Taking Imperfect Action!
Have you ever messed up? And have you ever let the fear of messing up STOP YOU from doing things you want to do?
I think most of us have had those experiences at some point in our lives.
Well...I MESSED UP! I forgot to send my regular Soul Song Sunday email this morning! No Sunday wisdom from me, no inspirational song to lift your spirits and set the tone for the week ahead. Sad! When I realized I hadn't written or sent the email I felt such a tight constriction in my throat and a sinking in my stomach. I had a moment of, "I suck! Everyone is going to think I'm so lame! How could I have forgotten?!" Of course, the reality is that probably NO ONE noticed that the email wasn't delivered this morning! You all have busy lives! And giving myself that crappy inner talk was not helpful at all.
Happily that mood lasted less than a minute. I've become very good at walking myself through that negative hyperbole that can come up. My next thought was, "Obviously, the email will just go out later today." And then I thought, "How can I turn this into a positive?"
After my incredibly challenging year last year, I learned the life-changing lesson that when I find myself spiraling down into the negative that I need to STOP and start NOTICING WHAT IS GOING RIGHT. That was such a powerful turn-around for me. I would stop several times a day and just start naming all the things that are going RIGHT in my life...I have running water, I have hot water, I have indoor plumbing (I'm super into my indoor plumbing in general!) I have food in my refrigerator, I'm healthy, I have coffee, I have an iPhone, I have a chair that I can sit in and drink my coffee and text a friend on my iPhone...on and on. Seriously, within a week of starting that practice I was happier than I'd been in years. I kept it up and I really have created some different neural pathways in my brain of how I see the world. Our brains are SO SO COOL. We really can re-route how we experience life.
What is going RIGHT this morning: my son is healthy, I am healthy, my husband is on a plane headed home after being gone since Thursday (I always miss him terribly when he's gone), I have a roof over my head, I am safe, my child is safe, I have a delicious Americano that I made on my espresso machine that was a gift from my husband two years ago and is the gift that keeps on giving, I have amazing and dear friends, I have freedom, I can vote, I have access to medical care if I need it, my 2000 Toyota Camry still drives well even thought it has 194,000 miles on it and it is PAID FOR so I don't have a car payment!...and on and on and on...so really, life is AWE-SOME.
So I stopped freaking out about the newsletter and decided to take IMPERFECT ACTION. I wrote the email late and assumed it would reach everyone's inbox in the absolute perfect moment. :)
BTW--I think the reason I didn't get the newsletter done is that I had a wonderful time with friends at their home last night. Great food, great conversation, and great friendship. I was at the home of my friends, Bill and Sharon, which is this cool, quirky place in the Mission District. They are super interesting people. Bill is one of those humans that gets really interested in how things work and that shows up in all sorts of ways including cooking. He had jars of pickled green tomatoes and jars full of Meyer lemons in the process of getting pickled...he had crates of grapefruits (it was what he asked for for Christmas) and he was fresh squeezing grapefruits for us. In the garage he has an actual lathe. I could go on. And the other couple there are my friends, Manna and Arvind who are from India and they are warm and smart and funny and always good to be around. We had great conversations around Indian food and the differences in different regions of India, and around life and culture in India in general. Dang. Another thing I'm grateful for!
TODAY--TAKE IMPERFECT ACTION! Try it! You'll like it!! Don't be afraid of imperfection. In fact, PERFECTION is NOT YOUR FRIEND! Perfection holds us back from creating the life we desire for ourselves! Notice all the places you're holding back because "things aren't quite right" and then DO IT ANYWAY!
NOW!! OUR SONG FOR THE WEEK! You're sooooooooooo going to love this! This song was suggested to me by my friend and past client, Julie Morley! THANK YOU, JULIE!
The video is so great and just give me all sorts of FEELS.
Surprise Yourself by Jack Garratt
Surprise Yourself
Speak and open up your mind
It's something you should do all the time
Keep exploring, seek and find
You know you might surprise yourself
Talk without a taint or hold
The doubts that should embrace your heart
The calm and chaos of your soul
You know you might surprise yourself
Take a pen and write this down
Draw something that can't be found
And learn to walk again somehow
You know you might surprise yourself
Love her if you only knew
The times that train has fooled me too
And tears me from a place I know
It helps me to surprise myself
You know you can surprise yourself
So let go and surprise yourself
HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK!