It turns out I like the flurry - tending to stay in motion

Yesterday was a crazy day in my life. I had to complete two vastly different projects. First, I was presenting my "Let's Talk Clouds" workshop at a local middle school.

As the Earth Lady, I work with schools to help students jump-start their interest in science, specifically Earth Science.

Then, I switched gears and released my interactive Tarot reading ebook. As part of the project, I had to finish the programming, create the cover, and upload the entire thing to amazon.

I'm excited about this project because it allows the reader to choose a new card every day from a random selector set. Then, the reader sees the interpretation and a special call to action individual to each card. I've been working on the interpretations for years, but I had never figured out exactly how to create the interactive portion of the book.


And here's how the title of this blog post relates. I didn't try to focus on both projects at once. They are too disparate. As I've gotten older, I've seen the wisdom of limiting multitasking. Although it seems efficient, it isn't. It's a will-o'-the-wisp. It leads you down the primrose path of thinking you are being efficient while all the while your brain is operating at a slower speed and lower level.


Here's what I did do. I completed the workshop with the kids, and I gave it my all. I left it all on the classroom floor, as they say. We had a blast. Their transformation from before the workshop to afterward startled me. They went from post-lunch food coma to shouting about how much fun they'd had in just under 40 minutes. I can't wait to go back.

And after I got home from the workshop, I jumped into the Today's Tarot project. I created the cover. I finished the programming. I uploaded everything to amazon, and I released the entire thing.

It was exciting and energizing. I didn't feel my exhaustion until I was finished. And then I dropped like a stone.

Why did I just write up my entire day for you? Well, it's because I've had a realization. If you work hard, if you commit yourself to excellence on each project, you will succeed. And here's the most important thing. The key to that success lies in maintaining the level of focus and activity on each project while you are working on it. The Law of Inertia comes into play here. "A body at rest tends to stay at rest. A body in motion tends to stay in motion." If we take a lot of time between projects, we will fizzle out on them. If instead, we rev those engines, blast through the projects with full dedication and focus, and only take the foot off the gas for a bit between them, we will fly. And we will fly because we are already in motion. We are already doing and creating so it becomes easier to keep doing and keep creating.

To refocus my brain on a new project requires almost no time if I do it correctly. I've started taking the time to recharge by doing a quick breathing meditation. It is simple, and the best part? It's only a minute long. I've created a small video of the meditation. The next time you need to recharge between projects, go ahead and try it.

And let me know how it works.

"Okay, I've got this!" How I get up and at 'em

I'm doing the avoiding portion of procrastination now. I've done my acupuncture and my e-stim. I've done my morning meditation. I now need to go eat breakfast, do yoga, and get into my studio to record chapters 7 and 8 of the audiobook. But, my voice is not yet awake. And I admit I'm nervous about getting the project done by this Monday's deadline.

So, what am I doing instead of getting up and getting to work? I'm sitting on FB. :sigh: It's not that I lack motivation. It's that I'm waiting to feel urgency (because historically, the more urgency I've felt the faster and better I've done the work). And that's ridiculous, because objectively, the urgency is there. I need to have all the recording finished by Friday afternoon and every evening this week is busy. 

It's the strangest internal skirmish, isn't it? You know you need to get up and go and do and make and get done all those things you need to go and do and make and get done. And yet, perversely, you sit still instead of moving.

I generally don't allow this for myself. I usually employ a tried and true method that gets me up and at 'em. It's simple, really. I give myself a count of five. It can be a slow count of five. Between each number, I breathe and rest and make myself feel like I have all the time in the world. I consciously release all worry or even concern about my looming deadlines. And then at five, I force myself into motion with an "Okay! I've got this!" And then, I get up and I do.

So, I'm off to do my count of five. 

What's your "count of five?" What do you do to motivate yourself to get up and at 'em?

Today's Tarot: Justice (fairness, balance, ethics)

Today's Tarot: Justice.

Fairness, balance, ethics.

Yegads, sometimes it can be downright challenging to do the right thing or at least stay aware of what the right thing is to you. This reminds me of a short story. I was in an ethics training and I heard the following two sentences once right after the other. "You are smart, you know what's right, so do the right thing. And remember, he who has the gold, makes the rules." That was the leader of the workshop. He obviously had not maintained any awareness of what was coming out of his mouth, much less about the ethics and right and wrong of his words. And that's what we face today.

So, here's your mission. Today: Be fair - to yourself, to those around you, to complete strangers. Balance your life between work and play, between rest and motion, between give and take. 

If you are faced with decisions, step back and seek balance. Breathe, find that stable place inside you and then choose mindfully. And above all, don't speed through life today, either metaphorically or in your car. Take it easy and all will be well.

It's time to clean house!

Today's cards: Nine of Rods, Eight of Cups, Two of Swords.

Even though I am about to go hike a few miles with the dog, really today is about what I need to do on the inside. It's time to Go Within. Oh and it's not just about your internal monologue and kicking its butt to  release some negative self-talk patterns, although that's certainly in here. It is also about making your space conducive to new stuff coming in. Sometimes, we stagnate. We stagnate in our jobs, in our relationships, in our minds, and in our homes.

