Hello Chiquita: So sorry to hear that you had a rough night and are under the weather. Hope you’re feeling much better by the time you read this. It’s 1:11 a.m. and I’ve just finished hours of sponging and scraping nasty 1980s wallpaper in our upstairs bathroom. It’s just a border really, but it’s been stuck on with glue many moons ago, so it is quite a task. I’ve been at it for hours and have only finished about half of it. I could have waited to get a solvent at the store tomorrow, but decided to give it a shot with good ol’ H2O, a sponge and a scraper first. I was in such a foul mood tonight, it felt good to just lock myself in there and work patiently away at it.
One does learn life lessons in the oddest places, huh? There I was gingerly scraping and peeling the paper away and I was amazed at the power of patience and stick-to-itive-ness! I just imagined myself a monk in a monastery scrubbing away, just enjoying the process and not trying to hurry it along. In the end, I quite enjoyed it and almost made peace with being in this house. Eventually, I will have to, you know ! It’s this or a tent in the woods.
I learned another lesson while on an escape break from all the cleaning. I was watching the fabulous Suze Orman, financial guru, and she was advising a woman who had lost a lot of weight, but gained it all back and was afraid that the same would happen with her efforts at budgeting. She thought that she would work hard and be very frugal for two years, but was afraid she would tumble back to her old habits in time, ending up in the same financial mess eventually. Suze said strict budgets were exactly like strict diets. They’re bound to fail. If you restrict yourself from what you think you love, eventually, you will crave it and fall back to it. The trick she said, is to not want what is bad for you. So, learning to not want junk food, or overspending in this case. I can totally see it with the gambling thing. It is not about how long we can stay away, but how we can learn not to want it at all. (May not seem like a great aha to you, but I’m a slow learner when it comes to discipline, lol!)
Anyway, I ramble. Do feel better my friend and continue to be gentle with yourself.
Lotsa love.
RG
May you be safe and happy. May you be peaceful.– 6/27/2010 5:29:06 AM: post edited by runninggirl.
