elainegrey

Take the list or similar, and quickly dash off three small things in each area that can be done to improve your quality of being. Then set aside. Repeat the process some time later (a quarter? "ten week" period?) and then review the previous one. Tag taw@w & ftf

1. health and appearance (eg: wardrobe)

• apply steroids for rashes with more regularity.
• ankle & plantar stretches as discussed with health coach
• stop getting older, i think, as i look at the skin on the back of my hand. Although, never mind, i prefer getting older to the alternative....

2. creativity, reading, entertainments

• music listening more at work
• get out some crochet for TV evenings? 
• practice a bit more with photography management from the laptop

3. spiritual growth

• more intentionality about time early morning/late night outside listening in order to ground and center while experiencing the awe/delight of the night sky and sounds
• more queries?
• i find myself thinking more about mental health than spiritual growth, although i believe i have a more rich meditation life when not taking antidepressants. Maybe working on being less distracted during my centering.

4. relationships with friends & family

• reach out to sibs
• there is a huge pile of "oughts' viz being in contact with folks here

5. working environment, growth (front room & office)

• i have creative plans for decor in the front room - spoonflower wall paper to cover up the kiddie border and replace with something that coordinates with the comforter set. And i bought a decent lampshade at the thrift store yesterday. 
• more intentionality about training and learning
• goals are due at work tomorrow anyhow....

6. the solution

• go through the year's worth of plant photos (and critters) & id
• then post to iNat
• then get website going

7. cooking & eating

• perhaps more dinner prep during lunch, when there are spoons available?
• sprout seeds have been ordered!
• dehydrate some of the bounty of grape tomatoes (and make sure to save seed!)

8. living spaces (inc vehicles)

• spoonflower for some livingroom decor
• fix garage
• fix crack in front landing

9. errands, paperwork, chores

• get back into the orgfile, to do list rhythm
• use D&D/pomodoro to take small bites out of the todo lists

This is the periodic practice of thinking about easy improvements to aspects of my work and living spaces.
( Read more... )

See http://elainegrey.dreamwidth.org/544467.html
Take the list or similar, and quickly dash off three small things in each area that can be done to improve your quality of being. Then set aside. Repeat the process some time later (a quarter? "ten week" period?) and then review the previous one.

1. Work space
Had an unexpected clean-out of files -- probably ought to create a tickler to move receipts from active into archive and to retire archive once a year in May (after taxes) DONE.
How can i become unhaunted by unfinished projects? Christine may have books everywhere, but i have unfinished projects.
New white board plastic would be nice.

2. Car/transportation
I've been keeping even tidier (paying attention to the grocery bags). This is fine.

3. Kitchen
Need to ensure we do a purge for Harvest Festival.
Silverware drawer has been better organized, unexpected pantry purge happened on Friday to good effect.
Use up gluten free flours, seeds, etc, and see how much really needs to be on hand as staple.

4. Living room
Intentionally left blank.

5. Bedroom
Continue purging clothes.
A tidy through of the misc books would be nice but isn't really critical yet.
Shoe box management is probably top issue.

6. Wardrobe
Oh, look above.
I think i may want something for the party -- but actually, it will probably be a well air conditioned venue. I won't need to be prepared for humidity from ... North Carolina.
Maybe set of six matching rings for lacing up the mohops.

7. Reading list or entertainment plans
plenty plenty plenty

8. Exercise habits
NEED TO WORK HERE. Evening motivation - maybe i need more decadent audiobooks. Everything now is "good for me."

9. Eating habits
Evening sweet splurge needs to be drawn in.

10. Spiritual/intellectual maintenance
Not sure i feel any spiritual maintenance is needed beyond .... Well, maybe i could be more intentional about Meeting for Worship. I'm so caught up in the Meeting community, my solitary practices aren't attended to with as much regularity. On the other hand, i'm not in a time of discernment. I'm much more in a time of finding discipline, refining.... perhaps more gratitude and celebration?

Cryptography class, usecases for the working group....
Evening energy for genealogy and botany....

This was another morning waking in the wee hours. It's definitely worry, but i wonder if not walking in the evening is contributing as well. I can't but imagine i was just as worried about the Wednesday meetings as i am about todays meetings, but Tuesday night we did get in a half hour walk in the dark. Last night i felt quite dispirited, and sat around all evening.

It's a slightly frustrating connection to make, but it's something i'm likely to use to motivate myself to walk (or ride the now stationary bike) more.

It's only been this summer that i've had any significant pattern of interrupted sleep. I'm not enjoying it.

--==∞==--

So, i've spent an good while looking at the tests my doctor has ordered, and i don't think any are fasting tests. I think between the appointment for the mammogram on Friday and the flu clinic on Saturday morning, is should also be able to pick up the sample containers for the samples i'll be taking at home, return the sample, and also be seen to have all the other samples taken.

So i'm requesting the follow up appointment for late next week. Whee. Then to see if we can discuss an endocrinologist.

--==∞==--

Since i felt so dispirited yesterday evening about work, i'm hesitant to look at goals around it this morning. I suppose the right thing to do though is write an email to initiate a discussion with another person at Meeting.

( the email, which summarizes health, stress, and career issues, and is probably redundant )

So there: even though i feel the familiar sense of "It's not possible to find another job that offers similar compensation that would be more emotionally rewarding. I will only be able to find jobs that use project management skills; no one would hire me for my creativity or my design aspirations," i'm going to open myself to possibility and talk to R. And then i'll talk to B. And then i'll talk to G. And by the time i've talked to them, i may have other plans. I may do the Artist's Way at Work to help me dream.

This is the same as the lesson of depression. I don't see anything but dark plodding ahead (here as a corporate middle management drone). But i'm going to keep plodding and keep my eyes open. I may discover that if i simply pay attention to something different, the job becomes vibrant. I may discover there's a different path. I will not trust my current judgement, but i will continue to be open to the possibility of change.

Unlike depression, though, i don't have the experiential evidence that things WILL change. Unless, of course, this experience is some narrow work-centered depression.

Yesterday i charged through the day, expending everything too early. The late afternoon and evenings were spend distracting myself wih random surfing (hence the random book reviews) and then some random watching of videos. (I wrapped up the Doctor Who episodes of The Talons of Weng-Chiang.) I need to be more disciplined about the early morning calls and my energy for the day, albeit i need more discipline with energy across my whole life.

I can't believe May is about here, too. I have again not followed through on efforts around cycling. The infection a few weeks ago really did knock my energy away.

As far as Writer's Way type writing, i hardly type out three pages worth, no matter how you define that. On the other hand, i'm no so tied to the instructions that TAW provides regarding the writing as the writing i do, when i do it without letting myself be distracted by email and such, really does provide me with the conduit to find out what's bugging me and what inner wisdom i have. There's something else that happens as i spend my early morning at the keyboard, though, and i wish i knew what it was because it seems to be absent when i turn on work brain for 6 am phone calls.

A current challenge remains around correspondence and journaling. Not sure how to meet it, because i'm not sure how much journaling is therapeutic and how much is vain navel gazing and how much is communication to this community.

Off to wrap up lingering email from yesterday.