Tidbits of Wisdom to inspire your unique life journey – Jeanne Loehnis, Songs For Your Spirit, LLC
Many people – MANY PEOPLE – are doing personal development work. Whether in the context of work, physical well-being, as a parent or partner, personal development efforts are helping each of us be more of who we can be and making our world a better place. We are doing this work in many ways: books, teachers, guides, counselors, coaches. Perhaps you’ve tried more than one. Perhaps you’ve been on the journey for many years.
Today’s thought is simple:
How do you approach personal development?
What morning after am I referring to?
This time, it’s the morning after the vacation or after a day off sick or even Monday morning, the day many return to work after a weekend.
What about it?
Here’s what I noticed yesterday morning (after being away with a friend over the weekend, away from responsibilities at home, away from e-mail that comes whether or not I’m paying attention, away from habits and routines that ground me):
I am unsettled, hurried, feeling behind before I start.
I am afraid of the full day ahead.
I am thinking that I need to shortcut my healthy morning routine.
I am short with my spouse.
Do you ever land in this kind of morning after?
Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essay II Self-Reliance
I discovered a handwritten version of this quotation in an old journal last week. Once again, it struck me as profound and extremely helpful as I navigate life. Over the years, I have looked outside myself, compared my choices with yours, thought that I should be doing this because you are doing this. I’ve compared my impact with yours, forgetting that you are you and I am me. I’ve forgotten that the reason you are so capable at that has a lot to do with the life experiences you’ve encountered on the road to now.
When I am in the comparing place, I come up short. Continue reading “Self-Reliance”
A decade ago I learned a lesson that is worth passing on: it’s hard – until it’s not. And sometimes baby steps are the most effective path through “hard”.
What do you avoid because you think it will be hard?
What don’t you start because you believe it will take too long?
What do you want to be able to do but never start learning?
For me, it was a piece of software. I wanted to transcribe my original music using Finale music notation software but the task of becoming proficient with the tool was daunting. There was no class to take. There was just me, my computer and this software that was definitely written in a foreign language!
What did I do?
Perhaps you and I don’t share this life challenge, but just in case we do …
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what needs to be done?
Does your mind race and try to take you in multiple directions at once?
Do you find you never quite get to what you really desire?
If so, maybe a fresh method for discerning would be helpful.
