The power of one

The big idea, the one message, one thing at a time, the ONE. I've read about the power of one with respect to the impact that can be made by an individual. This is not about that. :) What I was thinking about was the power of simplicity, being narrow, and focused. I was listening to CreativeLive this morning and one point that stood out was the need to pare down offerings and focus on one "thing" whether it be one product or one overarching theme or one goal. This goes right along with my need for order. As I see it, as well as I like to think I am at multi-tasking, I do myself a disservice with that practice. I've never been good at choosing. It could be because I am an optimist at heart - I see the good in each possible selection. (Ask my bff what it was like shopping at the candy story with me. SMH) Very recently she and I did a project where we categorized are life goals. She told me in a nice way that I have too many items on my list. What did I do? Did I look at my list and knock some things off? Ha! I laugh in the face of realism! I smiled as I typed my response to her, letting her know that I would not be striking out any items, that I would instead be pursuing them. :) They can all be accomplished - maybe some in parallel, maybe not. But that's ok. Shoot for the stars and you might at least reach the moon. This doesn't read like one who believes in the power of one, does it? Well...that's ok too. Nothing is set in stone. I do realize that in order to make the most effective use of my time I will need to prioritize, to break up my goals in chunks and focus on one step at a time. That I will do and get back to you!

I can't wait until the end of the day to write. By then my brain is ready to shut down. It's amazing how tired I get just from thinking. Yet here I am. I used to be a night owl and a procrastinator. I've gotten too old for my body to allow me to be the former and I'm constantly working on the latter. :)

About a week ago... lol A constant refrain of mine these days - my life does not revolve around you.

Do 'aha' moments exist? Are they real? I didn't cleanse my mind this morning. That would be a good practice. Get the things on my brain off it so that I can think clearer throughout the day. Sort of like making sure the dishes are washed before I leave the house, or that the bed is made. I hate walking around and still having "things" churning in the back of my mind that are just tedious, mundane, busy work. The little energy I have needs to be channeled without distraction. That's just me. I need order. I need time. I need space. Maybe then those elusive 'aha' moments will come.

I don't wear my heart on my sleeve. I don't see the point. Actually I find it to be counterproductive. When you put everything out there then it not only becomes fodder for those around you. Yes, I watched Brene's video on vulnerability...watched it quite a few times. It's one of my all-time favorites. So, yes, I understand that we need to be open in order feel and connect, yes, yes. Call it a protective mechanism or maybe I'm just lazy, but I don't feel the need to be open with everyone. I have a select few who hear my moans and groans daily, but I am extremely selective about this group. I trust them completely. I do have others with whom I share snippets of my life. Sometimes, emphasis on the word 'sometimes', I feel that I need to share "more," not only for my benefit for the other person. Everyone has a story to tell, many things to teach.

This writing thing is not hard. It's just that sometimes I have so much to say that I don't know where to begin. lol I never thought of myself as opinionated but I must be. :) Today is an ok day. Lots of things on my mind. I read an awesome article last night. I was going to try to summarize it but it's better if you read the whole thing yourself. There are so many good points that stood out to me, that, again, if just go by the title and skip the article you will miss out. You can give it a read here.

"Day 3"

It's something, isn't it, when your child has a mouth and won't go to bed? lol  J/k  Well, sort of.  :D

Today was good. Had the g-son today who almost wore me out. Played outside in the heat until I started melting away. He's fast too! Had a few bouts of chasing him around the parking lot...in my heels. smh

Made my first batch of soup in my Le Creuset Dutch Pot. Tomato Bisque. Wasn't bad. A bit more tart than I expected but overall of very good first attempt. My son liked it a lot. The daughter not so much.

I have the joy of knowing my bff is shooting her butt off! She quit her job and jumped into photography full time. She does really enjoy photographing people. She has fun with them, which I think is great, and enviable. I think she had four shoot last week. Awesome! I hope she gets into her groove soon, of how to balance shoot and marketing and editing and life in general. It sucks to be overwhelmed, but to find that tight rope balance is divine.

Although my writing is indecipherable I love the physical act of writing. Sometimes I find it to be too slow but there is something cathartic for me about the movements. I wish my handwriting was beautiful but I'm ok that it's not. If i started to think of all the things I could change the list just might be unending, but the list of things I maybe would change can probably fit on one hand.  :)

Articulation brings clarification. That's true for me. As I get it out there, it forms itself, it becomes clearer to me. Not always, but most times. There are many times though that the process takes so long! lol I'll think and think and write here and there but "it" just doesn't come to me. I could think and write and write and think for MONTHS and at the end not feel any closer to understanding. Maybe it only seems that way to me. I haven't actually measured the progress. I guess I could go back to my initial expressions and compare them to the latest and look for similarities and differences. I know, I'm drifting slightly off-topic, sorry. So much for clarification! :)

Feeling ok today. A little tired. A little restless. I feel like I want to go out but then the next second I feel lazy. I know that if I got moving the movement itself would be enough to keep me going, but that first step can be oh, so, hard sometimes. Or at least confusing. I watched a very interesting video yesterday that was full of life lessons and excellent points - too many to list. It's a short video, less than 30 minutes. Disregard the title as it may or may not speak to you, but the content covered is applicable to everyone. Check it out.

So today I post. It's just another day. Nothing special. Feeling pretty good again. Actually, been feeling pretty good lately in general, meaning I'm not tired, I don't feeling overly burdened or overwhelmed. The area around the hole in my mouth is still sore from having the molar extracted, but that too shall pass. Hubby is fine. Children are awesome. I see promise for the future. I recently created a "life list" as my bff calls it. Looking at it, it's me in a nutshell. By reading it you can know almost everything about me. This "life list" is just a list of goals divided into categories such as fun/leisure, money, career, health, etc. I wonder now if I'm too simple. lol I want more goals, bigger goals, complex goals. :) But back to the list at hand, every line is telling. It feels sort of strange to realize that. That anyone could look at it and know right away who I am. There are some nuances about me that can't be deduced from the list, not even from reading between the lines, but as I add more entries as they come to mind, I will in such fashion be revealing even more about myself. Ok, yes, I don't plan to publish the list...but you never know. I don't have a plan for where this could lead. The goal was to create goals, plan for them, and take actions to make them my reality. But the "life list" itself, who knows, might be able to be used for something else.

Funny, I'm back to being in a good mood. It started last week. Had a blah day on Monday, but overall, I'm liking this feeling.