Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Intention


How do you set an intention?  It’s not like a wish for something but much more profound.  Setting an intention is a process of making a decision on what you want, believing with the utmost faith that it is possible, and setting goals to achieve it.  
At this time of year and over the next couple of months, people often come up with resolutions that the majority are never realized.  This is because you can’t just write down some goals, forget about them and then they appear as if a magic genie granted you three wishes.  Setting intention is much stronger, deeper than with a specific plan on exactly how you’re going to go about achieving it.  Intention is the end result so it’s good to begin with the end in mind.  Then back it up with what small steps every day are you going to do to work towards that end?  So if your intention is to lose weight, exactly how much weight?  What are you going to do each and every day that will enable that to happen?  And you can’t just say, “I’ll eat right and exercise more.”  Way too general.  That’s the difference between setting an intention and a resolution.  Write down exactly what it means to “eat right” every day; how many calories, how many servings of whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, etc.  Write down how long you will exercise, where you will exercise, what activity you will do and at what time of day you will do it.  Going so far as to write down what days of the week as well.
That my friends is the specificity of intention.  When you put your intention down on paper with very specific ways that you will achieve it, you will be amazed at how much more successful you will be.  In addition, an intention is all about something you are very passionate about, not just lukewarm.  It isn’t what someone else wants you to do, or what you think you “should” do but something you’re deeply passionate about achieving.  
Thinking about your intention in the morning when you get up and again before you go to bed, keeps it in your consciousness at all times.  Looking at your intention in the written form with the specific path you’ve put down on achieving it during the course of your day will keep it on your mind as well.  
Wayne Dyer said "you don't attract what you want, but what you are." For instance, if you want prosperity, you have to be act prosperous. If you want deeper relationships, be a better friend, co-worker, spouse. If you want abundance, give to others.  In other words, give out to others that which you want for yourself.  

A new way at looking at goal setting, give it a try and watch the magic happen.  Do keep me posted on how it’s working for you.

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Believe

C.S. Lewis said “we are what we believe we are.”  Never has this been more true.  If you believe you’re destined for great things, they you will achieve great things.   If you believe the world is a terrible place filled with terrible people and poor me, then that’s exactly what you will get.  Of course, you can’t sit around all day expecting greatness to just come knocking at your door, you must prepare for it.  Put hard work into your dream, go out and meet people who are doing similar things to what you want to do, ask them to mentor you.  Read all you can, attend seminars, whatever it takes to learn and surround yourself with your dream, believing all the while that it will happen.  What is it they say, luck is opportunity meeting preparedness.  True.  But I don’t believe in luck, synchronicity yes, but I don’t call that luck. 
We draw to us that what we put out into the world.  Just try being happy and upbeat around your co-workers, I promise you they will respond in kind.  Don’t let others bring you down.  You have a choice each and every day how you will face the world and what your attitude will be. 

When trying to discover your mission here, what is it that you think about when your mind wanders?  That’s were your true love/passion lies. 


Friday, February 6, 2015

Darling Owl Hat

I just had to share this adorable owl hat Trisha finished for her daughter.  Her first try at cables and it turned out splendidly!  Great job Trisha!!  :)
Sadly, the pom pom's didn't last long, little Hannah would prefer playing with them to wearing them.  LOL

PPRH Knit Wits 1st KAL

Our little hospital based group has been growing strong now for 6 months.  Everyone's advancing right along...well almost everyone :0) so we thought it would be fun to tackle a little more challenging project all together, hence the knit a-long (KAL).   So we started our first sock class today.  What fun teaching how to use double points!  Some lovely malabrigo and other assorted sock yarns.  It will be exciting watching how these evolve.  Something to definitely look forward to every Friday.  One of our members even came in while she's off work for an injury.  Now that's dedication.
Stay tuned to watch as the sox emerge.


Sunday, February 1, 2015

Masters Program Concluded

A month of lessons went by fast.  Thanks Nikki Parsons for filling in while I was gone and Tricia Sichmeller for helping out also.  Phew!  Couldn't have done it without you ladies.  Thanks to Nana Annie for tirelessly working with the kids each week as well. 

I'm glad I volunteered, it was a good experience to watch the kids intently learn this (in my opinion) one of the best stress relievers of all time.  A couple of the girls talked about making things and selling them online - I love an industrious kid!!!  A few learned purling already too.  When you have a group of 25 eight and nine year olds, it's incredible how different they are socially from one another and how quickly they learn...or not.  All seem genuinely interested and a couple were excited to teach their mothers. 

When they arrived for class, they were nearly vibrating with exciting that this would be the day they'd get to take their yarn, needles and projects home so they could work on them and show their families.  Many wanted to continue learning, which is a good opportunity for a local class (hint hint Nikki). 

Overall, it was an experience for me, glad I did it but don't see it as my life's work.  I just don't have the patience for their exuberant amount of energy.  Yikes.  Bless all the elementary school teachers for they surely have a place reserved in heaven!:)




Sunday, January 25, 2015

Statistics

Boy, where's mindfulness when I need it?  Have started the last semester of my doctoral program and it's all about data analysis.  I spent 3 hours reading, studying, listening to podcasts, etc. and felt completely overwhelmed.  Funny thing is, I used this program for a research project I did and did well, even taught fellow case managers how to use it.  HOWEVER...that was 20 years ago!!!  Granted, stats doesn't change, no math does right? But if you don't use it every day, it's gone. At least for me anyway.  Math is not now nor ever has been my strongest quality.  I'm great at keeping track of my money and paying bills, but that's about the extent of it without utilizing a whole lot of brain power. 


It's times like this that I'm sure I have ADD, I'll do almost anything (cleaning toilets) to distract myself from the pain of stats.  So what do I do to get away and clear my mind?  No not knitting, I needed to move, really expend some energy and exhaust my body so I could get my mind to focus.  I went for a 5 mile run.  Worked great.  Lovely, sunny day and it felt good to return to mindfulness.  When I run, I really do have to focus and although my mind is known to wander, it's fleeting thoughts nothing deep and certainly not trying to figure out math in any form, especially statistics! 

I was able to come back and work 5 hours on it and have a little bit better handle on it.  At least don't feel as overwhelmed.   Phew, this is gonna be a L O N G 4 month semester but I'll sure be in great physical shape. :)

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Knitting Improves Mental Health

Nice article about how knitting & quilting improve mental health.
https://www.yahoo.com/makers/ditch-the-prozac-take-up-crafting-108671160605.html?soc_src=mags&soc_trk=ma