Has Your Cup Sprung a Leak?
By Suzanne Bird-Harris • Aug 25th, 2008 • Category: Motivational Monday •
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When our cup is not ‘runneth over’, sometimes it’s not because we aren’t trying to fill it. Sometimes, it’s the little cracks and leaks our cup has developed over time that are sabotaging our best efforts at leading fulfilled lives.
One of the most insidious ‘leaks’ I found in my own cup was caused by all the ’shoulds’ I had been telling myself. I ’should’ do this, I ’should’ do that, I ’should’ go here, I ’should’ be there…so much that it got to the point I couldn’t really enjoy the present because no matter how great it was, those ’shoulds’ were still in the back of my mind, siphoning off the joy I was feeling.
An even bigger leak was caused by all the things I was tolerating about my life – either things I didn’t like that I couldn’t see how to change, or things I didn’t like that I didn’t have the time, money, energy or space to address right away.
All those ’shoulds’ and tolerations eat away at your sense of joy in life. They badger you from the back burner of your mind and sap your energy in the sneakiest of ways. We’ve all got them. So, this week, get yourself a notebook and start getting them out of your head and down on paper. The idea is to free up mental ’space’ by documenting them somewhere other than in your head. Write down everything from “I should lose weight” to “Get an tune up done on the car.”
For the next 7 days, write all these things down as they occur to you – get them out of your head! Don’t berate yourself for how long your list gets, or worry about how you’re going to resolve them. Watch how much more relaxed you become just knowing the ’shoulds’ are written down somewhere and won’t be forgotten. It’s incredible what clearing out all that mental clutter will do for your energy levels!
Tip: depending on the nature of some of your list items, you might want to keep your notebook away from the prying eyes of others. This is your brain dump, and it’s nobody else’s business, ok? The last thing I want to do is give you another thing to stress over!
Remember, this week, you’re just documenting, doing a brain dump of all the things that stress you and sap your sense of joy. Just patching up a few of those leaks in your cup, that’s all.
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Suzanne Bird-Harris is a web designer, coach, blogger, speaker, mother, grandmother and student of life and living. She will "unass your website" so it works for you, not againstyou in a way that gives you autonomy you can grow into. She'll do the same thing for you by coaching you through the learning curves of creating the life you really want to live. Visit Suzanne and download your copy of her e-books, "WordPress: What's In It For Me?" and "Go to the Balcony to Get a Grip".
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OMG, that is such an awesome suggestion. I am a disorganized procrastinator, and when you add how much I fret over the little things, you get a clear picture of just how unhappy I am most days. I think doing a brain dump will clear my head. Maybe I’ll be able to hear my characters, and get some writing in!
Thanks for the tip. I’ll chime in over the weekend to let you know if it worked!