The Etchings

Ever wonder how you got here? I don't  mean the big bang theory or the creation. I mean how you got here, right now.There you are, right now, reading this post. Your____old. You are full of ________. Looking forward to ___________. How did you get to this place in your life? Did you design your entire life?
Did someone tell you what you should do along the way? Did you always listen to your heart? Are you doing what you always dreamed you would? Are you living the life you always pictured with the person by your side that you always thought you would be with?

It's a bit of a mystery that needs solving at times. We start out as a child and that blank slate in our head just gets engraved with things our parents or those in charge of raising us wanted us to learn. Did they know what they were doing? Did they put things on that slate that you have had difficulty with? Have you had to overcome some things to get here today. Do you think you still have work to do on that?

Well, I will share my story with you and you see if it might get you thinking about yourself. When I was a child, I was quite sensitive. I picked up everything that was said. I listened at doors, I peaked through things around the house. I was a regular detective...I may have missed my calling. I was great at trying to piece things together so I could understand them. Children are so impressionable. So many things I saw didn't set well with me. I didn't know quite how to deal with them. Some of the lessons I learned were because I didn't agree with those etchings on the slate. Somehow I knew, that something was rotten in Denmark (just a saying) But as a child, it isn't anything you can do something about.

I can remember being so angry at times, I wanted to run away. I can remember deciding if I would be punished more by staying or going. Fear in a child can be a good way to keep them in line, but it can be too deep of a fear. It can feel like a prison. Home can feel like a bad dream. It can be a place you hate to go. When i raised my kids, I would keep that in mind. NOT. Because that slate was etched. Not just written on softly with chalk, etched in my mind were the stupid things you say and the over the top things you do in anger or frustration.

It's the shame, the blame the mistakes and the success that we have despite our etchings that have brought us here today. Just as we are. We are perfectly and wonderfully made to do what we do right now. There is time as long as we still breath, to make amends, to say what we need to, to do what we feel is necessary to make the next ___________years, exactly the way we want. Throw out the old slate. Get a new one and fill it with all the things that have served you well over these years. Be thankful for the lessons, the etchings and the work that you have had to do. I have too.

Today is a new day. That is the key to your success. You can design your life. You are able. Are you willing?

"Cancel My Taxi"

In this hectic, faster than a speeding bullet lifestyle many of us are caught up in, it's easy to get distracted. There are days I have my thoughts interrupted every 10 minutes. When I was in my office job, I used to say to myself, what is wrong that you don't get more accomplished in a day. I have read books on organization, books on time management and then took a trip of self discovery. Now that is what gave me the real picture.

Picture if you will, sitting at the desk, engrossed in an important task and the phone rings, of course you answer it right?

You are typing a report while working home and have left your facebook page open. You hear a "ding" and you know someone is asking to "chat", you immediately see who it is right?

It's that rumble in your tummy, you look at the clock and it's about 9:30am, something is calling you to munch. So you become a hunter/gatherer and start checking your desk drawer for something close and handy, nothing...fumble for change for the machine, just some coffee, wish I packed a healthy snack. You have to get to the cafeteria and eat breakfast or you can't think right?

It's tax time and you feel the pressures of what that will do to your schedule. Several days focused on nothing but the annoying reminder that you didn't scan in those receipts again this year and where is that file in the computer that I put my details in? I hate taking so many days in a row off because one of my customers might want something. I could send them a letter to text me right?

The day is breezing by, the mood is actually high and things are falling into place today. I have time for a little exercise, I choose a walk. Get on the sneakers, 1/2 hour later, starving for a snack, find something and back to work. Oh no, I should be in a meeting right now, I'm late, rush rush rush...slide in late and unprepared. No water, no bathroom (10 minutes in feeling like your kidneys are floating) don't dare leave now right?

If any of these scenarios are something you can relate to, raise your hand:)

Making the best choices for our success in any given situation is something we need to learn to do. The only way to learn that is to look at what we do. Look at what you did yesterday. Did it go smoothly? Was there something that you wish would have been different? Did you get the most out of your 24 hours? Emotionally what were you like at the end of that day? Was that the way you wanted to feel?

Here is a fact. You can be in the drivers seat of your life. If you don't like to drive, then you may be in the passenger seat and whatever happens, happens. You can't steer from there. You feel powerless to control where you are going. Well, you have given the power to someone else. They are driving your life around. I took control of my own life the day I was willing to get behind the wheel and you can too. You can control more than you think you can. In each of the scenarios above someone else was driving. Read each one again but this time, with an outcome that would allow you to stay in the drivers seat!! Get set...GO!

