Before sending out today's moment, I've taken more than a few moments to try and locate a particular quote that seems to sum up my thinking from the last week. It took just a little doing, but here it is.
“If you want to forget all your other troubles, wear too tight shoes.”
Aha! Indeed today's moment is all about being good to your foot! The inspiration? You guessed it. I spent some time in too tight shoes!
Actually, I wouldn't say my shoes were truly too tight. It was more that they were what I call 'grown-up' shoes - and my feet prefer to remain in childhood.
I have actually arranged my life so I don't wear grown-up shoes very often. When I do, I wonder if my feet might feel better if I were used to them. But then I think that I'm clearly just not used to pain - and after all is pain something I truly desire to get used to? NOT!
Like most women, I admire the look of a lovely shoe - and stand (though I'd prefer to sit) in awe of women who seem to wear heels - or pointy toes or some other apparent form of torture - as if it were nothing. But I'm not a woman who seems able to pull off that appearance of ease. I'd like to. But it just ain't happening!
So I've started a new motto - I choose to be good to my foot. I've abused my feet enough in ridiculous shoes - and now I choose to heal what's left of my aching feet.
As per William James who said if you want to make a change, you should do it immediately, flamboyantly, and make no exceptions - I made an appointment with a podiatrist this very day. I've noticed more than what I think of as the usual discomfort in even moderately grown-up shoes - enough that my ability to exercise has begun to be compromised.
I've tried the usual strategies - denial, sloth, shopping - and none have alleviated the pain to meet my satisfaction. So now I'm going to put my feet into the hands of an expert. I expect to get expert treatment, a list of things I can do to make my feet feel better, and expert advice on shoes.
I expect that when my feet feel better, life will look a lot more pleasant and I might just be a nicer person. Maybe you'd like to join me. Be good to your foot!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Monday Moment - Put Fear at Bay
To throw a party and nobody comes. That's a nagging little fear that I'd love to banish from my life forevermore. I haven't found the secret, but I'm working on it!
This particular fear is in my mind this week because after months of planning, organizing, soliciting, and inviting, will be our Partnership for Ontario County's Auction for Kids' Sake. The Partnership's Board has been telling me ever since I started working with them last April that fundraising needs to be my primary focus. So the auction is my responsibility - the party that I'm throwing this coming Thursday.
It's a party that has been thrown before - with at least a reasonable success. It's my job to turn that reasonable success into a BIG success.
From the beginning, it's been clear that we had two tasks - solicit great stuff to auction off and get the right people in the room who want to buy what we've gathered.
I set ambitious goals for both tasks. I wanted to double the value of what we have to sell - and though we haven't yet met the goal, we've been getting closer. And I wanted to double the number of people in the room - which I won't know if we'll achieve until Thursday. Hence the nagging little fear's invitation back into my soul.
As with other things I can't control, I'm trying to not obsess. The Board and I have done what we can to advertise, publicize, and make people aware of what we're doing. And though I'll keep doing that right up to show time, I can't really control how many people will actually show up. I'd love to feel confident and sure - and still there's that nagging fear.
So that's my head-work this week - to put the fear into its place and not let it sabotage my confidence, to fully celebrate the successes that we have and will achieve - even if my own ambitious goals are not fully realized. And to learn and grow from whatever happens - which is ever so much more likely if I can push the fear aside.
Yup, that's the work. Wish me luck!
This particular fear is in my mind this week because after months of planning, organizing, soliciting, and inviting, will be our Partnership for Ontario County's Auction for Kids' Sake. The Partnership's Board has been telling me ever since I started working with them last April that fundraising needs to be my primary focus. So the auction is my responsibility - the party that I'm throwing this coming Thursday.
It's a party that has been thrown before - with at least a reasonable success. It's my job to turn that reasonable success into a BIG success.
From the beginning, it's been clear that we had two tasks - solicit great stuff to auction off and get the right people in the room who want to buy what we've gathered.
I set ambitious goals for both tasks. I wanted to double the value of what we have to sell - and though we haven't yet met the goal, we've been getting closer. And I wanted to double the number of people in the room - which I won't know if we'll achieve until Thursday. Hence the nagging little fear's invitation back into my soul.
As with other things I can't control, I'm trying to not obsess. The Board and I have done what we can to advertise, publicize, and make people aware of what we're doing. And though I'll keep doing that right up to show time, I can't really control how many people will actually show up. I'd love to feel confident and sure - and still there's that nagging fear.
