Tag: Mindfulness

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I’m blown away by the creative genius involved in marketing for the holiday season. Yet despite all the clever and cheery commercials, I know that the reality of our lives during this time of year is often quite different. We don’t spend our days singing and dancing in the aisles of stores. If anything, we may find ourselves less content and focused than usual with added pressures that tax our time, patience, emotional fortitude, and finances.

In the mist of all that the last five weeks of 2018 may bring, we each have a unique opportunity to create space for reflection and spark new ideas. This process takes time because often we don’t know what we want until we spend time reflecting on it.

It takes work to figure out what we truly want.

This week’s intention

If we aren’t careful, we can end up allocating all of our mental energy over the next five weeks toward completing holiday tasks instead of reflecting on our desire to live year-round with joy, purpose, and meaning. We can look up five weeks from now having only found great shopping deals, decorated our homes and attended social events – charging into the next year without being any closer to knowing what we want from it.

My intention is to set aside dedicated time for reflection.

Instead, I want to encourage you to be deliberate about shifting your energy toward reflection. Commit to spend the next five weeks reconnecting with the truest parts of yourself through joyful activities and cultivating inspiration for what next year could bring. This week, start with two simple questions:

What brought meaning into my life this year?

AND

What topics do I want to learn about next year?

I realize that journaling is not for everyone. I recommend writing out your thoughts if you can, but if not, simply set aside time to think on each question during your commute to work. Pray about them or ask them aloud just before starting your daily meditation. Hold each question in your spirit as you take a walk outside and see what answers come up for you.

We’ll have more questions next week. See you then!

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share.

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Windingroad

My oldest son has a plan. His plan is to design his whole life by the end of this year. Lately on our car rides alone, he resurfaces out of the electronics to share with me his latest thinking on the entirety of his career – what he will study, the opportunities that will lead to, and the things he will avoid in life. He thinks it’s important to have a detailed plan, but I already know the pitfall of plans. Experience teaches us not to rely too much on them, because we are lousy at predicting the future.

The goal of a spiritual life is to trust, surrender and live in peace.

This week’s intention

I love witnessing the power unleashed when our labor is channeled to a dream. Dreams uplift and inspire. But without surrender, dreams can lead us to planning, scheming and living in anxiety.  Against my soul’s direction, I can get caught up trying to plan out the future of my work. I know that I want to work in joy, peace and service, but I still need help to surrender my work’s outcomes. I need help to dream in the human world AND live in peace in the spiritual one.

My intention is to trust that the experiences and opportunities that are meant for me will come to me.

Even typing the intention for this week, I had to stop and read it over several times. Was simply committing to trust the truest intention? I wasn’t sure if I should add something about what not to do. I thought about adding an intention to:

  • NOT predict and plan out our work’s path
  • NOT try to maneuver to opportunities that may not be meant for us
  • NOT define success ourselves when we don’t really know what would be most fulfilling
  • NOT worry about whether we’re doing the correct things

I thought about adding each of these intentions, but I realize now that we don’t need them. If we set our intention to trust in the things we believe, the rest will take care of itself. The opportunities that are meant for us, will come to us. But more importantly, we won’t spend our precious time worrying when we could be enjoying our gorgeous, simple lives right where we are in this moment.

I hope you will continue to dream, but set your intention to trust that the opportunities meant for you will come to you. I hope you will meditate on peace and mindfulness this week especially. Look for ways to enjoy the experience of your work without being tied to the outcomes. Let’s pray for each other and our intention to surrender and live in peace.

See you next week!

Learn more about Simply Service, my work and me at Purpose and Kourtney’s story.

Meet me here to connect more often.

Know someone else that needs peace and inspiration in their work life? Please share!