May 2019 Steps-A-Day

[Lynx]

Hello world,

Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working ~ Picasso

And Mr. Picasso can be trusted on this—he did art everyday.

Whatever your passion, mission, goal, or duty, here is where you can rave about winning steps, rant about setbacks, wail your blues about how unnecessarily hard it feels. We're here for each other~for ourselves.

Welcome,
Lynx

[Lynx]

Hello steppers,

I got this month's thread started as I have a moment of time and wanted to comment as warmup.

There are day-planners folks who go all in: they have fancy custom printed spiral bound planners, they buy the multi-color pen sets and describe what each color means and how they use them on lengthy youtube videos.

I find it amusing. Me? I keep my schedule in gray - pencil - and have an eraser handy. Just this morning I checked my energy level (still sniffles, so not the highest) and decided to not do something tonight. Grab eraser, find calendar, rub-rub-rub, and gone! Ain't happening. Nothing doing, literally.

What a relief. I can now plan to come back from a single meeting and take a nap! More sleep!

So, when does subtraction serve us?

Lynx

[inspiresuccess]

Hi, Lynx,

Thanks for getting May started. I'm a big fan of pencils,too, and have a favorite I always buy -- PaperMate SharpWriter.

My goals this month? I still want to find out what I'm drawn to do at this point. I think I'll skim read Wishcraft to see if anything jumps out. I'm not going to do the exercises.

My self-help goal is to walk 30 minutes 2x per week. I found out I have prediabetes and I'm supposed to walk 5x a week. Starting out with 2 to go slow. Both ankles hurt. Will need to have the doctor check them out to make sure I don't have arthritis or something like that. I'm hoping it's something that will respond to some supplements.

I'm supposed to change diet also but my goal is to focus on getting the exercise in place first. One of the big things I learned from B. Sher is "baby steps". Not trying to jump in all at once and then give up quickly. Which is, of course, the theme of this thread!

[Elaine Glimme]

Hi, STeppers,

Lynx, thanks for starting the thread.

I pilled something and it hurts, so I'm not doing much of anything today. I want very badly to finish the job I started in my back yard (which is probably how I pulled whatever I pulled.) Anyway, thanks to Aleve, I'm not hurting too badly, but I think I need to be very careful about carrying, pulling, or basically doing much of anything. I'm going outside and stare at my garden and think about the things I want to do.

[Lynx]

Hi steppers,

I just checked my supply of pencils, most of which I find or they follow me home. Plenty of Bics, a Pentel, pile of wood pencils, etc.

No PM S-W. Now I'll be on the lookout for anyone using one and ask for a try.

Thanks for the idea.
L

[Elaine Glimme]

Lynx, I looked on the 100 days website. Did you post there yet?

[inspiresuccess]

I'm going outside and stare at my garden and think about the things I want to do.

Sometimes that can be fun! Creative imagination! Take good care of yourself and your pulled thing.

[Lynx]

Hi Elaine, better health through garden watching. I think gardeners talk about escaping plants. Not on your watch!

No, I'm not posting on Living Simple while we have this one running.

I post here and on psychcentral (codename Revu2). That's plenty for me. I sometimes post the same comment both places.

Lynx

[LalithaN]

Hi Lynx,
I too want to join this steps-a-day. I have a lot to do over pending projects, but I do nothing. Days come and go, I do only the barest minimum.
Thanks to InspireSuccess, I do 10 mins of exercise everyday for the past 4 days. That gives me immense satisfaction.
What is the necessary criteria for this thread? What should I post here? I think I'll do better if I have some encouragement.
Eager,
Lalitha.

[Elaine Glimme]

I had to take a backwards step because I pulled or strained something, and I was afraid it was a biggie. Well, I feel okay today, so, cautiously, I'm back in action. Good wishes to everyone posting.

[Lynx]

Hi LalithaN,

By posting you join. No turning back now.

What's going on you would welcome support for? Let us know and we will cheer you onward, outward, downward, sideward—heck, any direction you want.

L

[LalithaN]

Hi Lynx,
Thank You for your encouragement.How your life is going on?
I want to develop 3 habits by taking a step every day.

