For love or money

Have you ever found that sometimes the busyness of life gets in the way of living your dreams?

I have recently had the wonderful opportunity to reassess my life and purpose. I had been caught up in a job that I took on before Christmas with the purpose of bringing in some extra money and the hope of meeting some new friends. Looking back (hindsight is such a wonderful thing) these were poor motivators to keep me in a position that was not in line with my goals or values.

Lessons that I have learnt from this experience are:

- Money will not make me happy and is no substitute for spending my days doing something that I find to be a waste of time and energy.

- Spending my days doing tasks that are not emotionally fulfilling can completely drain my energy and have an adverse effect on my health.

- Negative attitudes are very contagious when you are surrounded with them on a daily basis.

Since leaving this company, I made a conscious decision to look at the areas that I would like to make some changes and discovered that it was most of them.

So I have found a new part-time position. Part-time so that I have time to follow other paths and also have time to spend time with my family and be available for my children. This position I know intuitively that allow me to use my teaching and nurturing skills. The thought of starting this position next week fills me with excitement.

One area that I had been sadly neglecting was sharing thoughts of wisdom with others, which is where this blog comes in. I will now be paying this area more attention, as I have learnt that the areas of your live that you give your attention grows and thrives. This is with the plan that it will lead to bigger and better things. Other areas that I will be giving more of my attention will be opportunities to learn and grow, so will be open to any chance to step outside of my comfort zone. Also using my camera and creative skills to capture memories and beauty will be receiving more attention.

In your ideal life, what would you be doing, and who would you be spending time with, where would you be? These were the questions that I asked myself to decide where the majority of my attention will be. It allows you to work out what your priorities are. These are unique for you and you alone. It is on this path that happiness and fulfillment can be found.

For love or money

Time Out

Image by Art4Inspiration

The time to relax is when you don't have the time for it? - Jim Goodwin & Sydney J. Harris

When I got up this morning I had such a list of things "to do", and I was overwhelmed as to where to start and how I was going to achieve anything. I had business stuff, home stuff, mum stuff. It actually proved to be too much and as I said I became overwhelmed.

So what did I do?

I actually took some time out and meditated and dozed and contemplated the reasons why this "stuff" was important. I focused on why I wanted to do it rather than how I was going to achieve it all. So by relaxing my body, mind and spirit the priorities for the day just fell into place and I was able to get a lot more done than when I was running around like a headless chook.

How often to we allow ourselves just to be? Do you schedule in down time in your full diary?

Give yourself permission to take some time out with no distractions and find your inner calm, take a quick nap or just do nothing. You will find that then you will become a lot more productive, more present and accomplish a great deal more.

You might also want to think about "What is time?"

Does time exist?
Is it real?
Does that big old oak tree in the backyard know the time?
What about the ocean?
Who created time?
Who said "You are late?"
Why is it three o'clock

In nature and the universe, there is a time for everything - it is always the best time, the right time, the ideal time. You are never too late . . .and always on time. Does energy or light worry over the time it takes to do things? Or does it just get on with doing its thing at its own pace?

Have you ever been in the first throngs of new love? What happened to time then? It wasn't a factor, it didn't exist at all because time isn't a factor in love. Time can disappear also when you are caught up doing something that you enjoy, this can be hobbies, career, mental or something more intimate. Then time goes by without our realizing it. As compared to when we are waiting to meet our loved ones, or go into that interview or catch a cab to meet that plane - then every second seems like an eternity. This is because time is an energy that can be controlled, it has no physical limitations or meanings, except the ones that you put on it.

Why not just do as Rumi suggests and "come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love." Love for others, love of self, love for life, and just see what could happen.

Time Out