Living for the Week

I've spoken with a number of coworkers and clients this week where the intent of  "I'm living for the weekend" is very real.

For some, we're in a rut of work work work, that making time for anything except work is really tough to wrap our minds around. But what would your week feel like if you sprinkled it with weekend-like moments to enjoy?

At the start of 2017, I found myself in living-for-the-weekend mode. So I made it one of my goals to live more. To help keep me looking forward to the week, I:

• attend two interactive evening classes
• eat lunch one day during the week with someone other than my laptop
• plan an exercise routine in the middle of one weekday
• plan one open weeknight for myself

On this evening, I may cook a lavish meal, meditate, journal, have an extra long workout, take a bath, or call a relative or friend I haven't spoken with in a while. The options on this night are fairly endless.

By incorporating the above into my schedule, I have found my weeks pass by rather quickly and I enjoy the weekends that much more, even when the house chores are involved.

I'd love to hear what do you do to keep your weeks interspersed with weekend-like occurrences - so we can all integrate living during the week just as much as we do during the weekend. 

Love Focus

February’s love is mighty and grand 

A love day celebrated throughout the land.

 

Reminding ones to accurately hear

All of which the heart holds dear.

 

Encouraged to express love true

Toward all sweet souls surrounding you. 

 

Forget not those you may not love

Wish them peace from up above. 

 

Tailor what your heart doth send

So it may nurture, heal, and mend. 

 

Only greatness can we bring

When sailing on love’s bright wings. 

 

When in doubt and when sure too

Ask thyself:

     ”What would Love do?”

 

 

Chef Encounter

On Friday I ordered a vegetable omelet
the chef behind the counter
despite the early hour
changed the tone that had been set.

Sir Chef presented his gracious wit
initially caught me off guard
yet was a tad hard
to not quip back and banter a bit.

To the chef who went the extra mile
now I'm here to say
for shining your light that day
thanks for bringing the good-hearted smile.

Connection

My work takes me on the road sometimes and as time passes, I find that I appreciate the comfort of home and most importantly the family (pets included) who resides there. I so enjoy their company, love, and support - at home and away. 

There are also wonderful people I meet on my journeys - candid meetings with a fellow traveler, or a heartful exchange with someone doing their job. I love when interactions cause the other person smile. It's sweet to see their guard fall a bit when they or their work are complimented.

Whether at home with family or when travelling with strangers, the ability to connect is always there. In connecting with others, we connect more fully with ourselves. We are all worthy of connection, heart warming smiles, and appreciation. And that connection helps us maintain the humanity of our interactions, being the best person we can be in each moment. 

How can you connect with someone today?

Perfect Imperfections

As I work with clients, family, and friends, many of us are looking to improve our life situations. While there is honor in working to make our lives or aspects of our lives better, I see a pattern of us missing the great things we have ongoing. And it's when we focus on the stuff we love or enjoy that we then bring in the energy to extend the already existing greatness or goodness to the areas in our lives where it is needed.

Sometimes, though, we resist where we are because we think whatever needs to be improved upon shouldn't be there or we don't want to deal with it. We may have a preconceived notion of what we "should" be dealing with as opposed to dealing with what life has dealt us. I'll let you in on a little secret - those imperfections are what make us perfectly us!

 

What's cool is that all these things we see as negatives in our lives - addictions, difficult jobs, unreliable car, inattentive spouses, being overweight, not having enough money, etc - they are all perfectly placed so we can reflect upon them, learn from them, and change them if change is in our power.

Earlier this week, I made a personal statement to focus on the good things in my life this year. And I challenge you to do the same. As a society we are trained to see what's wrong and fix it and in doing so, sometimes we miss all the wonderful things we have going on too.

If you initially find it tough to think of good things, start by focusing on some of the assumed good - food in your pantry, roof over your head, running water, clothes in your closet, etc.) It's about retraining our brain to see the good, and wow, is there a lot of good to be acknowledged. As we continue to practice this focus on good and great, we start to see problems as opportunities to grow or to be creative rather than allowing them to bring our spirits down.

We have so much good to be grateful for - including our perceived imperfections. We can support each other in seeing them as such and become accepting of perfect imperfect beings we are.

Purpose of Intention

We hear a lot about resolutions this time of year, however, intention is different from resolutions. I have seen people make and I myself have made resolutions periodically throughout the year, in many cases, as goals to be achieved over the course of time. For me, the practice and purpose of intention goes further than that and occurs on a minute-by-minute, day-by-day basis. For example, what is my intention for the day, my next meeting, the next meal, or next workout, etc? We are building or have the opportunity to build intentions in every part of our lives given our mindset and time to do so.

What intention or intentions do you bring to the table? How can your intention alter an otherwise assumed outcome of an event or interaction with someone?

Intention work is powerful because it brings us into the moment and into the driver's seat. What we do with the experience is obviously up to us.

For more on my perspective of intention, check out my Purpose of Intention Workshop by visiting http://www.solangel.com/classes.html.  

Dreams

 

Believe in yourself

Believe that with a steady heart

And an open mind, your dreams will come true.

Have faith in the plan that God has for you.

Even if you stray from His path

You can always find your way back.

Your dreams are never lost when you

trust in God. 

I saw this saying on a Gloria Duchin angel ornament and wanted to share. Especially with the New Year around the corner, where we reflect and plan our goals and dreams, I feel these words to be quite appropriate. So now and always - Dare to dream, make sure to dream big, and then expand on the dream even more. Our dreams make our hearts sing and the world responds in kind.