Focusing on Me | 2.26.19

Focusing on Me | 2.26.19

Dear Kat,

This Focus Journey has truly shed a beacon of light on how much of your time you spend dwelling in the past or worrying about what is to come. And, this month you have tried so hard to stay with “what lies within” me – in the here and now. I know it has not been an easy journey and the lightbulb did not really go off until you started reading Maria Shriver’s devotional book, I’ve Been Thinking… You had not even finished the first chapter and her words of wisdom began to put the pieces together for you: “So today, start where you are. The past is gone. The future isn’t here. This day offers each of us a chance to be the person we want to be. Not the person we wish we had been yesterday or want to be tomorrow, but the person we already are.

That is what I have been nudging you toward but I get that sometimes it is easier to hear that from someone else rather than me. But, believe me when I tell you that it is okay to stop carrying around some of the baggage you don’t really want to let go of. You can and it will be okay. That baggage is not a badge of honor, no matter how much you think it is. Just.let.go.

And, if you do that, you won’t have to worry about what lies ahead either – you can just focus on being the person you already are and have fun doing it!

Love,

Me

I am joining Juliann and I hope you visit and see where other’s words are taking them!

Focusing Inward

Focusing Inward

Stop looking forward to things, look inward instead. Kamand Kojouri

After spending almost 30 days with my word for 2019 I am more confident than ever that focus is the right word for me this year. But, wow – there is so much to unpack with this word!

I have spent much of the month looking inward and thinking about the whys of all the things I do. It has been a very good review process which is going to upset several habits, and while they are not necessarily bad, they don’t always help me stay focused on what is important. Habits are hard to break but I have become more mindful of things I am doing – and the things I am not doing.

  • I am refraining from jumping on the “Make 9 in 2019” bandwagon – although I have thought about it! Rather, I started a more mindful list of things I need to finish and things in my Ravelry Library that I want to make.
  • I have started a gift knitting list that I will work on all year long.
  • I want to intentionally spend an hour each evening spinning while we watch the news and I have been able to “sit and spin” at least 3 times a week thus far!
  • I am not going to let my desk become the black hole for papers and, honestly – this might be the hardest habit to break! This is really going to take some work, so I have added it to my “monthly focus list” in my planner to help me stay focused!

So as January draws to a close, I feel like I am off to a good start for the first time in a long!

Want to see what everyone else is doing with their word? Head on over to Juliann’s to see!

Focusing Inward

Just One Word | 1.1.19

Happy New Year, Gentle Readers!

I am joining with Juliann this year as she hosts us in our Word Study – and, I’d like to thank her for leading us in this journey!

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. Eckhart Tolle

In 2016 I chose Gratitude as my word for the year and it was a very good choice and 2017 brought Joy. Both lovely words that I selected – with emphasis on the “I selected” part!! Last year I did not pick a word and…nothing inspired me…Why?? Perhaps, I did not inspire me!

So, I spent considerable time in December “trying on” a word for 2019 – words like “inspire” “kindness” “grace” and “dream.” And despite doing that – one word kept percolating to the top despite me trying to ignore it…Focus! Great word, I thought, but how will I use it? (See that “I” again?)

So I avoided….I kept thinking about words and looking at lists…but focus kept prodding me – asking me to consider, and yes – telling me to focus.

Merriam-Webster says focus can be used as a noun or a verb. It can mean “a center of activity, a point of concentration” or “to cause to be concentrated, to adjust the focus of your eye, to bring into focus.”

However, Eckhart Tolle’s quote was what pushed me over the edge – I am rarely “present in the Now” but instead focused on what comes next – the next project, the next book, the next…whatever!!

It seems I am deeply in need of a year of focus! Please join me in my journey this year as I focus more on the NOW and less on what’s next. Sometimes you choose the word, but occasionally – if you are lucky – the word chooses you.

What about you – did you pick a word this year?

Want to see other wordly inspriation? Head on over to Juliann’s!

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