Amanda's Musings

(Originally published 1 August 2015) This is one of my morning rituals, that I perform to put myself in a positive mood. I devised it to help combat the emotional pain and sometime despair that plagued me all too often when I contemplated the poor management, negligence, and dissatisfaction I experience at work. After more than a year and a half of active looking, I still have not secured the right position, but I rarely feel demoralized and hopeless these days, and this has been one of the tools to help me. After brewing my morning coffee, I get out my journal, and using different colors on alternating lines (this isn't essential, I just like the visual impact), I write the words "Breathe in ____. Breathe in _____." Sometimes I will pair alliterative attributes such as Strength and Success, Flexibility and Focus, Purpose and Passion. Other times I will pair a longer word and a shorter one so as to fit them on a single line, so that "Breathe in" appears at the...

(Originally published 25 December 2014) I’ve made my peace with scaling back on gift buying, given the economy and my (so far) unsuccessful attempts to obtain a better-paying job. And then I ended up sick, and have put off joining my sister and brother-in-law for a holiday get-together. So I find myself contemplating the giving and receiving of gifts. In my status today, I posted this: “In this season, & on this day of exchanging gifts, what non-material gifts will you pledge to yourself? A gift of time, of planning, of acceptance, support or encouragement? What will help you most?” I don’t claim to have any great words of wisdom, just the sense that what really matters most, and what will benefit our lives in the most profound ways, are those intangibles that only we can bestow: the changes in attitude, thoughts, actions, habits and patterns that can lead to consistent—if slow—progress toward our most cherished fitness, organizational, relationship, financial, emotional health...

(Originally published 8 September 2013)  "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." — Albert Schweitzer That was my update today. I found it in a tapping (EFT) book I got from the library. I mentioned 2 other books I got on tapping in my last blog. I got them from the library, too, & I’ve since purchased both of them so I can review them as often as I want. I thought I might stop there, but I had picked up another library book, Freedom at Your Fingertips compiled by Ron Ball, and decided to open it up & skim. The opening chapter “The Basics of EFT” by Ron Ball is followed by chapters covering such subjects as “Abundance & Prosperity," "Addictions," "Blockages & Obstacles," "Fears & Phobias," "Pain Management,” “Procrastination” & “Weight Loss” (plus more besides), all by a different EFT practitioner or expert. I was intrig...

(Originally published 19 April 2012)  I had an epiphany of sorts in the shower this morning, which is where they often seem to come to me, and I hope I can recall those thoughts that flowed through my consciousness some eleven hours ago. I think I had been repeating some of the affirmations I've developed to encourage a shift in my attitudes around organizing and decluttering: "I easily let go of what I no longer need; I joyfully release all that does not serve me." (I like that this can apply to excess weight, limiting beliefs, judgements, toxic relationships, not just clutter.) "I easily choose a good place for what I own; I enjoy putting things in a good home." I was contemplating the decisions that have to be made — do I keep it? where should it go? how often does it get used? where do I use it? is it easy to access? should it be stored? where? in what? — in decluttering, and how overwhelming answering all those questions can be. In trying to reframe h...

(Originally published 23 December 2011)  It’s been a sad Solstice week at work. One of my coworkers, Gale, had scheduled several weeks off for an operation and recovery. The surgery went fine on Monday, but Tuesday, she went into cardiac arrest and was put on life support. Wednesday her husband called to say she was gone, because there was no brain activity. Her body wasn’t ready to let go, and Thursday there was no resolution. Her husband and sister told her it was OK to leave. We finally got word today (Friday) that she had passed. When it became clear that the person she had been was no longer here, I prayed for the Goddess to take Her daughter home, and for Gale to let go and be with the angels. I didn’t want her family to have every Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to come be an anniversary of losing her. For the last several days I’ve been struck by numerous things. I’m reminded of how precious life is, and that we never know how long we or the people around us have. Tellin...