How Full is Your Basket

Ashes Sitoula @awesome

How full is your basket? Recently I was having one of my low moments and I realized that all the things I was concerned about does not identify who I am.  Therefore, I decided to put my thoughts in a mental basket and allow myself to see that what’s in the basket does not define who I am, but it’s a part of who I am.  We need to stop making hasty decisions based on one feeling, one incident, or one wrong turn.  A lot of what we are experiencing is caused by our anxiety, our failures, our hopes and dreams, or our past mistakes.  It’s okay to allow those feelings to go through your body as long as you don’t stay in that place.

With the excitement and the pressure that the New Year brings most of us feel that this is a great time to start new projects.  But not necessarily!  Don’t get caught up in the New Year, New You phenomenon. For most people this should be a time of reflection on what worked, what did not work, and the changes we need to make moving forward.  When you look at your basket you need to be able to see it as something outside of you and not see it as you.  When I gathered my thoughts and concerns and put them in my basket, I must say that my basket was full.  However the great thing about that was, I was able to separate the basket from me.  I could look at it when I needed to or felt like looking at it.  I could also leave it sitting there altogether.  I could add items as they came to mind, and that in itself removed the thought or concern from the immediate forefront of my mind.  It’s almost like writing down what needs to get done.  Once you release it on paper you are no longer bound by your thoughts.  So, is your basket full?  If it is then that’s a good thing. It simply means that you have transferred your thoughts to a place outside yourself where you can deal with them at your leisure.

Change the Strategy Not the Goal

Phone pics 136

How many times have you set a goal and found yourself working so diligently towards it and all of a sudden BAM! You hit a roadblock and you turn the corner to find that there is yet another obstacle blocking your view.  So what do you do?  Do you turn around and go back or do you change courses?  You still want to get to your destination, however you cannot go the way that you planned.  I would suggest that you change the strategy, not the goal.

Many of us get caught up in doing things one way. I know because I was that person.  If things didn’t go the way I had it written down then it wasn’t going to happen.  Whew!  What a difference my life has become since I decided to leave room for the unexpected.  And believe it or not, I am having so much more fun with this new life.  It feels good to realize that you are not in control of everything that happens.  I still set goals.  I still plan.  I still write down my “I Will” list every night before I go to bed.  But guess what?  I am not governed by that list.  When things change I move on to something else, or I create something that is not even on the list.  I follow my spirit.  I have learned to go with the flow.  What a beautiful feeling!  Try it.