I believe in you!
Sandra Bullard

P.S. If you liked this, share it with someone today. I would love to hear your comments too!!

Go Micro Mini

I remember when I used to prepare for a trip. Pack this, pack that, what you can't live without...take it along. What can you do to make the trip pleasurable? It was the little things that I was used to, that made is seem like home away from home.

Getting ready for a family party was always such fun. The preparation in my head, then on paper, then the day before, getting things out and bought and ready. Standing in the dining room admiring the table all shiny and fun with special little touches that everyone always looked forward to. 

When you look back at times in your life can you see it was the little things that made it great?

Well, even watching children learn to walk, one baby step at a time...it's a little step but has such a big effect.

How many things in your life could be better if you just look a little "mini" step in the right direction? Even a "Micro-mini" over time adds up. So don't say it's that far off. It's within your reach. No matter what you would like to be or have or do...is only a micro mini away day after day.

"Your Master Key to Success": Not Jonah's Tale

"Your Master Key to Success": Not Jonah's Tale: Just sitting here today thinking, I haven't had this much fun working in ...well...ever! I sure couldn't...

Not Jonah's Tale

Just sitting here today thinking, I haven't had this much fun working in ...well...ever! I sure couldn't get paid at any of my old jobs for having fun. Truth be told, it was tough to smile some days. Think about it, we work more hours a day than we are home. We spend how much time getting to and from work and then we are still not making enough money to do what we want. (Scratch head here). 

So what have we got here? I think it's a RUT. It's easy enough to get into. But tough enough that a majority of people never even try to get out of it. Then if they do try, "It's too hard" '"It's too much work". Really?? Too hard? Too Much? What have you been doing??? I would say that was the life sucker. 

Now if you are one in a million that absolutely love their job or love money more than life itself, I totally apologize. This is not for you. It's for the rest of us. 

Picture this...sitting on the back porch, legs outstretched in the warm sunshine,propped on the rail, a gentle breeze smelling like sweet spices drifting past your nose. The temperature is absolutely perfect. No one around, you can only hear the katydids in the trees and an occasional bird call out for its mate. The dog lays contented in the sun beside you and you are sipping a refreshing drink. What could be a more perfect day? I ask myself...how lucky is this? A majority of people are working right now. But I have the good fortune of being a dreamer. And this is how it all started. Dreaming of days like this one, one right after the other. I could taste it, I could occasionally enjoy just one. Then my dreams became reality. 

What do you dream about? What would you do if you could work from home? How would your life improve? Your stress level? Your attitude? Your families attitudes? How much better could you feel each day? So don't sit there like a beached whale...call me...let's get you home too!!

 It's not how long we live...it's how well we live, for as long as we live.

To More Happy Days!!

~Sandra

585-545-4036

Go Play in the Sandbox

Why is life so full of opportunity for change? Here we are just minding our business, moving along through life and all of a sudden  a new idea comes along. We ponder it, question it, decide where it fits into our life (or not) and file it away in our brain. Some things are in such contrast to what we believe or picture for ourselves that we toss it aside rather quickly. I was thinking about that sifting and sorting process that we do.

What about this...In order to do more in our lives, should we let new ideas sit with us awhile? Don't be so quick to sift it out. Do some research, ponder it a little longer. In order to have more in our lives, maybe we must try to picture what it would be like or how we would like it to be. Sort out those details in our mind. In order to be the person that we were intended to be (we don't know who or what that is) but we certainly can allow ourselves to ponder and question the possibility.

It's no real secret is it? That what we want more of or what we want to be is right here where we stand. It's just like playing in the sandbox. If I told you that what you wanted to have or be or do was in that sandbox hidden just out of site somewhere, wouldn't you put in the extra effort to find it? So maybe it's today or maybe it's next week, but when a new idea pops in. Look it over, think it through. Who knows what kind of  treasure you may uncover. It could be what you have been waiting to uncover.

Think and Stay Healthy!!
Sandra Bullard

Aesop...how'd you get so smart?

Stories and fables are told throughout cultures all over the world. I love the ones that have a morale to the story. You know the ones I mean. They seem to stay with you long after they are told. It's the hook that the story has that keeps you remembering it for years to come.

Did you hear the one about the ant and the grasshopper? Here is a refresher if you did. 

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants
distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew:Moral of Aesops Fable: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity

Always be open to ways you can prepare for your future necessity. See what's going on at my house...The Ant Farm

Happy Farming!!
Sandra