Grandma Sue Meets Richard Ian

How amazing! Yes, life is full of firsts. But, seeing your grandchild for the first time holds a special place in your heart and mind. Your son becomes a father. His wife becomes a mother. This special realization of how life perfectly continues is the gift. One thing is certain. Little Rich is a wonderful gift. Just as the acceptance of your babies growing up to be new parents is too a blessed gift. Rich and Michelle, let Little Rich shower your lives with happiness and laughter, as you have for me.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

My favorite saying when I was young was: "Time flies when you're having fun!" Over the years I've figured out what that means -- when you are doing something you love or enjoy, your sense of time disappears. You go into a "bliss" feeling where, you're happy and contented. The past is not playing a role; the future isn't an issue; there's only now, the present. I'm blessed in that the work I do every day is like play. Writing and talking and creating ideas is my recipe for "having fun!" What's your play?

Letting Go of Expectations

I learned a lot about the fun of letting go of expectations with my children. When they were young, I might say, "On Saturday we're going to go to the amusement park." It's human nature for them now to conjure up what the day will be like, the rides they'll go on, the cotton candy they'll eat, on and on. Well, as life would happen, something serious came up that made me have to cancel going. Well their depth of disappointment was emotionally draining for all of us. I made it a practice to "surprise" them with trips. The magic was back. The thrill of not knowing, or having certain expectations, gave them the opportunity to fully enjoy the time, place and space we found ourselves in.

Tomorrow I leave for my first trip to the island of Maui at the invitation of a childhood friend. It's exciting to go without any expectations.

Try Awakened Doing

In Eckhart Tolle's book A New Earth he has a great chapter on "Awakened Doing." In a nutshell it's paying complete attention to what you are currently doing. Be in the 'now.' Focus on what you are doing completely. Engage your five senses. Seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. Rather than thinking and living in the past -- which is a memory, and/or worrying about the future -- which is anticipation, be fully present. It's not as easy as it sounds. I consciously tried doing this during activities this week. It's surprising how the chatterbox of my mind demanded it's own time for future 'shoulds' rather than just jumping into the enjoyment of what I was doing. It's really quite fun to witness the mental distractions. When you do recognize them, you've made the first move to living 'more awake.'

At Week's End

Or would it be "at wits end?" Yes, sometimes it seems as though time is flying by. The images from 50s movies where calendar pages are blown from January through December to show time was passing seem to be a fitting image of how my world is playing out. Is it because I'm having so much fun and loving life? Or is it because I believe it's important to use every minute I'm given? Either way I'd love to be able to hit the "pause" button every once an awhile. I find the best time to connect with just "being" is upon waking up. I've found making a decision to not jump out of bed, but to reflect, breathe, think gently on the day ahead for 15 minutes is an invaluable gift to my "self."

Let Go of "What If's"

This blog thing is really simpler than I imagined. I'm still learning the system. I press a link by "accident." Lo and behold a window opens to write in. And, that's really what so much of life is all about. Being open to "pressing a link" or trying something new without being afraid of the results. As a bona fide baby boomer -- I grew up in the "what if world?" Meaning before you do something be sure all the ramifications of your actions are thought out, analyzed and assessed before acting. This thinking had a place at one time. But as we've seen from the Gen Xers who dove into their computers with "No Fear," if you hit a Ctrl H and nothing happens -- try again.
So an easier way to approach life - is to let go of the continual "what if" drone in your head. Know you can do something, do it and have fun getting it done.

Anyway -- a nice quote I have attached to my computer is:

"It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which more than anything else will affect its successful outcome."
William James

Loving to Learn New Things

My special thanks to my "fav" client, Rick Itzkowich, co-founder of Productive Learning & Leisure. Yes, for the last 5 years Rick has gently nudged, often pushed me into new technology. And, you got it -- he sent me his "first blog" today. So where it would normally take me a week or month or two to assimilate and try it "out for myself." The gap has shortened to 15 minutes! And actually that's what PL&L does -- they "close the gap between what people have and what they want in their personal and professional lives." www.productivelearning.com Guess it works!

The theme of my "One Size Fits All" Ideas Blog will be -- thoughts, musings and information that I would like to share with whoever finds there way here. So for today ~~ the sun is shining and it's a good day for playing at a job I love. www.market4profit.com