A few Words with a little Wisdom.
I am in the suburbs. With family – of course – and so far away from The Farmy that I have no animals to care for. There are three children here so of course there is housework and kid stuff. And I am travelling light without my laptop to write but there is always the phone. But there is no farm work here. No old people.
Which gives me time to think.
People and places can hijack a person. I fell into survival mode these last few months. That stops now.
About three or four times a year we need to examine our lives, make adjustments and hit some kind of reset. I am a full bore kind of person. I hurl myself through life. Often laughing. Often taking on too much. You too? I talk to anyone. I don’t tire easily. I have a huge family and a vibrant group of friends. I am very, very physical. My limbs are long, lean and limber. Sometimes I deliberately refuse to think of consequences because I only get one life each day and I want to experience all the things.
But every now and then I have to consciously apply the brakes, slow down to a crawl then stop entirely. If this were a boat I would drift slowly to the pier, throw out the ropes and tether myself in a safe harbour for a minute. Just bob about in one place while I gather my thoughts.
Today, I pull my little floating palace of a brain up onto the slip, stopping life’s journey entirely to hang in a cradle and give the hull a good clean. There are barnacles from wallowing and weed stuck in the prop from lack of maintenance.
Everything needs a clean out!
Good morning.
Here is my list for the day:
Get back to Basics
Decide what my basic needs are. Food. Shelter. Love. Money. (Yup money is a basic need – sorry). When I say love I do NOT mean romance. (Though a little romance is fun every now and then though we are not all that lucky). Life is not Instagram. I love hard and I grow my own food as much as possible and take shelter wherever I land.
Step Step Peck
Once you have the basics create subheadings to achieve those objectives. Take each decision one step at a time. If it helps; VISUALIZE EACH STEP. Write it down if you like. Make lists if you are a list maker. Get your steps in.
Not my Monkey
Decide if this is indeed your problem to solve or your task to achieve. I ask myself – IS THIS MY MONKEY? If this task is not yours toss it back. That is not your monkey. It can go sit on someone’s else’s shoulder.
If it is your fault; fix it. If you screw up; own it. If you decide to make a change; do it. This IS your monkey. Do it yourself. Delegation is great unless it is laziness. Be strong.
Shower on the Inside
When you awake in the morning drink a huge amount of water all at once BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE GOES INTO YOUR MOUTH. Then give that water thirty minutes to move through.
The shower on the inside with clean water rinses through your liver and does wonders for your complexion and energy levels.
Feed the Beast
Eat Good Food. Little bits often. if you can; eat nothing out of a crinkly packet. Just good recognizable locally grown food.
Put Stuff Away
10 things in 10 seconds – this is what I tell the kids! We have competitions to see how fast we can put 10 things away. 10 things tidied up makes a big difference. Make your bed. Clear your mind and focus.
Start Today
This is my biggest failure. Saying I will start THAT just as soon as I get all THIS sorted out. This is EXACTLY why my little business is still languishing. That and needing to fix the site, fix something and having no dependable internet. Did you see what I did there? – more excuses.
And Then What
Add this question to each decision and especially each purchase. Be a chess player – think a move ahead. If I buy this; what happens to it and its packaging when I am done with it. If I say yes to this opportunity- then what.
We all have wise words we wish we could share. Tell me your words of wisdom.
And find loveliness in your day – just look for that perfect moment and breathe it in.
Celi
PS I just got back from my walk to the supermarket- they opened a Sprouts here in Visalia and so I cruised past on the way back to the house. Ought a few things for dinner then proceeded back to the route. As I walked I crossed to the center of the road then paused for traffic so I could go all the way across when a man in a big SUV stopped in his lane rolled down his window and asked me if I needed a ride.
No, thank you – I said brightly- because most of all I am always polite.
Wouldn’t you rather ride? He said.
No. I said, still scrupulously polite because that is a habit I find hard to break, I would rather walk.
And do I did. AWAY!
Weird right. He was about my age and nicely dressed – well maintained. Pleasant. But who on earth asks strange women if they need a ride! Did I just narrowly miss being kidnapped by body smugglers?
Lordy!
C
The Kitchen's Garden 
35 responses to “Flowers in Our Footsteps”
…and always try to look to the bright side! Which is something you always seem to do 😉
That ride business was quite weird indeed – it’s not like you were walking along the highway, out of town, carrying an empty gas can!
The Bright Side! You are so right!
And yes! No gas can. Just popping out to the shops! Very odd.
Looking on the bright side, some Americans don’t walk, especially in L.A.
It is so true. I can walk for miles in town here and not see a soul walking.
Atlanta was like that too!
