Finding the time for excuses and practical tip #1784
I find myself complicating my life by the moment. More tasks, more chores, more interests, more more more. I want to learn 1000 new hobbies, i want to experience 1000 new adventures, I want to try to do 1000 new tasks , I want to eat 1000 new foods, I want to visit 1000 new places. More more more. Yet what hinders me is the creation of a 1000 mental blocks saying that I cannot do this or that because…….
Excuses are my fill in the blanks. And believe me I have 1000 excuses for everything. So do you. It is human nature. It is our nature to want to learn, experience, try new things and expand our consciousness and awareness and grow. We are not meant to shrink away and hide, but expand and grow. Yet it is also human nature to desire to hide in an effort to not shine bright due to fear of not being good enough or not worthy enough. I am keenly aware of the top things that I value most in my life and want to achieve, yet I am also keenly aware of the top daily chores that I have come to believe that must be done BEFORE I can have the satisfaction of doing and achieving my valuable goals. And so begins the moment to moment battle for time and balance.
I have discovered that I will never have enough time to do ONLY my prized goals such as meditate, travel, learn, exercise, write, etc. as there is no such thing as dedicated time to do only what I want as I do not live in a vacuum of only me. I live in a world of work, family, distractions. This is responsibility. Nor will I have ever have enough time to do the top chores and complete them such as tidying up the house, do laundry, do the bills, fix the odds and ends in the house, as I am sure you can attest to, the moment one task is done another 10 are ready to take its place. You tidy up one room, you turn around and the child or cat has knocked something down and you have to clear up the smashed glass, the clock reminds you that dinner has to be made, you barely do that then the buzzer of the loads of laundry has to be folded and the moment that is done a child pick up has to be undertaken, and before you know it you are back to square one and tidying up is back on the priority list. This is the nature of life and living.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and so your time will be filled with tasks either of your choosing or be chosen for you. This is state of nature’s consciousness.
I am certainly not advocating you dump all your chores to someone else and ignore your duties and then sit in monk fashion awaiting the state of zen to arrive. Believe me I have tried. It doesn’t end well. It leaves you with more work, angry and frustrated life co-participants and dissatisfaction of never achieving soul purposeful goals. Akin to running a karmic treadmill. You can keep running till you die, and never really get anywhere. Fulfilling your soul purpose is soul empowering, flooding your day with non soul purpose chores is soul disempowering.
Yet it is certainly possible to interlace the two. While idly waiting for a pick up I can sit and read in the car, or while folding laundry listen to the music I have been waiting to experience, or waiting for the oven to cook I can journal and write for a few minutes, sitting a the doctors office for an appointment I can meditate. If you actually sit for a few minutes and map out your day and find the time between distractions and the mundane chores of top priorities you can find the time that you will need to focus on your higher valued goals. The only thing left is to implement them. It may appear hard at first, but subsequent lifestyle changes and habit formation help to expand every minute into a longer time period to do what you desire most to better lead a happier balanced life. Your choice of what to do with the gaps in time. You can scoop them up or discard them to the wind of time. Again no one will ever hand you a chunk of time to do what you value most, as that does not happen for them either. Chores don’t go away. Your heart’s most cherished purposes don’t go away but it can be left unattended to and a life is spent unfulfilled.
Practical tip #1784
1. Write down your most highest value goals in life. Be honest and not fantasy driven. Such as to learn a new skill, to read about an interesting topic, to travel to a place you have always wanted to go to. ( these may evolve and shift as you grow)
2. Rewrite your highest goals in order of priority ( this helps weed out our fantasy from reality….. such as want to become an Olympic ballerina to i want to learn how to dance… which is more practical
3. Write down ALL the chores or distractions that keep you “busy” each day. Start from the most menial to the most time intensive ( e.g. Laundry to job)
4. Space out your distractions by time
5. See the opportunities based on time to do the things you really want to do.( even if it is for a few minutes)
6. Interlace the two.
7. Do it for a day, then a week, then a month
You will gradually see a shift from your day being full of meaningless chores sprinkled with your heart felt valuable goals that have not been given attention, to a lifetime focusing on your highest goals sprinkled with chores that are just part of life.
This is my high priority goal to accomplish this, suspect you would like to play in this experiment too.
……………
I love you