Looking at it like a feng shui practitioner might, we have stagnant or blocked Chi in our spaces. So, instead of energy being able to flow into and out of our lives, it gets stuck somewhere along the road. So, we want a healthy, constant flow of that energy moving through our lives. The trick here, though, is that we don't want it to come in or leave too quickly. We want a building of energy, a vitality to be generated and present as we move through the bulk of our days. We also want an ebb when it is time to relax and wind down toward nighttime.

We don't want it to blow through us like a tornado, because then, it will just leave destruction in its path. Do you feel like that happens to you sometimes? Does it feel like you're always exhausted and you're constantly running from one crisis to the next? Are there too many stimuli coming at you at all times? Again, looking at it from a feng shui practitioner's perspective, you might need to slow the energy in your space down a bit. You might strategically place a couple of stones in your space. Get a small quartz crystal or even just a rock you find that you like and put it somewhere near the middle of your living space. Rocks have been known as calming influences for a long time. Where do you think worry stones came from?

So, let's learn from people far wiser than us. Let's put a few things in our homes/work spaces that let us find the eye within the storm.

And, last but certainly not least, make your space your own and make it clean. Recycle, give away, or toss that which you no longer need. Let your space be for what is now, and not what was, and also not what might be. Today is where we are and that's what we need to deal with.

Remember, worry doesn't fix tomorrow's troubles; it just saps today of its joy. You'll get there with or without worrying about whatever it is that has you in knots. Make your space your own. Make it clean, and you will have clarity and calm.

Fight for what you want. You deserve it.

Today's cards: Eight of Pentacles, Nine of Pentacles, Five of Rods. Yeow. If this isn't a call to (metaphoric) arms, I don't know what is. Seriously, today is the day to stand up for yourself, accept that you know what you know, are good at what you do, and then make sure everyone else knows it, too.

Oh, and if you don't know it all, you can certainly find out what you need. The eight of pentacles is here to tell you that as a student (in school, of life, continuing professional development, whatever), you are in the best place you can possibly be. You already know what you need to know. You are already good enough for whatever it is you want to achieve. However, others might try to tell you that you're not. Or, they might even try to denigrate you deliberately and overtly. Don't let them. Know your own mind. And if you can't make it work with those people, Go. Somewhere. Else. Find another way. If you love what you do, or want to do, you will find a way.

The Nine of Pentacles speaks loudly and clearly about the need for your space to be yours and for you to be comfortable, not just at home or at work, but in your own skin. So, if you need to leave wherever you are, do so. If you can't do that for various reasons (you know, putting food on the table is important, or rent is due, or other big reasons to stay in a job that is a pain), then find a way to come to peace with what you do need to do. Meditate, breathe deeply, take a walk, find a kernel of fun/enjoyment in the drudgery or deadlines. Whatever it is you need to do to make it happen, do that.

The thing is that there will always be battles to fight. That will not change. So, if you have battles to fight today, do that. But, fight smart. Fight efficiently. And most of all, fight fair.

Now, go kick some butt!

Not going to take it anymore? Fine, then own that.

There's nothing like getting work cards on a Monday. Today's cards are: The Magician, the Nine of Cups, and the Eight of Swords. The Magician is a "go get 'em" card. He tells us to focus, find purpose, and plunge into the fray for we will win, if we just jump in and act purposefully. However, he also says that we must really, truly know what we want. If we just jump in without having a real clue as to our true goals, things will get majorly messed up. So, if you know what has to happen, if you've thought it through, if your heart is set on it, if you feel peaceful and like it's the one, true course of action, then go for it. Otherwise, sit tight and wait until things settle in and feel right.

Feeling trapped by circumstances will be troubling today. (There's the eight of swords rearing her troubling head.) If you feel like a good bit of your life is spent doing things you don't want to do, then you need to see where you can lessen those activities. They might be work, they might be home - it doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to cut away those things that make you unhappy. Take how you spend your time in your own hands and only do that which you want/need to do rather than what you feel obligated to do. It will give you a feeling of greater freedom.

The Nine of Cups is the happy merchant. It represents the person who is truly happy in his or her work. If you are happy, more power to you. If you aren't, today is the day to begin to do something about it. Again, though, this isn't about jumping up on your desk and screaming "I'm not going to take it anymore!" When we want to succeed, we often have to know those around us as well, or better than, we know ourselves. If someone at work is making your life harder, try to see beyond his or her work mask. Find compassion for what they are going through and you might find yourself no longer on opposites sides of whatever is going on. Now, it might not make a hill of beans worth of difference, but then again, it might. If the only difference is that you have a better understanding of what causes that person to behave this way, then it will still make a difference in how you approach your work environment.

So, ultimately, it looks like today is about taking charge of your time and work. If you want to move forward, do it from a knowledgeable point of view. If you want to stay right where you are, know that on some (most if not all) level, you remain where you are because you have chosen to do that. Own your decisions, own your current status and you will be shocked at how much more relaxed and peaceful you will feel.