Life Change 90 | Owls and Orchids

Posts Tagged ‘Life Change 90’

#Last Minute

Posted in Challenges, Health, Life, Motivation, Self Development, tagged #Last Minute, #Lymie, 'to do list', Chronic Illness, coping skills, Life Change 90, organise, schedule on February 17, 2014| 10 Comments »

image from http://www.josephinewallart.co.uk

“…the best possible way to prepare for tomorrow is to concentrate with all your intelligence, all your enthusiasm, on doing today’s work superbly today. That is the only possible way you can prepare for the future.”
― Dale Carnegie, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

It’s almost as though I missed out on today. I have been ‘doing’ things all day, necessary things, but at the end of the day I have this nagging feeling that the day has floated by and I haven’t done what I ‘should’ have done. It’s a feeling many of us get and in many cases, or for a lot of the time it’s also an inaccurate mental picture.

I’ve always been one of those super organised people. Lists and reminders, plans, planners and schedules have been the way I’ve managed to get so much done each and every day. Since starting my Lyme treatment many of these things have been changed. Some have been totally upended and some have been kicked to the kerb. Why, because my time has not been ‘my time’ any longer. Lyme has been a life change program in every way.

image from http://www.dirttime.org – Kill those nasty bugs!

I’m sharing my time with a wretched and unlovable bug, many of them in fact, and they love time. They devour time in huge chunks until I’m not sure where the time has gone. I began to wonder what was happening to me. Was I going insane? Was I drifting off into the land of ‘the waking nod’ and not realising it? Was I simply being lazy and allowing time to drift lazily by? It began to get under my skin so I decided to use some tried and true practices to work again. Yes, I said again.

It is impossible to be ‘super’ organised without a photographic memory or an organised method to track the time during the day. The clock is simply not good enough because all it can do is let me know that time is passing. Of course that’s wonderful when the time rolled around to go home, but in between it doesn’t help. If you are at home then even that fails. You still need something to keep you on track and somewhat motivated. That’s where a complete life change program is needed and that’s what I have – Life Change 90.

image from nesbyte.blogspot.com Tick Tock time never stops

It is depressing to find your day is scheduled around when to take your medication, drink, eat, take medication, exercise, call the doctor, dentist, candlestick maker, take pills, eat and drink. It becomes a mind numbing exploration of ‘almost futility’. It is only “almost” because it is essential but it fails to give you much purpose, particularly something which will make you look forward to it.

In order to do this you have to schedule your day, as insane as it may sound. You bring organisation out of chaos.

The early morning ritual has to be followed because it sets up the day.

image from footage.shutterstock.com – I need a life change program!

Out of bed, somehow. I say that because with chronic pain, from whatever source, it can be a mighty effort simply getting out of that bed, even if you have been miserably uncomfortable all night.
Immediately after a visit to the bathroom and before any liquid enters the mouth a 20 minute oil pulling session. Oil Pulling – a delightful tedium of swishing oil around your mouth to ‘pull’ any bacteria or bugs out of your system. Followed by a relieved brushing of the teeth to remove said oil residue.
Tablets and a cup of tea. A welcome ten minute break.
Meditate for half an hour, longer if the day is fairly light. Very important.
Breakfast and more tablets.
Fill in the daily journal and check the “to do list”. (I approximate how long each item should take so that I can ‘budget’ my time.) Each item has a scheduled break between them if they involve any exertion so that I have time to recover and not over exert myself.
Start working through the list until it’s time for the next break. I have lots of breaks so that I make sure I can get enough fluids into me. It’s not all fun, there are days I feel like an over soaked sponge. Who said a Life Change was not without effort.
Repeat for the next item and arrange lunch, medication and drinks. Check up and see how I’m going with the schedule.
Phone calls are usually done after lunch and before the droop sets in.
Time for a nap to recharge the body and mind.
image from http://www.eatpress.com Snack time
Time for another drink and snack.
Time for some fresh air. Depending on how ‘tired’ I feel it’s around the garden with the camera or down to the beach with the camera. The beach is good because I can sit down and have a fifteen minute meditation, or longer if I have the time. Even though it doesn’t seem as though I’ve done very much it’s unpleasantly true that I am starting to fade now.
Back home I re check my schedule and see how I’ve gone. If I’ve finished everything then I get my crochet out or my book and have a ‘spell’. If there’s something I missed I’ll try to do that.
My last organised effort of the day is to make out a “to do list” for tomorrow.

My journal is fairly comprehensive. It has an affirmation, short and long term goals, a review of the day and anything I may have learned from the activities of the day. I need to record what my medication protocol is and any reactions to it. It is, if I say so myself, a work of art. It really reflects how my life change helps me in every way.

Life Change 90 Journal page extract
image from www.lifechange90.com

As time passes and I get fitter, beat this bug, and blow the brain fog, I’ll add more and more to the ‘to do list’. You’ll note that there are no household chores listed as a given for the day. When I can I do them. If I can’t they wait or Ray picks up the slack. We made more jam, new recipe and I have to get the blog done for that – it’s better than the first one. Tried and tested. Yum!

