small things

People are packages. To get the good, you must take the rest.

In the past, whenever I heard the words “life changing event” I imagined a single event in which my entire life changed. Recently I came to realize that life changing events happen every day. These events are usually a series of small things that happen, not always one major event. These smaller events, whether physical or metaphysical, create new ideas and have the potential to expand our current thinking and improve our physical circumstances. A simple shift in thinking about one negative thing can be life changing when you begin looking at it in a positive light.

Tell your family and friends how much you love them. It’s not something you’ll never regret. You may end up regretting that you didn’t tell them though. There’s no better time than now.

An easy way to reduce stress and energize your body and mind is to get to bed early and spend the hour before bed winding down with quiet activities like reading, meditation, or a warm bath. Very simple and effective!

To help with the stress associated with our busy lifestyles and seemingly endless responsibilities, create an ongoing to do list. We feel so much better when we have a handle on all of the things we need to get done. And we feel even better than that when we cross them off of the list. With the availability of smart phone, PDAs, and personal computers now-a-days, it’s easier than ever to keep our priorities organized and available to us at all times. I like to keep mine synced up on my calendars on my phone and computer with alerts to remind me.

Life is like wine. The closer that you pay attention to it and the more you learn about its subtleties, the deeper and more profound your actual experience of it will be. It will literally “taste” different.

Why put one pepper or a bunch of broccoli in a separate bag, just to put that bag in another grocery bag?  We can save thousands and thousands of plastic bags by keeping our vegetables loose and not bagging each separately.  You’re going to go home and wash them anyway right?  If you’re buying 2 lbs of mushrooms though, you might have to bend the rules… unless you remember to bring your used ones back…

Watch what you feed your head. The information that pours into your mind on a daily basis has a huge impact on your experience and ultimately, who you are. Consciously add positive content, media, thoughts, ideas, etc. to your daily routine instead of unconsciously filling up with a lot of the garbage, negativity, gossip, etc. that’s out there. You are what you eat? Yes…. and you’re also what you think!

Doesn’t it seem so much easier to run from your problems? It does SEEM that way sometimes but it really turns out to be so much worse. When we actually face and push through our problems, we grow, and we don’t have to come back and confront them later. It’s actually a lot easier to face our problems now.

Don’t be limited by your limitations.