Getting on the road to happiness whilst side stepping a viper

Friday 20 February 2015

Drizzly with short sunny periods
8 degrees

Why did I tell OH I would go with him to the perishing rental units for the mornings during the weeks to come - well to get things finished more quickly.  Put dog in the shed as he had been very naughty during the night and made a terrible mess on the kitchen floor.  I had awoken extremely early, excited about a website project, and had had to battle with a recalcitrant plastic top on the bleach bottle for a good five minutes.  By 9 am I felt very tired but non the less, we got to town and I went for some bread and cake.  There was a guy lurking by the fountain, and he looked strangely familiar.  

'Heuy' he intoned, nasally.  Oh God, it was last year's buyer of my nightmares, who has still to sign on his property, and there he was, large as life, and twice as viperous.  He shook my hand limply and his wife whimpered 'everywhere is closed - where can we get coffee?'.  I sent them off to the Betting Shop at the far end of town.  That will be an eye opener for them.  The guy has a habit of looking over your shoulder when you are talking to him, and slithering his eyes sideways to focus on you for a moment, before sliding off in another direction.  He claimed to be the young estate agent of the year in his native country.  I wouldn't buy a dog from him.

Somewhat shaken, I report back to OH, who is only actually interested in the cake.  Spend morning scraping paint off badly painted windows and doors and then go and have a look at OH's tiling activity in the upstairs bathroom.   He has spread around the grout with liberal abandon, and then not wiped any of it off.  It looks like a two year old has done it.  He has also left a huge amount of mess in the bath, the bidet, the sink and the kitchen.  I am in a very bad mood by the time I finish.  Back home with stony silence for lunch.

Walk dog and think about Abundance - inspired and taken from The Abundance Project

Number One: Make Up Your Mind

Decide what you want out of life and then plan to take charge of your life. Not just the big things, but the seemingly unimportant things too. Really take the time to analyze your circumstances and decide what you want. There may be small things you do because you feel like you have to; you don’t. Decide what you do want and make those things happen. Everything you decide you want in your life may not happen right away, but if you’ve truly made up your mind, they will happen in time.

Number Two: Let the Loudest Voice be Your Own

There are so many people around us all the time that think they should speak up about our lives. Well-meaning friends and family tell us every day what they think we should do and how you should take charge of your life. Sure, they may have some good advice, but they are not you! They don’t know what your dreams are and they can’t possibly know exactly what you’re feeling. Although receiving advice can be helpful, there is no voice that should be louder than your own. Put everyone else’s voice on mute and listen to your inner gut. Do what you feel is right for you!

Number Three: Speak Positively in Your Own Mind

In order to take charge of your life, your inner voice must be positive. If you are running the show, you better be confident. Whenever fear creeps in or negative thoughts start to overrule, acknowledge that they are there and move on! As quickly as you can, get back to a place where you know you can succeed. Soon, you will train your mind to think positively and to be confident in your own capabilities. Use the power of your thoughts to propel you forward through your life.

Number Four: Get Up and Get Busy

Instead of letting life rule you, you’ve decided that now you’re in charge! What an amazing change, right? Right, but in order to be in charge of your own life you have to get up and get busy! Nothing you want to experience in life is going to just happen, you have to go out into the world and create your own experiences. If you’ve always wanted to fall in love, you have to start dating. In order to start dating you have to meet people and socialize. You will never socialize if you’re sitting at home, but you might if you get up and get yourself out with friends! Along the same lines, if you’ve always wanted to be fluent in French, you have to sign up for a class and study; you have to get busy!

Number Five: Re-think the “Why”

We’ve already discussed in number 1 that it is important to make up your mind about what you want to do. However, another important component of taking charge of your life is to analyze why you want what you want. Make sure you are doing things for you; it is your life after all. Make sure that you’re not doing what your parents want you to do or what your friends are all busy doing. What you should be doing every day is what you really want to do or taking the steps to get to what you really want. Life truly is too short to waste time pursuing things you’re not interested in. Strive for your goals and spend time doing things that make YOU happy.

Number Six: Stop Procrastinating

Ask yourself this, if you died tomorrow what would be your greatest regret? Is there anything in life you’ve always wanted to do but you just keep putting it off? Take charge of your life by putting an end to procrastination. Start doing those things that you’ve always wanted to do and start becoming the person you want to be today.

Number Seven: Take Responsibility of Your Life

Stop blaming your life circumstances on anyone or anything. You are in charge so start taking full responsibility of your life. When there’s no one to blame but you, you might just find that you start doing something to improve your circumstances. Once your thought process changes and you take responsibility for your own life, you will realize that what happens to you is entirely up to you!

Number Eight: Prepare Yourself

Seneca, the Roman philosopher, said, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Prepare yourself for whatever you aspire to. Maybe it’s something small like learning to paint or going on a morning run 3 times a week or maybe it’s something big like being a better Father or landing the perfect job. Whatever it may be, prepare yourself mentally and physically and you just might “get lucky”.

Number Nine: Do Not Complain

Last but not least, don’t complain; ever. Complaining does absolutely no good, period. Whenever you feel like complaining take action. Start to analyze your complaints and decide whether there is anything that can be done to fix them. There is almost always something to be done: do it and stop whining. You’re in control now.

Number Ten: Start Now

Take charge of your life by making a list of all the qualities that you want to be possess. Once you have your list, don’t waste any more time, start being that person! Do as many of those things as you can every day. If you’ve always thought that one day you would wake up early enough every day to watch the news and read the paper before work, then start doing it today. As Bob Dylan wisely said, “Act the way you’d like to be and soon you’ll be the way you’d like to act.”

http://www.theabundanceproject.com/