So, by now you are wondering why this is called “Last Minute”? Today we had a schedule blow out. At the beach we met up with an adorable Mini Foxie pup. She came running over to us and cuddled up, wet and sandy. She was eight weeks old and I melted. Until I had to, I found it almost impossible to put her down. Fortunately her owner was there and not worried. (I did think of running away with her but wouldn’t have made more than a few steps – sigh!)

As a result, I finished off all the somewhat mundane chores but my blog, which I like to do relaxed in the evening was pushed to the almost “tomorrow” list. So, this is “Last Minute”, a description of the average day of a #Lymie, trying to exert some order to her world. I still think I did a pretty darned good job, but this explains why some days are diamonds and some, just a lump of coal.

image from lettingthewordsescape.blogspot.com Diamond or…coal?

I just know you get my drift.

image from mommyadventures.net Nap time – yawn!

Blessings, Susan x

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Creative Direction

Posted in Creativity, Health, Life, Life lessons, Motivation, Philosophy, Psychology, Self Development, Uncategorized, tagged business development, coaches and mentors, Life Change 90, Napoleon Hill, New Year's resolution, personal development, Self Development, self help, self improvement on January 2, 2014| 5 Comments »

image from http://www.onextrapixel.com

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of teachers, elders, or wise men. Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with reason, and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all. Then accept it and live up to it.” Buddha

Creative Direction: It’s a valuable insight at this time of year, it empowers people. We have just taken our first really deep breath after the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving (for those in the US), and Christmas for everyone else. Many of us managed a gulp or two as we were swept between Christmas and New Year before the celebratory madness had its final fling with us.

Now we are into our first week of January and still taking stock, looking for that Creative Direction. Many of us have returned to work or are juggling work and children. Some are fortunate to be on vacation, a wonderful chance to take stock if you are single, but those shops, bistros, clubs, all calling to have more fun whilst we can. Well, thoughts of the year ahead will fall into line when we become more organised; when that Creative Direction is called for to empower us.

image from siobhanb.blogspot.com

For some this can be barely a second thought, and if you can wing it in this way and have a successful year, then all power to you! There are others who have different methods of preparing themselves for the year ahead, meditation, asking or seeking direction from a Higher Power, or another way they have found after years of trial and error which works for them. Empowerment comes from many sources.

As with any varied group of people, you find as many opinions and ways to do things as there are differences between the people in the group. With the best will in the world many people acknowledge that without a ‘plan’ they find themselves drifting along and at the end of the year they haven’t really achieved any of their goals, hopes or dreams. They need to be empowered in order to succeed. It’s one of the reasons journals have become popular again. People realise that keeping a journal imparts a degree of accountability. It is the same encouragement which holds people to keeping to a limited period challenge, such as a Gratitude challenge, a fitness challenge, weight loss challenge and a self-development challenge or a Creative Direction.

image from http://www.elleuk.com

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs – ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Harold Thurman Whitman : Philosopher and Theologian

The thing that keeps people motivated is that they have mini goals to reach and rewards to recognise they have made an improvement in some way. The program teaches them that they need to do this, then, this followed by that, in order to end up so. By no means are they molly coddled or have their hands held, but the guarantee of a reward of some kind as they reach towards their goals is ….. empowering.

I understand that. Some people need to understand each step of the journey and a simple one line instruction or advice is insufficient to get them to stay the course. They need a structured plan, a Creative Direction, which helps them to see what they need to do and can measure the changes as they occur. It’s wonderful there are people who have been at the self-improvement ‘game’ long enough that a simple piece of encouragement is all that they need. We need these people so that there is room for those who need the extra motivation.

Anyone who embarks on a weight loss challenge knows it will not be easy. They acknowledge that they may slip up and there are little ‘tricks’ to get them through the special dinners and breakfasts they cannot avoid. Once they are learned and implemented then they can navigate through the smorgasbord of life with more finesse.

image from ffffound.com

The same thing applies with self-development, self-improvement, personal development and even business development. Sometimes coaches or plans are needed to hit the mark. I don’t need a New Year Resolution. The statistics for their success are woeful, almost as bad as a successful marriage. I don’t need those bad vibes dogging my footsteps.

So I’ll stick with a plan, or program which I can keep a record with, so that I know if I’m going astray anywhere. If I make my goal early I can add something else to my plan. Fantastic! From working in various fields I know that a plan which is professionally drawn up, proven and I pay for will keep me motivated to achieve the right ends. My ends!

It’s all too simple. I asked for some help with achieving my health goals, business, family, and so on this year. I asked my Guide and meditated on it. The answer was beautifully simple.

“Follow the plan Susan, the one you helped create; Life Change 90. You know it works.”

That’s one of the things which can happen when you try too hard to keep business and personal separate… I forgot to think. I had my Creative Direction there all along. Then again, that damned brain fog has been pretty rugged recently.

“It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.” Alan Cohen

: image from supersomebody.com – The Perfect Example

That’s it… now I’m putting it all to work.

