Ask Yourself This

I am trying, really TRYING to get a better work/life balance lately. With the new job, it is going very well, but seems to take every ounce of time, energy and focus that I have out of me. My boss had warned me that in the beginning, I'd be extremely busy and putting in a lot of hours, which is understandable since it's a totally new sales field for me - and the first time I have down outside sales entirely. Always before, I was inside sales, with a bit of outside client interaction and a lot of tradeshows and company events - but now I do everything myself and I'm on the run all day - and work on my paperwork and proposals and prep work late into the night. Luckily I've been having some success - I've sold two accounts recently and have several more that should be happening really soon. I'm doing well, but need to learn to do well in less time so that I have time and energy left for a life.

All work and little play is making me a dull girl!! I haven't been reading, crafting or interacting with my friends as much. Gosh, I haven't been to knit group in so long. Haven't had time to knit, weave, or even spin very much.

So this week, I decided to go to a Unity class at night and it's a weekly group of 12 people that will meet one evening a week for seven weeks. We will be studying and reflecting on the book Ask Yourself This by Wendy Craig Purcell. The book isn't a typical "how to" book that tells YOU how to find your spiritual self. Instead, it gently guides you into asking questions that will lead YOU to find your own answers and your strengthen your own relationship with the God of your being. The questions this week, in the first chapter were: What do I know for sure? How big is my God? How wide is my circle (How open am I to being open to meeting and interacting with new people and those different from me?) How much room do I give God to work it out? Is faith or fear guiding my decisions?

The group of people I'm meeting with are doing wonders for widening my own circle and I have enjoyed them already! The first week with them gave me a chance to reflect and share other people's spiritual insights, which is refreshing.

I'm still doing that focus on my Consciousness Raising affirmation that I linked to last time. Rebecca and Martha, thanks for joining me on it! I even posted my affirmation in several places - in the car on the visor, in my cube at work, and carry it in my purse. By affirming it several times a day, I think I've raised my own consciousness and hope that it is contributing to raising the well-being of all.

This week, I'm committing to asking and answering the next chapter in the book, and the next set of questions. I'm also committing to giving myself and my family more time and focus - easing up, at least a bit, on work.

I'm affirming the best for all of us - keep your chin up everybody. It's going to get better - and for me, it already is. I just have to focus more on gratitude for the things that are good and recognize the good for what it is - have faith in things that seem out of kilter or unfair, because it all will be okay in the long run.

People Coming Together - Campaign for Consciousness

I've been feeling irritable, lonely, negative and disconnected lately - it's easy to feel that way - with the economy being so bad, and in my personal circumstances, Bob and I are away from each other so much (not by choice, but circumstances). Sometimes there seems to be no obvious light at the end of the tunnel, not only for us personally, but the whole country and beyond seems to be a compilation of nothing but "bad news." So I decided to shake myself out of my doldrums today and go to church at Unity (my spiritual home) - where I always get a positive lift. I was afraid they were going to have a sad and depressing 9/11 service, but instead, the service touched on 9/11 - but on the courageous acts and sense of oneness that came from it. So instead of the service being a "downer" it was a reminder of what is best in ALL of us. I felt really really uplifted and so VERY glad I went.

They have a brand new minister there, who just started last week, and she is SO inspiring. She's both amazing musically and in communicating her message in a way that really touches your heart and makes you want to take ACTION to bring about more good in the world.

One thing she read aloud to everyone is the Scott Heiferman, Meetup CEO, his message for "Fellow Meetuppers" on how Meetup first got started. Did you ever hear that story? If not, go read the September 9th blog entry on the link attached and be moved. If you don't want to go there, I'll summarize by simply saying, way less eloquently, that the phoneomen of Meetup started because Scott Heiferman was inspired by the sense of community that he suddenly felt amongst all his previously "go in the house and ignore your neighbors" mentality in his own neighborhood. On the event of 9/11, he saw his neighbors transformed, at least for a while, into caring REAL neighbors who talked with one another, who waved when they went into the house, who stopped and talked to one another outside in the yard for a change. He decided to launch a website to get people AWAY from their computers and into meeting one another in PERSON.

So I feel really uplifted today - and much less sorry for myself - wondering what I can do to be more active in my community. I started by staying after the service to meet people, and to sign up for a class that is a group of church members meeting together each week to study a book called, "Ask Yourself This" by Wendy Craig-Purcell. I've been doing way more bellyaching lately than praying and meditating. It's time that I start doing the things that give me hope in myself, and in the world, again. That's my commitment - to lift my vision higher.

Also, I am participating in the Campaign for Consciousness - 40 days of Daily Affirmation which goes from September 10 through October 19th - it will be forty days of lifting the consciousness for the benefit of the entire world. "Transforming the world one thought at a time." If you'd like to join me, go to the link, print out the three paragraph affirmation and recite it every day for the next 40 days.

Thanks to all of you who are part of my life - either in person or through the internet, and may we each lift up our thoughts to support and sustain one another. My thoughts ARE with you.

Gads is it September Already?

Fall is moving in. We had an absolutely lovely and cool, sunny and exquisite Labor Day weekend. With the lowering of temperatures and the coming of Fall, my mood automatically becomes more upbeat. Life seems crisper and full of more possibilities with the departure of the constant heat wave of the past few months. It's been a hot, horrible summer, for us as well as most of the country.

My new job is going well. I still haven't sold anything, but am getting close. Yay! I've been getting appointments and seeing lots of people, so eventually the sales will start coming along too.

My calorie counting and exercise plan aren't going as well as I'd expected, because I keep getting sidetracked by the busy-ness of my new schedule and taking clients out to lunch is hard on the waistline! I need to get in better control of myself.

I just finished reading a charming little book called Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, a british novel by Allen Bradley, which I would highly recommend. A perfect light, end-of-summer novel that is part coming-of-age novel, and part cozy mystery, with the heroine being a mentally sharp 12 year old girl named Flavia De Luce. There are a few books in the series. Very cute.

Still haven't been crafting much, but hoping to get back to it really soon. I miss spinning, knitting and weaving.

Feel free to post a comment. I hope to be back in the swing of things here soon.