Starting a New Day and a New Life

The Marina on this morning’s walk

Good Day, God!

People asked us on our  recent travels, “Why did you leave home?” The message was clear. Why leave Hawaii? Why indeed!

Actually, I am not the traveler in our family. I travel to see our daughters and grandsons. Kit is the one who prompts all our other trips. I go . . . and I enjoy. It is my nature to enjoy.

Alas, that gift — if not balanced by a certain awareness of imperfections — leads me to slip into complacency. And therein lies the benefit of Travel for me, God. I come home and actually see: my office, our home, my varied piles of decisions still undecided. Yikes!

The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal

In a way, returning home after time away is like beginning a New Year. There is an Open Space wanting to be filled with New Resolutions. Oh, the Joy of New Resolutions to those of us who are biological optimists! Past failures are merely prelude to upcoming successes. Ah, no matter that my rational mind demurs. Hope Billows Up!

So, in that vein, I am starting The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It, by Kelly McGonigal. I think this is the THIRD book on Willpower that I have bought, and by now I have a few facts in hand. For example, I know that we need to do more than just try to STOP a habit. We have to REPLACE it with something else . . . hopefully more beneficial. And I have also learned just how essential it is to ferret out the very beginning point or urge before the action.

Still, God, what I need are proven strategies! And this is what Kelly McGonigal promises — all tested by her hundreds of students in her classes. And guess what the first exercise she recommended, God? Meditating or (for me) Centering Prayer — as an exercise in Awareness. How good to merge the Spiritual and the Practical, God!

Oh Joy! New Opportunities to coordinate my Will Power, my Won’t Power and my Want Power!

Story teller,

Tagged with: , , , ,
Posted in A Spiritual Spring Cleaning, Books, courage to see myself, Rethinking, self care as self compassion and humility, slow incremental change

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blogs I Follow
Brené Brown

chatting and sometimes, listening

Rachel Naomi Remen

chatting and sometimes, listening

A Moment with God

chatting and sometimes, listening

Sacred Dance Guild Journal

Since 1958 articles by members & guests offer news about activities, history, Sacred Dance practices, profiles of Sacred Dancers, choreography, images & illustrations.

Victoria Paulsen

How to Step In -- Substitute Teaching

Brené Brown

chatting and sometimes, listening

Rachel Naomi Remen

chatting and sometimes, listening

A Moment with God

chatting and sometimes, listening

Sacred Dance Guild Journal

Since 1958 articles by members & guests offer news about activities, history, Sacred Dance practices, profiles of Sacred Dancers, choreography, images & illustrations.

Victoria Paulsen

How to Step In -- Substitute Teaching

%d bloggers like this: