A Dog's Thoughts on Thankfulness.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am running in the local Turkey Trot (ha!) before chowing down (non 4 hour body style!) and enjoying the day with my sweet Chris and the rest of my family, who I am beyond grateful for.

I love Mary Oliver's writing, and found this poem that is one of a series she wrote. I love this poem, based on what her dog, Percy, would say about how we should live our life and thought it was indeed fitting, as we give thanks today. As much as I give thanks during the holidays for all the blessings I have, I want to live my life like Thanksgiving is each day. I think Percy got it right.

I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life

Love, love, love, says Percy.

And hurry as fast as you can

along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.

Give up your body heat, your beating heart.

Then, trust.

--Mary Oliver

Practicing Brutal Focus

Focus, Focus, Focus.

One of my all time favorite blogs, Copyblogger, recently had a great post about mastering the craft of writing. (No small topic there!) One of the tips was...Focus, focus, focus. Quite an applicable tip not only for mastering writing, but for mastering life.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what it means to practice peacefulness. (A little daunting.) It seems that "practicing brutal focus," as Copyblogger puts it, is a key to practicing peacefulness.

Focus, focus, focus.

Our list of to-do's each day grows longer and longer and ultimately distracts us from the important things we should be focused on. Important work takes a back seat to whichever tasks, even unimportant ones, scream the loudest.

What are all the things that have filled our day that are essentially just distractions that should be ignored? Part of cultivating peacefulness, efficiency, and purpose means deciding what things are relevant to take in and what things we have to let go of and tune out.

Ignoring something doesn't necessarily mean you're ignorant.

Focus, focus, focus.

Focusing is a choice. When we choose to say yes to anything (yes to our health, yes to our family, yes to doing great work) we are inevitably choosing to say no to something (no to what's on tv tonight, no to another activity that demands our time.) Saying no to certain things is ok. In fact, necessary. Having priorities and giving 100% to something means saying no to one thing and yes to that priority.

I want the time and energy to do the things that matter. And as the time of year comes where the world's noise is off the charts and my to-do list is longer than ever, I'm taking the challenge to wake up each day and be focused, focused, focused. On the things that matter.

Got Tea?

Well, I'm not sure what happened. But about two weeks ago, my hyped-up-on-coffee-self woke up and decided that I liked tea. After years of avoiding it (even to my mom's dislike) I had a change of heart and decided I was a tea girl after all.

And so, I'm on the hunt for some tea recommendations. I'm not sure who of my readers are tea drinkers, but I've had a thermos of tea permanently attached to my hand for the last few weeks and feel like I'm going to burn out on my current tea choices if I don't get some outside help :)

Therefore, I'm soliciting any and all tea recommendations. Please share with this addict pictured below? (I figured posts are better with pictures anyway)

And PS. Mom, I'm glad to know how happy this change of heart makes you. :)

PPS. Decaf recommendations please :)

Don't forget. (A few reminders.)

As I alluded to in my earlier post, I recently returned back from a major work event that I was on the core planning team for. It was a week full of lot of highs and lows. There were moments when I felt like my strengths shined through, and other situations that made my weaknesses painfully obviuos. I don't know that I've ever felt so encouraged and surrounded by people who care about me, while at the same time feeling so vulnerable and criticized by others. A funny dichotomy.

Rather than be my lengthy, verbose self (well, I still might be) and write at length about my particular experiences, I decided to write a letter to you. To me. It doesn't matter whether you were the person in the "right" or the "wrong." Regardless of that, these are a few lessons I hope that I won't quickly forget.

Dear 27 year old me (and you who's reading this,)

Always remember that friends give friends the benefit of the doubt. If you feel like you've been wronged, try to expect the best, before you assume the worst.

Just because you might be different than "them" you are not better than they are. Stop acting like it.

Your strengths are only made complete by others, not by trying to do everything on your own.

Don't forget that though you may say only a few words, you can do a lot of damage. Be careful.

The people who frustrate you the most are usually the people you have the most to learn from.

You can make someone's day with just one compliment. Be generous in praising others and don't underestimate the power of your encouragement.

There's a way to give criticism and give it kindly. Whatever it takes, learn how to do this.

Remember the people who go out of your way to love you and encourage you. When you feel like you can't tell them thank you enough, just make sure you are that person for someone else.

Healthy people ask for what they need. Don't think you're better than this and try to be martyr. It doesn't make you a martyr. (It makes you stupid.)

Your goal each day should be to treat those around you in such a way that their day is a little better because of you. Pretty simple.

Don't forget.

Love,

Me

Mile Markers for Life.

Lululemon is my not-so-subtle obsession. Yes, I'm one of those girls that spends an obscene amount of money on workout clothes, but if you ask me about it, I can name 100 reasons why it's worth it. :) (This is a topic for another day.) However, Lululemon recently had a little social media campaign going that I thought was interesting.

They told their audience on twitter, facebook, and their blog to fill in the blank....

"I run because _____"

There were a variety of answers (some like "I run because I love ice cream!") and I thought it was fun to read these. But today it really got me thinking.

After an incredibly long week traveling, I'm finally home again getting back into my routine. The last few weeks of preparation for a work event was beyond challenging...it stretched me and tested me, and taught me more in a few weeks than I've probably learned in close to the last year combined. (More posts to come on this soon.) Anxious to get back into my normal routine, I went for my run this morning and was thinking about all the lessons that I've recently been learning (some that ain't so pretty.) I was on the last loop of my run and this question that Lululemon had posted about running came to mind. And the answer to it was very clear:

I run because it reminds me where I've come from.

I run because it's a constant reminder to me that life is about progress. Running is a physical act that shows us how far we've come from when we started (I couldn't run for 5 minutes just a few months ago and I can now run for over 6 miles) and it's a physical reminder of the fact that we have good days and bad days (ie: there are days when running a short 2 miles makes you think you might die, and other days when you breeze through 5 or 6 miles with no trouble.)

Running reminds me of the places I've been so that I can be grateful. It's an incredibly wonderful, tangible way to see the progress that I've made, because sometimes in the day-to-day busyness, I don't see that progress. Running reminds me.

But perhaps most importantly today, I was reminded that I don't often take note of how far I've come in growing as person because of the lessons I've learned. There's no "mile markers" to remind us of the ways we change as people, or to showcase the growth we've gone through internally. We don't always see the change in ourselves, but especially as I've learned some tough lessons recently, it's important that we make time to reflect and recognize these changes too.

Running is about physical progress and a tangible reminder of how far I've come. And that's important. But more importantly, we've got to remember that our daily life is full of signs of how far we've come. If we look for them.