It is interesting how I am receiving all sorts of messages (yours included) about being in the present, now, not he future, not the past but now. I am reading such a fascinating book called Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. The premise of the book is that our (humans) attention spans are diminishing at an alarming rate, hence the title Stolen Focus. There are so many distractions in our lives especially due to technology that we as a species are having attention deficiencies. I would highly recommend putting this book at the top of your lists and read this book!
Sometimes we just need to recalibrate. I love the photo of the children waiting for the icecream van. My dogs do the same thing.
Your dogs? That is so sweet!
It is cute to see them line up patiently for their tun to get some ice cream. 🐶🐶🐶
…that brings to mind a creepy incident I had happen as I waited for the bus over to UA Tucson; an older, white male, with steely, cold blue eyes drove by, stopped his car (long, {Caddie, maybe}?)and said, “Get in the car!!” I just stared at him and then turned my head. He repeated the command and I just ignored him… I never looked his way again. Knowing me, I probably never took the bus to school again!
Oo – that was going to be nasty. And you school kid. Very creepy.
No, this happened when I was attending the University of Arizona, Tucson; I was in my 30s. Awful, awful man!
I’m glad you did walk briskly away!!!
I win all my fights by 50 feet! 😂
🙂
Do not fear saying NO. Simple, quick and one of the hardest words to utter for so many I think. I suppose this applies to your encounter with the stranger as well 🙂
NO thank you – works too. I did a stint managing bouncers once. We always start out polite. Don’t want to incite aggression.
Another good post Celi. Many things to consider. One thing I learned from Chris at Bridges Burning – the 15 minute rule. 15 minutes each day spent on only one chore means the house is always clean. Of course I also have the ten minute tidy up. It also works. By the way I went over to Dazzle. Oh Celi it is very out of date. Can you spare a few minutes in your busy life when you return home to bringi it up to date?
That zazzle really needs work. I agree. I am thinking of getting someone to work on it weekly remotely and get a cut of the proceeds. Maybe I will ask in a post soon.
Good one, I like ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’ and ‘will this really matter two weeks/a month from now?’. Reminded me of one of my ‘gonna dos’ – read the book Make your Bed, by a Admiral, a navy seal. The tenet that small things can change the world.
Don’t sweat the small stuff! My MiL says that too!!
I haven’t read the book, but I recall reading an ad for it. To this day, those words “make your bed” come to mind. (It is a delight to walk back into my bedroom first thing each morning and see that my bed is freshly made.)
it’s definitely good to put on the brakes every so often, or even make a random left turn
Those random left turns!!!
The first thing I do when I get up is make my bed. Always. Everywhere. No matter how much of a rush I’m in. The sight of a straight, tidy bed seems to set the tone for the day.
I am certainly getting better at making my bed. But sometimes I forget!
It’s just symbolic, it could be anything that sets your mind on a constructive track for the day.
Plus it is really nice to climb into a well made bed in the evening!
Sprouts is my favorite market! 😍
I love it so far!
Never, never ever give up. That doesn’t mean you can’t retreat, regroup, even surrender to things that are greater than you can deal with at the time, you can d=curl up in a little ball and cry, or sleep for a day but get it out of your system and never, never ever give up. there will be painful things, losses, battles, sieges, construction, destruction and demolition but none of that means you’ve given up. Your focus can change, so can goals, needs, desires, but through everything life throws at you, never, never ever give up.
I’ve had some hard things to deal with in my life, suspect I’ll have more before I’m done. Lots have been painful in many ways and I’ve had to regroup, reevaluate, change direction, revise capabilities, find ways to use what I have after losing things I never planned on doing without. dealing with people who promised help and then didn’t or interfered and made things worse. But through it all I’ve never, never ever given up.
You are such an inspiration and I absolutely agree. As long as we keep moving forward – we are winning. Giving ourselves permission to change course is important too.
That guy was up to no good for sure! My stomach went into a little knot just reading it. It sounds like you are having a lovely recharge with your family and a change of scenery. Enjoy 😊
Making my bed is an Olympic event for me. I will make it and be completely worn out from it. If it stays unmade, I get company, which I love. If I make it, no one comes by. Some day’s it’s half made. As I am coming to the end of my journey here, I’m in dock, quietly reflecting more than revving my engines out at sea. I love this post and there is so much good in it. You could have truly been hurt by someone wanting to offer a ride but I get those offers often anymore. Dragging myself and the oxygen tank on my walk makes people want to help. It’s the walk I need and say so. Spending time with people is more important than anything these days. I see a glimmer of daylight now so I’m off to drag my buddy and myself around the building as often as I can before doing my 10 things in 10 minutes. Enjoy those grandchildren. Such a wonderful gift.
I love that you are still walking and also have friends to walk with. And writing. I will pop over to your blog again this morning! And the image of being in dock quietly reflecting – that is a lovely one.