Purification & Detirmination

Monday, March 9th

PERSONAL
Purification and Determination - two things that usually occupy my every Monday morning.

The purification part starts with cleaning my office and, while I do that, thinking about things I regret and would like to do differently. From impatience with my two little girls, to one too many days sipping wine. I'm by no means a slosh, having only 3 to 4 glasses of the red on average in a week, but still I grabbed for a bottle last Tuesday much to the disdain of my 6 year old:

"Daddy - what are you doing? This isn't Daddy day or anything!"

Don't you love 'em? No beating around the bush. 6 years old and full of wisdom. So that gives me pause, I wonder. Hmmm - maybe getting tooooo carried away here? Nothing to be alarmed about, but Monday's the day to catch things before they get to crisis stage. To look at my life again and ask: am I still going in the direction I want to be going?

And then comes the determination - setting goals, both value based and S.M.A.R.T based. Setting resolve is essential. It's not saying: "These are things that I want to do." It's saying: "I will do these things. I will move in this direction." One can really understand and feel strongly that an action is the right thing to do, without really having the resolve to do it. It's the person who jumps into the sea to save the drowning person that has resolve, the ones who watch helplessly from the shore, full of the knowledge of what they know is the thing to do, are the wanters, the hopers, the would-if-I-could-but-I-am-not-sure-yet. I am always hovering about somewhere there, but...

One of my wonderful teachers Marj once recommended: "Why don't you quit hoping and do something about it?"

Mondays: purification and determination.