Well Planned Life

This is part 2 of my version of Josh’s Accountability Project wherein I discuss what I have deemed my Life Books. Basically, my Life Books are the 5 books that I cannot do without.   They help me with my day-to-day activities, surely; but they also help me emotionally and mentally.   They cover each aspect of my life needs: mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and organizational (okay, that’s my life need and doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone). You may have seen others discuss similar ideas on this topic of various notebooks for different needs.   Specifically, Organized Like Jen recently posted something along the same lines.   By the time I saw this video, I already had my thoughts in mind and was nodding in agreement at what she was saying because of it.   I guess it’s just that time of year when people reassess their yearly goals and resolutions.   Anyway, this is my take on my Life Books and how I’m using them both individually ...

Happy Easter!   The sun is shining here in New York and it’s supposed to be a lovely day (I’ll ignore the reports for showers later on today).   It seems that the weather has finally turned (minus a cold hiccup for mid-week) and I am hopeful that all sinus issues will be resolved soon (though I’ll be heading back to the doctor this week to make sure nothing else is going on).   In any event, I thought the perfect post for today would be to discuss the update to my Happiness Binder , never mind the fact that I’ve had this topic on my list for months .   You can read all about the previous set up in the link above. So, how has it changed?  Let’s recap the original set up. First, I previously had two sets of tabs for everything I wanted to include. The tabs included: Health Running Resistance Yoga Calm Gratitude Happiness Music Books Quotes Notes Articles (You can read the full post above for an explanation of each section.) Se...

We are in our last week of March and the first full week of spring.   Around this time, you might come across some New Year’s resolutions update posts.   As you may recall, I didn’t make any official resolutions this year.   Mainly, I just wanted to focus on the good things in life.   A new year and a new start are always exciting—there are so many possibilities out there for us.   However, the first three months of 2012 were not the start I was hoping for. First, let me go back to the start of 2011 for a minute.  Last winter, I had a lot to deal with.  Because of fall allergies, getting infection after infection before even knowing I had developed fall allergies, I was diagnosed with Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (ETD) and retracted eardrums (a condition in which one’s eardrums are pulled in towards the middle ear).  Because of these conditions, I developed a constant white noise in my left ear—nothing that I haven’t gotten used to, nothing...

...to stop and smell the roses. I skipped my Monday night yoga class and headed to the beach.  It's been too long since I enjoyed the smell of the salt air.  I thought I'd share my afternoon with you. Deer The great Atlantic Ocean Daffodils! Pavilion The addiction Sand Ahhh...

There have been a couple of posts on meditation lately, and I am thankful for that.   In its most basic form, meditation is the practice of sitting quietly.   The point is to clear your mind of all thoughts.   If you’ve ever tried to do this, you know how extremely difficult it is, especially in the beginning.   Many yoga instructors include some form of meditation into the practice.  My yoga instructor tells us to sit quietly and just notice—without judgment—the thoughts that come into our minds.  I think this is a great way to introduce meditation.  One can sit quietly, but to clear one’s mind is so difficult.  I often find myself letting go of my mind, allowing it to move from one thought to another.  My thoughts are so controlled throughout the day, focusing on this or that task, that just letting it go where it will is meditation enough.  But just observing those thoughts without really attaching yourself to them takes the m...

…The last year, because what a difference one year can make. I feel like I have beaten this topic to death, and I hope to let it go completely after this (at least as far as blogging is concerned).  It has been a few months since experiencing any kind of anxiety and/or panic , and even the perfectionism is waning.  I am not “cured”—as with many conditions such as these, it’s a day-to-day battle; one thing—most likely something you don’t see coming—can set it off quite suddenly.  But I have been using everything in my bag of tricks to help me deal with it.  It has been a rough year, with many internal struggles.  But I have learned a lot because of these struggles, a lot about myself and a lot about how to deal with my feelings and thoughts.  And I have to say that I’m a better person because of it, despite the turmoil I went through. On this eve of Thanksgiving , I would like to thank you, my readers, for sticking with me and my blog even thoug...

We all like for things to run status quo.  Life is much easier when we don’t have anything to worry about.  But what if your desire for the status quo gets out of hand?  What if you constantly strive for things to be a certain way to the point where it debilitates a few areas of your life? Lately, I have been working on my issues with perfectionism.  To clarify, it’s not that I think I’m perfect (far from it!); rather I’m constantly striving for certain areas of my life to be a certain way.  I mostly do this in regards to myself and not where other people are concerned.  I don’t expect others to be perfect or to say or do the “right” things, but I expect my outcomes to be a perfect as they can be by following ridiculous rules that I create for myself.  Just exactly who do I think this will help?  The answer of course is nobody.  I may feel I’ve achieved something by doing things a certain way, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’...