Day 142: Travel vs. Explore

"I love to travel." 
                               "I wish I could travel more."
                                                                                    "I can't wait to travel again."

I've been reading and hearing these sentiments a lot lately.  And it got me thinking about my own views on traveling and exploration. I'd never given it much thought before and here is what I discovered.

To travel and to explore are two different things.

To travel is to physically go to a different location.

To explore is to learn and grow.

I prefer to explore.

I prefer to have experiences that catch my eye, stimulate my mind, and touch my soul. 

This can happen while traveling. For instance, learning about different lifestyles or taking in new sights through interactive experiences. I want to be doing things unique to the place I am in. That's why I travel - to explore somewhere new.

But exploration can also happen from my own couch. I can explore just by inspecting my own thoughts and taking things in from different angles. I don't actually need to travel anywhere.

How interesting . . . 

To travel and to explore both present new opportunities, but they are definitely not one and the same.

Which do you crave more?

Day 141: Live Life like a Coaching Session

A very freeing thought occurred to me recently - 

I can live life like a coaching session.
I don't have to have everything tied up at the end.  
I can leave it wherever it is and reflect on what I've learned so far and the direction I can keep exploring.

This revelation was huge. And the use of 'revelation' is not exaggerated.

I shared the other day how Perfectionism's got it's hooks in deep in many areas of my life. This idea - to live life like in a coaching session - I believe, is powerful enough to disengage these hooks in a big way.

Why?

Because in [life] coaching, the goal is not to 'solve' something. The goal it's to 'understand' it. 

What happens when you understand something clearly?

The next steps, actions, and directions become obvious - they seem to reveal themselves. [Some may also call this a solution. ;)]

Whenever I have a session with my own coach, no matter where we are at in our exploration at the end of the hour, I always feel good and satisfied about where we leave things. Not because I always get to a crystal clear understanding of the topic at hand, but because I have explored areas - from angles previously unseen - that give me a different perspective to further consider.

I have a clear path forward to direct my focus, even if I haven't 'solved my problem.'

The reality of such sessions are:

• I still have some loose ends and things I don't know the answer to
• I have greater insight - and thus information - to call upon in order to approach the situation differently (/more effectively)
• There is reduced pressure to know how to do it/fix it/change it - i.e. reduced pressure to be perfect
   

If I can have this experience of greater freedom and ease in a coaching session, why couldn't I have it in life in general?

I can.

You can.

We can.

Not gonna lie, it takes Practice! And it's not instant or fast. But when we shift our focus to understanding over solutions, life starts feeling way better.

Day 140: Perfectionism Trap

A theme that keeps resurfacing for me lately is perfectionism.

The more I've been learning about myself, the less hidden this trip-up is becoming - which is great! And it's also really annoying.

"Ugh, Perfectionism, you strike again!!"

This thought has popped into my head more times than I would like over the past few months.

It's quite mind blowing how massively deep and wide the hold perfectionism has on my life; from which all-or-nothing thinking is a result.

I thought about making a list of all the areas perfectionism tries to control. But got overwhelmed at the idea and no longer wanted to do it (or perhaps didn't want to see it). It's a long list. Of that, I'm certain.

So, if perfectionism is such a puppet-master, how do I know when it's at work?

This will be different for each of us, but for me it shows up most prominently in the following ways:

• There is no middle ground. It's one thing or the other, right or wrong, good or bad.
• Things need to be instant. 
• A learning curve is NOT ok. 
• If you don't have the answers, you're failing. 
• And if you're not naturally skilled at something then you might as well not even try.

Ouch. This last one for me is particularly painful to realize. 

As someone who has always been pretty 'high-achieving' (by whose standards, specifically? I can't even tell you), I did what came easily to me: academics and art. 

The message was cemented in my little brain at a very young age that the areas in which I received outside validation were the areas I needed to spend my time.

Seeing this with fresh eyes as an adult is gross.

I've been holding myself back in soooo many ways and didn't even know it! Missing out on the thrill of trying new things, enjoying the process, and ultimately expanding my potential.

Why?

Because of fear.

The fear of not being good enough.

I think this is a fear we all have, in some form. The question I'm learning to ask myself now is:  

Good enough for who?

Day 139: Late Night Cravings

When a craving strikes, check-in with all areas of the body associated.

For example, I got the idea that I had a taste for sweets.

My tongue was salivating.

 

 

I checked in with my stomach - it was closed for the night.

 
Stomach already had it's slippered feet up and was sitting behind a newspaper.

Hmm, doesn't look like you two are in agreement. Stomach has the final call on this kind of thing and he's not interested in sweets right now.

And with that, the craving had no other choice than to scram!
...After peeking through the window a few more times...

Day 138: Political Thoughts from the Porcelain Throne

Sometimes the greatest inspiration or insight strikes while occupying the Porcelain Throne. 

As you will quickly see, the below is no exception. And perhaps it's a little too literal for some. 

If that is your experience, I make no apologies.
I give you:  

Potty Politics

 

Day 137: Thoughts of 2019

I found some old thoughts scribbled on scrap paper recently. 

Every time this happens it's always interesting to see what I wrote.
And often, I'll find myself reading something that leaves me feeling (dare I say it?!) inspired or moved in some way.  

[affirmative head nod] 'Ok, past me . . . !'

 

This time it was the cats & babies idea, obviously.

 

- True story by the way! 

I was riding the bus with my sister years ago and I heard what sounded like a cat.

"Did you hear that?" I asked my sister. "That sounded like a cat!"

I turned around, completely expecting to see a baby behind me somewhere. 

There was no baby.

What I did see was a woman with a cat carrier sitting on her lap and a little kitty face peeking out through the door.

"There IS a cat on the bus!!"

I had never been so excited on public transportation.

Well, that's not true. I was pretty darn excited when I saw the squirrel - but that's a story for another day.

 

You can't see the date, but these thoughts were penned in 2019 - almost to the day, June 9th-ish.

It's always so cool, a bit surprising, and reassuring to see that the new ways of thinking and perspectives I am fully shifting into in present day, were making themselves knows in the past in subtle ways.

It's easy to forget that we really do know the things [thoughts/perspectives/beliefs] that are best for us. These notes are proof - at least to me!

I think the disconnect comes from the lack of awareness and understanding of how to actually incorporate such self-knowledge.

In case you couldn't read from the pictures above, here are the wise bits [edited for spelling/grammar]:

No human is ever destined for just one thing. That's why we change and grow.

 &

No one truly knows, without any doubts, what they are doing.
But we all have our areas that we feel "completely in our element."
Perhaps it's seeing others in those areas that leads us to
believe the lie that everyone has their life figured out.

With these ideas in mind, we can start to integrate them by asking ourselves:

What growth have I experienced over the years?
What opportunities became available to me because of the growth?
Given the changes I've already experienced, what's possible for me in the future?

When do I feel "completely in my element" (no matter the duration of time)?
What happens when I feel "completely in my element"?
What factors might I be able to incorporate into every day life?

Day 136: Hair Indecision