So that's my head-work this week - to put the fear into its place and not let it sabotage my confidence, to fully celebrate the successes that we have and will achieve - even if my own ambitious goals are not fully realized. And to learn and grow from whatever happens - which is ever so much more likely if I can push the fear aside.
Yup, that's the work. Wish me luck!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Monday Moment - Self-Righteous Home Improvement
In the last week, I've deviated from my standard 300 minutes of intentional exercise - and counted activity that wasn't precisely exercise but focused instead on cleaning up, hoeing out, and entirely emptying my living room. Why? Because even as I write two guys are laying brand new carpet in said living room!
I am - and have been - nearly drooling in anticipation of how much new, clean flooring will make in that room and in my outlook. Said anticipation has fueled the energy required to do all the above - which as any who know me will testify is not at all my preferred use of time.
I detest cleaning, am genetically predisposed to pack-rattery, and therefore feel a nagging sort of implied criticism bombarding me from the vast populations more organized than I, more concerned with impeccable housekeeping, and too often self-righteously asserting that life is better when lived in simplicity. Bah Humbug!
From Feng Shui to the outbreak of professional organizers, my 'holier-than-thou' detection system gets a workout these days. 'Get rid of clutter and you'll feel better,' they proclaim. Blah, blah, blah! For me, the result rarely justifies the cost of the work.
So imagine my disgust when in fact, my anticipation of a bright fresh living room does include a wish for less clutter when it all gets put back together. My head is full of ways to eliminate, reduce, or hide a lot of the stuff that came out of the room - and the anticipation includes feeling good about a simpler living space. Rats! I hate it when I have to agree with the self-righteous!
And yet, I won't miss the stacks (and stacks) of magazines that I recycled. (I've stopped all but one subscription and stop off in the library's periodical room when I need a mag-fix.) I'll be pleased to finish off a few crafty projects that I no longer wish to own myself but that might bring a few dollars in a fundraising auction I'm organizing for our drug and alcohol prevention coalition. I'll be excited to display the things that hold true meaning for me - in ways that will allow them to be more fully seen and appreciated. Rats! I do hate it when the self-righteous are also right!
Of course I'm full of plans just now, and I'm certain that when I achieve those plans, I will feel a calm and self-righteous satisfaction. I'm also certain that my pack-ratting instincts will not be expunged from my being - and nor would I be happy if they were. I am a person who likes her stuff - and always will. The self-righteous can just step aside, because I can arouse a fair and righteous attitude about my stuff my own self!
Minimalism is not and never will be my goal, but a greater sense of balance is. For that one room - if not all through my home - I pledge to give, sell, and pitch some of the contents that have heretofore filled that space. I'm putting my house in order - and I'm feeling quite self-righteous about it, I must say!
I am - and have been - nearly drooling in anticipation of how much new, clean flooring will make in that room and in my outlook. Said anticipation has fueled the energy required to do all the above - which as any who know me will testify is not at all my preferred use of time.
I detest cleaning, am genetically predisposed to pack-rattery, and therefore feel a nagging sort of implied criticism bombarding me from the vast populations more organized than I, more concerned with impeccable housekeeping, and too often self-righteously asserting that life is better when lived in simplicity. Bah Humbug!
From Feng Shui to the outbreak of professional organizers, my 'holier-than-thou' detection system gets a workout these days. 'Get rid of clutter and you'll feel better,' they proclaim. Blah, blah, blah! For me, the result rarely justifies the cost of the work.
So imagine my disgust when in fact, my anticipation of a bright fresh living room does include a wish for less clutter when it all gets put back together. My head is full of ways to eliminate, reduce, or hide a lot of the stuff that came out of the room - and the anticipation includes feeling good about a simpler living space. Rats! I hate it when I have to agree with the self-righteous!
And yet, I won't miss the stacks (and stacks) of magazines that I recycled. (I've stopped all but one subscription and stop off in the library's periodical room when I need a mag-fix.) I'll be pleased to finish off a few crafty projects that I no longer wish to own myself but that might bring a few dollars in a fundraising auction I'm organizing for our drug and alcohol prevention coalition. I'll be excited to display the things that hold true meaning for me - in ways that will allow them to be more fully seen and appreciated. Rats! I do hate it when the self-righteous are also right!
