each day when nothing is on. You will be pleasantly surprised at the the sound of silence; birds at a distance, the sound of a breeze through an open window, the unique rhythmic sounds your house makes and most importantly your own thoughts. This simple act can take you off auto pilot and help you to be more aware of what you think and feel.

Take time for reflection or meditation. Set aside 10-15 minutes every day to stop all thought and meditate. Periods of shutting off the constant flow of thoughts running through our minds every moment we are awake can reduce stress and is a powerful tool for self knowledge. It takes a bit of practice but it is well worth the effort.

 

Alter your daily patterns. Ever notice how you arrive at work or a daily destination and you don’t remember the drive? Start varying your driving route and alter some of your daily routines at home as well. This step helps to take you off auto pilot and begins to prepare your mind for new ways of thinking and doing and starts the habit of being more alert and present in the moment.
 

Journal.I wish I could tell you that I journal every day. I don’t. But I am working on it! I can tell you I have always written down my thoughts during difficult times or when I was confused about an important decision. When I go back and read these writings I am always shocked at the revelations I find about myself. Whether you do it daily or weekly journaling will dramatically accelerate your self discovery process.

Your five simple steps: be committed, be quiet, be still, be alert and be aware. Try integrating these steps into your life to help you slow down and make your self discovery process easier.

Outside resources

•  Book : The Tao of Inner Peace
•  Book: Awakening at Midlife

 

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Deborah Hayes, CTA Life Coach

Empowering women to live a life of consequence, a life without regrets that is your own unique version of the life you love. About Deborah

deborah@womenintransitiononline.com

 

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