Are you living your priorities?

”Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein. “  H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

How to Spend my Time?

I have a “to do” list in front of me today.  There are a few things on it that I have been putting off for no sound reason that I really feel that I need to get done and soon.  I have little stars by these items.  They are the “must do”s.  I can feel this inner pull to fritter away my time doing other things, distracting things.  The distractions are pulling at me like chocolate to a chocoholic.  In fact all my existing addictions are swimming around in my head as options.  They are escapes from this list of things that are important in my life but that I do not want to do. 

These items seem non-threatening.   Why am I trying to run from these things?  Some are just slightly out of my comfort zone….yes they are…and once completed they will lead to more things that are out of my comfort zone.  These are things that might bring me what I have dreamed about.  They might lead to new experiences.  Others on the list are chores.  They do not lead to anything new but they preserve something that I have already attracted or created.  If  I think about it, I think I might be tired of those things I am preserving.  Maybe it is time to move on or in some way change my relationship to those things.  So what are haunting me are both the future and the past.  Time to come back to the present moment. 

I realize that I have already determined that these things do matter to me right now.  In my heart I can feel that this is a good list.  If I stay present with them and look at them as things that I want to do now, and not bring the future or the past into the day, then I can do them and even enjoy it.  At the end of the day, I will feel really good about my self and my day. 

The sad thing is that if I do not do them, I might just say, “I didn’t have time for it”.  Well I do.  I have time for all the important things but I must do them.  I must identify them.  Look at them and see if I have any resistance so I can work through that and then get to it! 

I have been through this countless times.  I know how to deal with it.  I pause and take a little time to inquire within.  Who am I?  Why am I here?  What are my priorities?  What do I need to do right now to live my priorities?  What feelings are coming up when I think about this task?  What do I need to do to let go of the resistance?  Am I ready to do it now?  Every once in a while, I may even realize that the task in question is not really true to me.  It is not important, however, more often I am scared of something and I can deal with that. 

Sometimes through the day, I ask myself, “Are you living your priorities?”

I think it is particularly helpful when I catch myself with this icky feeling that I have been caught by one of my distractions.  I am immersed in it and I am not really having any fun, I am just doing it….sometimes the internet is my escape.  Why am I here?  What is the purpose of this?  Like many addictive things, they can be good and useful in moderation but they are also wonderful places to lose your “self” and escape from reality. 

I want to do good things with my life.  I want to have no regrets at the end of my 1000 years. I do have the same amount of time in each day as the many people who have made a tremendous impact on the planet.  I may or may not achieve their notoriety and that makes no difference to me.  There have been many people silently and diligently working to fulfill their purpose with a great deal of commitment and passion that we will never hear about.  But I want to fulfill that purpose, my purpose. I want to do what brings me joy and in my heart I feel that those two things are in alignment with each other.  What brings me joy, pure true joy, is my purpose.  I want to do that!   That is my priority!

Today’s Challenge:

You have one whole week of unscheduled, unscripted time to do what brings you the most joy.  Imagine that?  What does that look like?  7 Days of living for the joy it brings! 

I can’t wait to hear what you do with that? 

Sue Dolamore

Heart of Prosperity

Life Coaching