Making a Not-to-do List

Change begins with making a place for the new. It's not about putting the new on the already existing to-do list. That's a recipe for misery! Looking at the to-do list with determination to remove the unnecessary is the first step to change. However, it's also not about removing something we love just because it seems "unnecessary." Although it's hard to get past the voice in our heads that says what we "should" do, remember that the point is to build the life of our dreams. Removing what we love from our lives is NOT the first step. Instead, look for stuff we don't love and find ways to remove that!

Your power depends on your perspective. And your perspective is yours to choose. If you convince yourself that you're having a bad day, you will indeed experience a frustrating and unproductive day. If you assume that circumstances are allied against you, then you'll encounter great trouble in getting anything done.There is a much more powerful alternative. You can choose to adopt and embrace a perspective that will work for you rather than against you.Think of how you would feel if conditions were perfect, if your actions were highly effective and if everything was going exactly your way. Then, once you imagine how it would feel, go ahead and allow yourself to actually feel that way.How would you act today if you knew you were going to be completely successful? Go ahead and act that way, and the success will come.Put yourself in a position of power by choosing to feel the positive influence and effectiveness that you know is yours. Adopt the thoughts, feelings and actions of success, and you will indeed bring success to life.~Ralph Marston

Wow! I really love this one. What freedom. What fun. Acting like everything is going well when it's not is something I've tried and found to be incredibly powerful, not to mention the fact that conditions usually change along with my attitude.

Imagine

What can you imagine? What would you most like to imagine?
Your life flows out from your imagination. Whatever you choose to become, you have first chosen to imagine.
No, life does not come to pass exactly as you have imagined it. There are many surprises and distractions along the way.
And yet, your most persistent and consistent imaginings do indeed set the direction for your life. Though it is impossible to foresee every pebble in every road, you can certainly choose which roads to travel based on where you know they lead.
Let your imagination be the pioneer that explores exciting and fulfilling new worlds. From the best of those worlds, find the one for you.
Imagine a great and wonderful life for yourself, with passion and loving detail. As soon as you imagine it, you begin the process of truly living it.
-- Ralph Marston

We know when we've imagined the life of our dreams - of our true selves. We can feel it. It makes us smile.

Happiness

Here are some gems from recent research on happiness: $50,000 a year income is enough for happiness. People are happier at that amount than any amount more. Under that amount and there's not quite enough for happiness. People are absolutely terrible at figuring out what will make us happy. We imagine that the right relationship will make us happy or the right amount of money, or the right house, or children, or children that behave the way we want them to, or...........and if we do get those things we're no happier than before as soon as the excitement wears off. So what does this mean to those of us who are imagining the life of our dreams that we are committed to creating? Probably it means that we're going to have to consult our hearts and our true selves for the answer to what would be the life of our dreams instead of what our culture has hoodwinked us into believing will make us happy.

Time

It seems that time is the thing that most often gets in the way of the life of our dreams. There is so much to do and life is so complicated and urgent. A few hundred years ago people got up when the sun came up and went to bed when the sun went down. If the sun is the light you see by, this schedule is what works. In addition, people were pretty focused on getting food and shelter and someone to mate with. Their life span was short and uncomplicated. Now getting food and shelter is pretty well taken care of for most people and we have more time to fill with the endless array of alternatives available. This leads to believing that the solution is to learn how to do everything very quickly and efficiently as well as multi-tasking. This doesn't work and leads to exhaustion, wrecks and misery. Instead our strategy needs to be discovering what really brings us joy and delight and doing that right after the absolute necesssities. (Absolute necessities are those activities that contribute to our survival!)

Healing

Sometimes the path with a heart to the life of our dreams leads to some serious work in the area of healing. As is always true in every life, we get hurt, we have losses and disappointments, we are sometimes ill. Learning to heal with the help of our creator and the people who love us is the most important work we can do. Doing this work gives us the ability to make a plan for our lives and carry it out. Without some healing, we will not have enough energy and clarity to focus. For most of us that will involve the help of a really good professional plus some reading so that we can understand what's going on.

Every delay is a wasted opportunity. For time is a most precious and irreplaceable resource.
Each time you think of an excuse for not taking action, overpower it. For each single excuse, quickly come up with two good, solid believable reasons for moving forward.
Yes, if you choose you can talk yourself out of doing what must be done. Fortunately, you are just as empowered to talk yourself into taking any necessary action.
Decide to blast away every excuse with two good reasons for going ahead and moving forward. And the odds are two to one that you will indeed reach whatever goal you choose.
-- Ralph Marston

So, let's try this and see what happens. The procrastination list (the stuff on the "to-do" list that stays there from day to day, month to month, year to year) that stays in our heads, draining our energy, making us feel less than and fearful - two good reasons might banish it forever. Another step into the life of our dreams!

Finding the path with a heart

If in real life we know at all times that the present is all we have, love is all that matters, and we are all going to die at some unknown time, we might want to find the path to the life of our dreams as soon as we can. So....how do we find the path we will need to travel to find the life of our dreams? There's a mystery! If you are past middle age, it might be wise to look for a short cut.

Maybe we should start with what's is really important to us. What would we regret if we died tomorrow? Maybe we would want to tell those we love that we love them. Maybe we would want to find even more people to love. Maybe we would want to make a difference in the world. Maybe we would want to learn how to enjoy each moment of the precious life we've been given. Maybe....

The only way to get to this new place is to endure a time of difficulty, which is a challenge we can confidently handle, if we remember that it will lead to the change we seek in our lives. Our bodies, hearts, and minds always need time to adjust to a new way of doing things, but they will adapt, and even become our allies, if we remain true to our vision of a new way. Daily Om

Making changes is extremely tough. So being compassionate with ourselves comes first. Then we will need the support of others. Our old habits are deeply ingrained in our bodies and minds and emotions so the change to habits that support the lovely life we were created for (in spite of problems and difficulties) will seem strange, scary and painful. But we will adjust and eventually love our new habits.