Gardening

They say it is a strength to know your weaknesses. Of course they also say if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. I'll have to say I'm in the first camp when it comes to gardening. I know many people who LOVE to garden. I'll even admit to being envious of others' gardens. However, the reality is that I don't like to garden. This probably stems from the fact that I don't like getting my hands dirty. Last year I decided  I would try to do a little container gardening. I went to the local nursery and purchased $37.00 worth of vegetables. I planted them, watered them and waited patiently for them to grow. The one bell pepper that I produced was about the size of a nickel. It was actually quite cute. My cucumbers and jalapeños were no shows. My tomatoes did grow, but I fought the birds as to who would get to them first. Luckily, my husband had some netting we used to keep them away. This year I've decided to spend my $37.00 at the Farmers' Market. As Gretchen Rubin likes to say, "You can choose what you do, but not what you like to do." Lesson learned.

Intentionally

Intentionally. To do something intentionally is to do it deliberately or on purpose. In the busyness of our days we often find ourselves just going through the motions of daily living. I've been guilty of this. Days turn into weeks which turn into months and years and this becomes your life. Do we ever stop and ask ourselves if this is really how we want to be living our life?  Are we being intentional in the choices we make? I've found that being more intentional in what I eat results in feeling better and being healthier. In being intentional with my money I find myself better able to handle my financial needs. Today I have been thinking about how to be more intentional with my time. Writer Annie Dillard says, "How we spend our days, of course, is how we spend our lives." She is more than correct in this sentiment. My days are a reflection of my life and I will live them intentionally.

Just Start

Covey says, "Start with the end in mind,"  and that really does sound sensible. It might be for losing a few pounds or paying off a debt. But when it comes to creativity, I think starting with the end in mind can often times be fatal. Fatal to the evolution of wherever the creativity will take you. Fatal to beginning the process, because you are not really sure how it is going to end. Fatal to the fear that it might not be any good, might not be recognized or win any awards. So maybe by holding to this idea, you don't actually have to start with the end in mind, rather the better advice is just to start. Start and see where that leads you next. Start and start again if need be. You might just be surprised when you get to the end and it ends up being so much better than you ever could have imagined. Just start!

Blogging

I'm quite pleased with my adventure into blogging. I've now posted over thirty times and have learned a thing or two over the last month or so. I'm using my own photos so there is no copyright infringement, and I'm really enjoying taking photos to compliment my postings. That in itself is a creative outlet. I'm keeping it simple and just using my i pad. I've learned to actually compose my postings in Evernote and then copy and paste it into Blogger. That is much easier than trying to write the text on Blogger. I'm allowing the writing to come naturally--whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment. It surprises me how often I am struck with something to write about. I'm quite pleased with the blogging template I chose. I like the simplicity of it. Finally allowing myself to express myself through writing in a public forum is a dream come true.  Overall, this has been a win win for me. Sharing it with other readers is just the icing on the cake.

Choices

Choices. Are more choices better? Or do they just complicate things? Sometimes I feel that I'm a little overwhelmed by choices. That's probably why I eat the same basic foods for breakfast and lunch each day, and why my monthly menu planning ends up being a shuffle of the same meals. It's not that I don't want to try something new, its just easier to fall back to the familiar. There is actually a name for this. It's called the familiarity heuristic. A heuristic is simply a short cut your brain takes to help simplify your day to day living. Our modern culture seems to take great pride in all the many choices it offers. I wonder, though, if all those choices just don't contribute to the busyness of our days and minds? Sometimes fewer choices seem more doable.

Time

To quote Benjamin Franklin, "Lost time is never found again." The reality is that you will never get back the time that has already passed. It gets you to thinking about how you want to spend the time you have today and possibly tomorrow. You reach that point in life where you realize that you have fewer days before you than behind you. I want to be more conscience of my time and the choices I make about spending it.

The Rules

One day as my husband and I were backing out of the driveway about to embark on the day's adventures, he made the comment about how it was fun to be breaking the rules. I remember I thought about his words for a few seconds and responded that I didn't find breaking the rules fun. In fact breaking the rules brought out more of an anxious feeling in me. I had found in my life that following the rules seemed to work better for me. The rules were a trusted friend. They gave me boundaries and guidelines. I liked knowing ahead of time what the expectations were, and then I would try my best to follow them. I think for me the lesson learned was that it is best to know your true nature, and even though that nature is different from others it is okay. To once again quote Shakespeare, "To thine own self be true." It works for me.