Of course I'm full of plans just now, and I'm certain that when I achieve those plans, I will feel a calm and self-righteous satisfaction. I'm also certain that my pack-ratting instincts will not be expunged from my being - and nor would I be happy if they were. I am a person who likes her stuff - and always will. The self-righteous can just step aside, because I can arouse a fair and righteous attitude about my stuff my own self!
Minimalism is not and never will be my goal, but a greater sense of balance is. For that one room - if not all through my home - I pledge to give, sell, and pitch some of the contents that have heretofore filled that space. I'm putting my house in order - and I'm feeling quite self-righteous about it, I must say!
Monday Moment - The Tastes of Summer
I'm up to my neck in tomatoes. Or at least it seems that way, and I can't find it in me to complain.
Too many years, my tomatoes didn't really begin to ripen here in upstate NY until nearly September - and then we might get a frost by the middle of the month. Such results can make for a frustrated gardener!
But this year, a combination of factors means we've had more tomatoes in the garden than ever before. First, I've learned to choose varieties that have a 60-75 day ripening time frame. We can get frost here as late as May 30 so we really need fast tomato plants! Second, we had a hot summer. It was dry, but I've got a good watering system so my tomato plants were pretty happy campers. And third, we've had a summer that just won't quit - a very happy thing for tomato growers and for those of us whose denial about fall is so strong that we refuse to wear socks until at least October!
So I have a lot more tomatoes on the vine than two people can eat fresh - and my domesticity limits definitely include NO CANNING! I had to help my mom can tomatoes when I was a kid, and as much as I'd like those quart jars on my pantry shelves, it's not something I'm going to do, thank you very much!
But I will make salsa. It's a great way to use cherry and grape sized tomatoes, and yesterday I threw in lots of yellows and reds too (all from just 5 plants). Add some onion, a peach for sweetness, basil and cilantro fresh from the garden, a handful of jalepeno peppers (I buy those because if you set out 6 plants as they usually come, you might grow enough jalepenos to heat an entire city.) and a few serrano peppers from the garden. My food processor helps - and voila`, we have salsa - enough for today and enough to freeze for another day when the memory of summer needs a little jolt.
Just for fun, I looked up nutritional content for tomatoes and found - not surprisingly that they are an amazing food. Look for yourself at http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20lf.html. But you already knew all that didn't you? They're high in vitamins C and A, Potassium and Manganese - and remarkably low in calories.
But more than anything else, a juicy ripe tomato just tastes like summer! It's a flavor to savor as we do these beautiful sunny days that we know will sooner or later give way to shiver-filled winter. So please do excuse me now. I have another big basket of summer to savor!
Too many years, my tomatoes didn't really begin to ripen here in upstate NY until nearly September - and then we might get a frost by the middle of the month. Such results can make for a frustrated gardener!
But this year, a combination of factors means we've had more tomatoes in the garden than ever before. First, I've learned to choose varieties that have a 60-75 day ripening time frame. We can get frost here as late as May 30 so we really need fast tomato plants! Second, we had a hot summer. It was dry, but I've got a good watering system so my tomato plants were pretty happy campers. And third, we've had a summer that just won't quit - a very happy thing for tomato growers and for those of us whose denial about fall is so strong that we refuse to wear socks until at least October!
So I have a lot more tomatoes on the vine than two people can eat fresh - and my domesticity limits definitely include NO CANNING! I had to help my mom can tomatoes when I was a kid, and as much as I'd like those quart jars on my pantry shelves, it's not something I'm going to do, thank you very much!
But I will make salsa. It's a great way to use cherry and grape sized tomatoes, and yesterday I threw in lots of yellows and reds too (all from just 5 plants). Add some onion, a peach for sweetness, basil and cilantro fresh from the garden, a handful of jalepeno peppers (I buy those because if you set out 6 plants as they usually come, you might grow enough jalepenos to heat an entire city.) and a few serrano peppers from the garden. My food processor helps - and voila`, we have salsa - enough for today and enough to freeze for another day when the memory of summer needs a little jolt.
Just for fun, I looked up nutritional content for tomatoes and found - not surprisingly that they are an amazing food. Look for yourself at http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20lf.html. But you already knew all that didn't you? They're high in vitamins C and A, Potassium and Manganese - and remarkably low in calories.
But more than anything else, a juicy ripe tomato just tastes like summer! It's a flavor to savor as we do these beautiful sunny days that we know will sooner or later give way to shiver-filled winter. So please do excuse me now. I have another big basket of summer to savor!
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