Making a fresh start: if the plan doesn’t work, change the plan

I’ve decided my 2018 will start on Feb. 1.
January is a free trial month.
~ Anonymous

I’ve seen the above quote circulating in my Facebook feed and I am all for the idea. In fact, my 2018 didn’t start out anything like I had planned. In bed at 11:27 with the lights out on NYE, my vision for the New Year resembled anything but hopeful anticipation. Following a series of trials and errors, however, I resolved to start over. While I maintain a mindset focused on the basics of mental, spiritual, emotional and physical health, I intend to begin February with a rough outline—a map of sorts. I’d like to know what I’m striving toward, rather than rising each day to flounder without a plan. It’s OK to let go a little and let life happen, but I’d like to at least have an idea of where I’m headed. If the plan doesn’t work, change the plan. Not the goal.

How is your plan working out?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

New year, new you: back to the basics

Prior to Jan. 1 each year, I prepare a list of goals to aim toward over the next 365 days. This year was no different; however, come New Year’s Day, I abandoned several of my plans to focus on immediate, more pressing needs: my relational, mental, physical, spiritual and emotional well-being. Although fraught with copious amounts of kicking and screaming, my resolve birthed a new plan to Let go and let God, if you will. Once I stripped away the myriad tasks that occupy my planner and relinquished control of outcome-driven objectives—in other words, after I surrendered my own agenda—I returned to the basics that I write about in “Falling into place…” Not only have I been blessed with second chances, but a foundation has been laid so that, when it’s time to revisit my original goals—maybe where I left off, maybe somewhere different—I’ll be ready. As a new and improved version of me.

What new goals, if any, have you begun in 2018?

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Revisiting the monkey mind

Ever get accused of thinking too much? Making assumptions? Complicating things? I’ve heard it said that men’s minds organize thoughts into neat compartments, or boxes, while women’s minds navigate the tangled and vast circuitry of cyberspace. Yet, I take it a step further with “monkey mind.” Unsettled, restless. It only stops jumping around during yoga practice and while I’m sleeping, although I beg to differ with the latter. In the mornings, I awaken tired and cranky. Without ambition. It could be a few health issues I’m dealing with, but mostly it’s a mind that won’t stay still. It worries and plans, it regrets and rehashes, it hopes and prays, it bargains and posits assorted scenarios; it begs me to make changes that my heart, when I’m conscious, refuses to acquiesce. In my post, From the inside out, I talk about how to focus on breath to tame the chatter. But I also think there comes a time to simply let go.

How do you tame a monkey mind?

Image courtesy of AKARAKINGDOMS at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.