What Pleases Me? April 3, 2012

A couple of weeks ago when I decided to focus on just a few things for a week in order to restore some sanity, pleasure was on the list. There is no shortage of pleasing things in my daily life, but I do not necessarily take pleasure in them. I am blessed with a job I truly love. I am a preschool teacher. I get to read stories, play with toys, do art projects, hear children laugh, play outside, enjoy 2 plus hours of nap time each afternoon  etc. but I was still getting caught up in the small hassles that come with any job. I have a beautiful apartment but I feel this overwhelming need to change it lately. I have a loving and supportive partner that I enjoy my time with, but I still wonder…. is this for real? I have great friends but I rarely go to anything I am invited to spur of the moment. I have awesome nieces and nephews but I don’t always want them to stay the night on the weekends after working with children all week…. I am blessed with many other truly wonderful things but I think you get the picture.  I had been realizing this for a while but wasn’t sure how to really go about changing it so I decided spending a week on things that truly pleased me would help shift my focus back to where it needed to be. So what pleased me? I went out for ice cream twice, I got sprinkles, I ate bruschetta, just bruschetta, for dinner 3 nights in a row, I let the housework slide a bit, I wore sundresses and flip flops almost everyday (with a cardigan for most of them), I took walks for pleasure, not exercise.  I chopped a lot of vegetables, I laid in bed and read much past my bedtime, I saw two of my friends, I saw my sister, I played, really played with my nieces and nephews. I sat on the floor with the kids at work and talked and laughed despite there being paint brushes in the sink and sand all over the floor. I cuddled with my dogs in my clean sheets. I watched Sex and the City and drank wine. I took a lot of pictures. I spent a lot of time on pinterest ~ and even finally did a couple of projects that I had pinned. I wrapped up in a blanket and took a mug of peppermint tea outside to look at the stars. I made lists. I organized a bit. I had lunch with my grandma, I ate a lot of bacon, I rewatched my favorite movies. I laughed a lot. I did yoga.

Did spending just one week help me shift my focus back to the beauty of life? Fuck yeah. I feel centered and “light” in a way I have not in quite some time. I learned pretty early that you are not guaranteed anything in this life, most of all time and it should not be taken for granted, I just got a little off track for a while. Happy to say the road looks pretty clear ahead

Namaste

 

 

Let’s see if this works…. March 29, 2012

So, I have actually been trying to post but this WordPress app or maybe it’s just WordPress, wouldn’t cooperate. I did pretty good on my goals last week and felt much better about life in general because of it.
I made it to the city council meeting, I reduced the amount of garbage I produced and started composting again, I walked the dogs more. My greatest focus of the week was on pleasure and enjoyment and I totally rocked that one! Details to come if this will post….

A pinterest inspired project- finally! March 19, 2012

As is most everyone else, I am completely enamored with pinterest. There are just so many great ideas! I have been pinning and pinning and pinning for months without much action, but I finally did a project. The thing I saw on pinterest used bigger letters and just said “EAT” but I liked this idea better. I debated and asked for some opinions on whether it was too cheesy at this point, but the general opinion was that it was too lovely to be cheesy I envisioned all the words in a line on the top shelf of my baker’s rack but they didn’t fit, so I now need to find a new home for them. So, without further ado…..

My goals for the week. March 18, 2012

1. Delight myself and remember to take pleasure in all the little things.

2.Walk the pups every night it is not raining.

3.Eat whole, real foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday! (This also means I will be cooking)

4.Produce less garbage-1 Bag or less this week.

5. Read daily

6. See a friend

7. Go to the city council meeting about the library.

These are all small things but they are essentials on my “what makes a good life” list. They are all manageable and almost every single one adds more pleasure to my life instead of more stress. I will check back in and let you know how it’s going. <3

One week. March 18, 2012

So I am having a really hard time with focus and commitment these days or maybe I am just overwhelmed by the big picture…. Either way, I need to find a way to make it work, make myself work, in spite of it. I don’t really feel I am doing much right now to build the future I want and I am also not really enjoying the present as much as I should because I am too worried about the future. It just needs to stop. I am committing to one week of living the life I want without excuses. I can do one week. I can commit to another week when it’s over. One week is manageable. I am not even sure why it is difficult since the life I want to be living is pretty fucking great. I just get caught up in habits, routines and just plain laziness. I am going to spend some time today setting some goals and planning the things I love or need into my week. I’ll be back to share.

Time to make coffee.

Let’s try this again…. March 6, 2012

It seems that the WordPress app on my phone may finally be working properly so I am going to give regular blogging another try. Instead of trying to have such a narrow focus of food and my attempts at living a healthy lifestyle, I am just going to write about life and all of it’s delicious bits <3