Blessings, Susan x

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Through the Looking Glass …Part 2

Posted in Blessings, Challenges, Christmas, Coping Skills, Creativity, Gratitude, Health, Love, Moon, Motivation, Philosophy, Photography, Self Development, Uncategorized, tagged BEing present, Christmas, coping skills, Forward Planning, goal setting, Life Change 90, life lessons, Love, Lyme, Lyme disease, Motivational, New Beginnings, New Year's Eve, Relationships, Self Development on December 30, 2013| 3 Comments »

image from gamesfortrainers.blogspot.com

“Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right.” Aldous Huxley

A couple of weeks ago I told you about the planned trip to Mount Tambourine so we could have a “time out” to use as a forward planning session for next year. You can read about it here.

Initially I wasn’t a whole-hearted supporter of the planning session as I felt tired and still unwell from the Lyme medication and pressured by the proximity to Christmas. In fact, both issues were learning exercises for me. Being ill is not a natural state for anyone to be in and I’m no different to anyone else. I fight it, which is counterproductive. By this I don’t mean that if you are ill you, or I, should simply lie down and give in to it. Definitely not! But fighting an illness is not helpful. Understanding it and then making the most of your time and resources, is the better way to manage it. Fighting it just exhausts you and leaves you open to many other problems because of the exhaustion.

image from http://www.runninglovingliving.com –

Similarly, letting the fact that Christmas was so close unsettle me, to the extent that I felt overwhelmed, was a fruitless exercise. In reality, when I had time to look at what I had already done and what was remaining, it allowed me to realise that I was as ready as I needed to be before the big day. I allowed my struggle with ‘brain fog’ to start running a destructive program in my mind which could have ruined Christmas. Fortunately my “time out” sorted through these issues.

Outlook from Tambourine over the mountain

More than that, after I had my shower and dinner, settled in and allowed myself to unwind, it in itself was an enormous gift. I found I was ready and able to focus on planning for next year. Yes, next year which is now only twenty-four hours away, and as such the reason I felt I should finish “Through the Looking Glass.”

I believe it was an auspicious start to the event as it was the night of the full moon. You may have already gathered that I love the full moon and from the top of the mountain it was interesting. Even with the cloud cover the views were amazing.

Moon appearing from behind clouds

Sunset

The Full Moon

The Face of the Moon

We had a table brought up to the room so we could spread out our writing material, and set to work with the check list of questions from the Life Change 90 Program. We each had our own monthly and yearly review sheets which we filled in alone and as an exercise discussed later. It was enlightening to see where we were completely in sync with each other and the small areas where we had a slightly different viewpoint. It isn’t necessary to do this but it was a good exercise from our perspective since I’m the director of Life Change 90.

The review in Progress

It was also good to see where we were both on the same track; most of the ‘differences’ were in reality, terminology. Which brought home the importance of making sure you and your partner really listen to each other and understand what each other are really saying, not what we think they are saying. If that rings a bell, it’s because we use the same ‘formula’ with our children when we want to make sure they are really listening to us and following our requests, at least when they are small enough to pay attention!

Obviously, our reviews were slightly different as my focus was tilted towards my perceptions of how my illness affects what I do, Ray and us as a couple. Ray’s was naturally tilted towards his viewpoint as the person who carries a larger share of the daily activities since I am unwell a lot of the time and the changes that entails. He also focused on his activities and us as a couple.

image from projectavalon.net Everyone sees things from a different perspective

Our forward planning went into three stages, as individuals for next month, next year and as a couple for the same periods. Then we looked at it from a business perspective. It sounds onerous but in fact, it was relatively easy. There is a degree of overlap between each which cuts down the planning steps. Once again we worked on individual sheets to begin the process and then began to combine them.

Whilst it was important to schedule the goal setting for the business, it is something which I do at home and therefore it directly affects and impacts on what we, as individuals, are able to do. I am fortunate that Ray is the Chief Blogger at the moment for Life Change 90. (One Chief Blogger at a time is enough, don’t you think?)

image from Life Change 90

One of our major goals is to move in the first quarter of the year, onto our farm somewhere relatively close to here. By it’s very nature it is not something we can have concrete steps for, since there are many things which need to fall into place first, such as my health. I start my new regimen of Lyme medication at the weekend and my response to it will affect some of our plans.

image from properties.mitula.com.au

Another interruption (or irritant as I call it), is having to visit my Lyme doctor every six weeks. It would have been nice to be told he was changing his routine when I saw him last. Instead, we found out when the advice he inserted into a Christmas card fell into our laps as soon as we had finished our planning session. Plus my appointment had been moved to 7.30pm and when it is three and a half hours away from home, a late appointment isn’t really what I would prefer. Traveling is not my strong suit. I arrive like a bent pretzel and feel as though the least movement will snap off an offending arm or leg completely. But, this too shall pass.

image from deltasdazzlingcostumes.com.au –

There is a big family birthday coming up in February, but we need to be flexible until we see how these meds affect me, so we have a mini monthly review planned for mid-January to see how we are going.

I hope you now have an idea of how we went about our review and planning. It is, I feel, important to make the most of the time you have and this way I feel we maximise what is possible.

Make the most of your New Year celebrations; the New Year is almost upon us. Roll in 2014!