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Oh man, I did not want to write this post! I wanted to hide my head in shame and bite my pillow ***. But I said I would do a follow up to the Laser Focus Positivity Challenge, and so I shall. You may recall, a few weeks ago I proposed a challenge to myself and my readers. But dear friends, I did not rise to the occasion. Did I flunk my own positivity challenge? Not quite. Overall I would give myself a C-minus.
Here’s a spreadsheet I created to track my progress. The evidence shows I fared much better with habits I wanted to ditch, than those I wanted to add. (I used check marks for yes and Xs for no)
On the first day I checked off meditation, but what the spreadsheet doesn’t show is that I fell asleep! And I did it again on day two. On day three I switched from evening meditation to afternoon meditation and that was the magic bullet. I remained awake!
I only spent eight minutes watching Eckhart Tolle on video—but you know what? I realized on video he’s BORING! (That’s not very positive, is it?) I’ll stick to his books. Power walking has been a cinch but it’s already part of my daily routine. And I certainly can do better on being grateful. But is it cheating if you say the same thing more than once? My daily routine is often really dull.
I was much better at refraining from saying the “F” word more than once daily, except I totally blew it the first Wednesday when I caught up with a co-worker by phone. During that same phone conversation I fell deeply into gossiping, although overall, I improved on that end. The gossiping will diminish more after I quit my job.
Surfing the internet is still my Achilles heel. I like to think it’s relaxing and helps me let go of my day. But truthfully, I sometimes surround myself with noise to distract myself from doing more important things. Mr. Groovy has a great morning routine. I need a great evening routine.
I called two friends. I spoke to one several weeks prior but months had gone by before I caught up with the other. And I didn’t say “I can’t” even once. Arising before 7:45 on weekends was a breeze.
The last two days of the challenge were a blur. I received a call with some sad and unexpected news. Over the next few days I felt weighted down and hardly did a thing—perhaps a subject for another post.
So how did my fearless readers do? Well, several had some great goals:
Colin from Rebel with A Plan vowed to drink water every morning after waking up.
Sue prepared an excellent chart outlining her goals. One major goal was to lose 25 pounds by December 1st for which she included a meal plan.
Harmony at Creating My Kaleidoscope checked in regarding her husband who’s been feeling a little down. Her recent post about their family vacation in Bar Harbor Maine may have done the trick. Hmm, I wonder if all that blueberry ice cream helped?
Lila at Artsy Finance was focusing on “The Secret.”
Penny from She Picks Up Pennies turned me on to the Calm app. I downloaded it and quickly forgot it was on my phone. What does that say about my commitment to meditate?
Jon from Be Net Worthy wanted to stop being tempted by nachos and cheeseburgers!
ZJ Thorne was working on a reverse bucket list, reminding herself of how far she has come.
Emily over at John and JaneDoe attempted to unplug from the internet after 6 pm and enjoy family time. She then modified her position to giving up mindless internet. There’s a distinction, of course.
Maggie from Northern Expenditure planned to study Cambodian, exercise and meditate.
Charles Franklin (@CreativeDropout on Twitter) posted his list:
Things I already do:
- Gratitude List
- Meditate
- Exercise
Things I can do (or need to do more):
- Mentally dirt-dive
- No complaint challenge
- More unscheduled fun!
And then Charles gave an update two weeks later:
- No-complaint challenge: I set up a 7-day challenge. The longest streak was 2 days. I gave up but still complained less.
- Mental Dirt-diving (Meditation): I have restarted meditation (5 minutes) to begin my day (after exercise) and to end my day.
- More unscheduled fun: Not sure yet. I have introduced play into my life with challenges (Today’s challenge is to do a flat-footed squat for 30 total minutes.)
He’s certainly on the right path. Way to go Charles!
So where do I go from here? My first step is to commit right now to one thing that may possibly have a roll-over effect on all of my goals—meditation. I will meditate every day for at least five minutes, either on my own or using an app.
What about you? What habits do you want to develop to bring more positive vibes into your life? Which ones do you want to get rid of?
***The reference to biting my pillow comes from our favorite movie, Waiting for Guffman. You either love this one or you hate it. We make a ritual of watching it at least once a year, usually around Mr. Groovy’s birthday. Enjoy the clip—and see if you can guess which line gives me the most pleasure. It’s one I often mimic—and no, it’s not in the spirit of positivity.
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