Number 1: I planned to fill my wardrobe [except inners] with my own designed clothes.
So a lot of sewing projects and I bought enough clothes for them last year. But I don't know why, I haven't done more than one or two .I cut a blouse in March and still haven't completed it. I can't find a valid reason why I'm not sewing. Because of having a sewing machine and skill to make myself clothes, I don't give my clothes to tailor shops for sewing. As a result, my wardrobe is diminishing, but I just manage with meagre resources. Unless I sew everyday, soon it is going to be a must that I should sew all of them in one day.

Number 2 : I and my family members [whenever we spend money] write down the expenses in the notebook.[I had expense manager in my phone,but this is more easier] Every night before bed, I will count the money in the house and check the bank balance in the computer and write them down both. At the end of the month, I sort the expenses and write down how much spent on each category.This way I can track the financial position and find where every rupee goes. For the past two months , I'm not doing anything. So I'm in dark about finances and I feel ashamed about it as the head of the house. So I want to be in control again.

Number 3: I am very much inclined to have my own income, so I joined a stock marketing course. Other than the 3 days workshop,it had 30 days module and another 15 days analysis. I finished 30 days module, but I didn't do the 15 days real time market analysis. I don't know why I didn't do that. In a short period, I'm planning to start trading in a small quantity, so I must have a grip on the market.

If I can post what I did that day, I think I'll make progress.

That's all. Thank You for this thread.

[Lynx]

Hi LalithaN,

You end "That's all." That's plenty. All three involve finishing. I share this trait, too. The middle is the boring section.

Are the stories you grew up with tasks left incomplete that magically finished themselves? I grew up with a nicer of the Grimm Brothers' tales about a poor cobbler who was finally down to his last leather. Very deliberately he cut out the material one night, and giving his cares to God, fell asleep.

Overnight a pair of elves came to his shop and finished the shoes for him! When he awoke and examined them, they were perfect. The first costumer who came in loved them and paid him enough that he could get three times the leather and have a little extra for food.

You can read the finish (!) here.

Site note: when adding a URL link, after you highlight the text you want linked you see [url] to the left. Insert an = sign and copy the link with no spaces, thus: [url=http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-39.html]

Lynx

[LalithaN]

Hi,
I have read that story and saw that as a cartoon too. Could we depend on some elves? Again, that cobbler wasn't lazy, he was doing a hard work. How much he would have felt to buy the last leather he could afford and cut it? The point is to the last penny, he was devoted to his work, so he was rewarded.
Here I am lazing around . My situation is thus:
Amazed by the butterfly,
on a spring afternoon happily hopping on blooms;
that sway to the wish of the gentle breeze,
on its wings,all the hues of the sky.
The worker child wonders could she catch
those mysterious colours in a batch,
Chasing the fly all along the sylvan maze.
There patiently lie the pile of woods to be carried home.

[Lynx]

Hi L,

I think Carl Jung used this story to point out it's our intuition and unconscious (unc.) skills which completes the work. The cobbler hadn't depended on the elves, as we can't depend on our unc.—they came when they wanted to on their own and left when their work was celebrated. And at the end of the story he competently carries on without them.

I love your poem about dashing after butterflies. That's the other call of ourselves—away from what we promised ourselves just yesterday.

I'm now very busy with paid work. Not the case 3 years ago. So when I reflect on the unc. parts to this current period I'm grateful for these "elves" being of help: keeping me in friendship/touch with someone who now refers and invites me into exciting opportunities; saying 'yes' when my finances were rock bottom to a trip to co-work with this friend in California. What was interesting is that he gifted me the airfare because he strongly felt I should be there as a support for him! A few months later my finances improves and I repaid the airfare over lunch which I also paid for, as the cobbler made clothes for the generous elves.

Another interesting elf side of myself plays bridge. While playing just two times at a senior center, I got in touch with an old colleague who needed my help. Have been consulting steady since, and am now invited to write myself into her next grant proposal. This elf is vacationing while I get work done.

I also find that many nights I don't have an idea how I'll manage all this new, and hard, work coming at the same time. But, like the cobbler, when I've felt I've done all I can for the day, I set matters aside and get my rest. I awaken and the 'elves' have been busy; one morning it's advising me to hire an assistant (I did) another I woke up with a trick to transcribe an audio file (didn't quite work). But they're active.

Bounding after butterflies (or should it be flutterbies can be a fun break. Then I turn to Mr. Robert Frost:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

And now I'm finding every day a back & forth between sticking to the work or fleeing into fun! Not easy, this stuff.

Lynx