The gods of motivation

As you may have noticed, dear reader – I’m back from a long hiatus! I recently published my first blog post in SEVEN MONTHS, after finally being motivated to get back into blogging. What elbowed me in the ribs, you ask? This:

I regularly read a few blogs, but BugBytes is one of my favourites. This gal is absolutely hilarious, and one amazing writer! A couple of other blogs I read regularly are FotogFoodie, Outdoor Voice (who <AHEM> hasn’t posted since APRIL, but is nonetheless hilarious), Leila’s Life of Riley, KAON Photography, and Life Takes Over, and I seem to have enough time to read and comment, but obviously don’t make enough time to write. Julie’s comment served as an elbow in the ribs: GET GOING.

Then I wrote [two] [posts], and already have a few more planned for next week! The world works in mysterious ways…

This morning, some more motivation arrived from the universe. I logged in to check on my stats and see if any new comments needed to be approved, and I found this:

I hadn’t really been keeping great track of things, and after a seven month break, I wasn’t expecting anything as exciting as a shiny graphic with the number 200 on it! Apparently, I was on the cusp of breaking 200 likes just before I fell into the abyss of laziness. Obviously that isn’t such a huge thing (Clearly I need a larger readership!), but what a great thing to see when I just got started again. They like me! They really like me!

I’m motivated to make more entertaining posts, and keep the ball rolling. This is unlikely to gain me fortune and fame, but if I can make a handful of people laugh and smile, it’s worth it! So thank you KSUJULIE and UNIVERSE for elbowing me in the ribs.

I’m out there, Jerry, and I’m lovin’ every minute of it!

Notes from the universe and stopping to smell the roses

A while back, I somehow found this site www.tut.com. I don’t remember exactly how I found it, but I’m glad I did. I signed up for their “Notes from the Universe” and started getting these happy little notes in my inbox. Here are a few samples of what I get:

It’s not the day you have to manage, but the moment.  It’s not the dragon you have to slay, but the fear.
And it’s not the path you have to know, but the destination.
What a relief, huh?
-The Universe
Love every moment; nothing can make you less.

All that you need to have all that you want, will be provided, as if by magic, once you know what you want and do something about it every day.
No matter what,
-The Universe

They are not always all fantastic, but it’s nice to have a little booster now and then in your inbox. Eerily enough, sometimes these little tidbits of advice and little gems coincidentally align with things that are happening in my life at the time. Sometimes reading them helps me look at a situation in a different way. In any case, it’s a neat little thing that I thought I’d share. There are other cool resources on the website, and I’m sure it’s not all for everyone… but the Notes from the Universe are my favoutire.

And with no segway at all…

I was thinking about this morning while walking the dog (apparently I do a lot of thinking while on my morning walk). I was walking along, looking at the cars race by me. I could feel the sun on my skin, and a small breeze blowing over me. I could smell fresh cut grass (and garbage) in the air. Then I sort of slowed down my thought process a little. I stopped the chatter that was going on inside my head (thinking about what to take to work for lunch, remembering that I have to run some errands later, deciding on what to do for dinner, reminding myself to do that thing at work first thing). I even stopped walking. And I focused my attention on those basic feelings. I FELT the sun on my skin. I SMELLED the air. I FELT the breeze.

Every day I’m constantly rushing through things and, while I DO feel these things, I DO taste my food, I DO have happy moments, they are glossed over. So this morning as I stopped dead in my tracks – I remembered to stop and smell the roses. It’s as simple as just slowing things down, and enjoying that fact that you are ALIVE. It’s as simple as slowing your mind-chatter down and feeling how that delicious fruit or coffee or lunch feels on your tongue, and the tastes that are brought to your senses. Everyday experiences can be so wonderful…

I encourage everyone to stop and smell the roses (or feel the sunshine, or taste your raisins, or just slow down the racing highway that is your mind… ) and enjoy life!

Incidentally, I LOVE the smell of roses… absolutely beautiful.

Whoa! What was that?!

Do you ever feel like the universe is trying to gently (but not always so subtly) corral you in a certain direction? I was definitely feeling this force the other day.

I had an appointment so was working from home, but I’m not currently staying at home, so I was using a different computer. Turns out they are over their internet quota for the month and using more would cost money. So I got myself ready and headed home to work from my PC. Recently there have been internet issues at home (and by issues, I mean a construction crew cut the lines under the road and we are still waiting for things to be fixed properly). I logged into work at home and begin chugging away. It wasn’t long before my connection began dropping out and progressed to a full-on internet outage.

Going with the flow, I continued to work on a few projects that I could do locally on my machine, hoping that the internet connection would be happier eventually. I had enough connectivity to check and respond to my emails before getting cut off again. I continued to work locally and eventually had to leave for my appointment.

I ended up being early, so while trying to decide how to kill time I wandered into a Timmy’s to treat myself to an Iced Cap for a mid-day pick-me-up. When I walked in, I checked to see if they had Interac machines, as I was not carrying any cash on me – and there was indeed a machine on the counter. I proceeded to order my icy delight and when I took out my card to pay, the girl politely informed me that the Interac machine was not yet functioning, but they did take cash and Mastercard.

Needless to say, I left Timmy’s with no refreshment. What is the universe trying to tell me? No more snacks! ?? No unplanned spending ?? I sat down to read a short story on my iPod. I got about three pages in when the battery gave out… Universe??? What’s the message here?

I headed up to my appointment, thinking being early wasn’t so bad – maybe I’ll get to go in early! But the universe wasn’t quite finished with me yet. The receptionist let me know that they were behind by about twenty minutes and asked if I could wait. Of course, I said yes. I didn’t drive 30 minutes just to turn around and go home 🙂

After all this, I kind of felt like the universe was having its way with me. But I’m confident that all these quirky happenings occurred for a good reason. It did feel like I was being shoved around a bit – maybe it was a test of my patience? If it was, I must have passed with flying colours! Rather than being angry that the internet was down and anxious about how I would be able to finish my work or communicate to co-workers, I simply hunkered down on my perfectly working computer at home and finished some projects that did not require the internet. Rather than fume at the Timmy’s lady (who was clearly not responsible for setting up the Interac) and whine about my lack of fun drink, I simply conceded to the fact that I did not have payment in one of the options available and moved on. When I got cut off from reading (in mid-sentence!) I moved on to my appointment – following the gentle push of the universe’s hand on my back. I ended up sitting in the waiting room and having some much needed time to think.

I ended up thinking about this series of events and writing it all on a scrap piece of paper.

I wonder what the universe has in store for me next? No matter what, at least I know that I am gaining the patience to deal with situations when LIFE DOES NOT GO YOUR WAY. I’m finding it a calming way to go through my day. Thanks universe, for the shove, the elbow, and the poke in the eye 🙂