Time to Clean the Pipes & Clean Up the Life

You gotta love being a home owner. It's empowering and gives you a sense of accomplishment. Sometimes when I am cooking or cleaning, I pause to take in the fact that this is my home. I am so grateful for it and I find myself thanking God a great deal for this beautiful place. It's so wonderful to sit in it and say, "this is mine".

Along with all the wonderful feelings of it being mine, comes the challenges a house brings to my life. The issues and little things that give the house character are equally mine. From the yard, the basement, the landscaping, the crevices and the pipes...speaking of the pipes, mine are kind of old. I've only been in this house a little over two years and I've had a plumber here about 5-6 times...For everything that uses the pipes, I've had a maintenance call. Kitchen sink, bathroom sink, toilet and most recently the shower...

I believe there is a lesson in everything that happens to us and when I had a stopped up shower, the plumber had to come and snake the drain. He did, cleaned it out and now there's a leak. I called them again and the owner said something that was profound; sometimes when we clean old pipes, there's a leak. The only thing that was keeping the pipe from leaking before was the old stuff that was stuck. Something like that, I'm paraphrasing.

That hit me harder than thinking there was a clog in my life. See, I've recently started studying Feng Shui. They say that Feng Shui experts can visit a person's house and see exactly where people are doing well in their lives and where they are not doing so well. My own experience; I see what I don't like and I can draw my own conclusion. No need to pay someone to tell me what I already know.

I have gook I need to clean up and clear out of my life. I think this has to do with some anxiety about the future. Many people may not tell you this (or maybe they will) but getting laid off of a job, even one that you hate, is an emotional roller coaster. I still believe it is a great opportunity to find out something new about yourself and try a new field, but it's also a test of what you're made of.

In the quest to be open and available to learn new things, I have gotten away from my goals; my specific and tangible goals. What I've been putting on random pieces of paper are too general and most of all, unfocused. This pipe cleaning experience has awakened my soul. It has put a new fire in me to clean up things in my life and in my mind and truly go after what I really want. I took a lesson from my college self, where I was the most goal-oriented, achievement driven person on the earth. 

I remember my goal sheets then were divided into sections of my life. There were goals, action steps and deadlines for each specific target. So, I decided to do the same thing now. I broke up my life into 8 sections with 5 goals each and working to accomplish these 40 goals in the last 40 days of 2011. They are the following in no particular order:

- Health & Beauty

- Spirituality

- Family

- Career

- Home

- Friends/Socially

- Travel/Leisure

- Creative

I am a firm believer that you don't have to wait until January to make up resolutions. You can resolve to be THE BEST YOU any time of the year; in fact, it should be EVERY TIME of the year. Are you truly living your best life? Do you have a clogged drain in your life? Do you fill your life up with junk and get lost in the mess? Are you afraid to move forward? If you answered "yes" to any of these, perhaps you should pull out a pad and jot down your goals too. We can do this!!

Oh yeah, can't forget the affirmation(s),

My respect & Love for Life reflects in my actions & reactions toward Life.

and

I know my Life has meaning and I make it meaningful every day.

This Ending is just the Beginning!!

OMG!! Where do I even start? It’s now past the end of the month and I have completed my cooking challenge and I’m reporting back now. It was a success…but I didn’t cook everyday. I still ended up dining out a few days, I think 6-7 times this month. Mostly, it was due to poor planning and fatigue. I’m okay with my results though because I have again learned more about myself this month.

Sometimes the challenge you set out to do is not the only lesson you’re apt to learn. There were some down days…where restless sleep was abundant, but there was some encouragement along the way, to GET UP and GET MOVING!! I did not spend very many days in the gym and did not rake one leaf, but did get the chance walk a great deal. More than usual.

Career-wise…things began to flourish. I got away from writing during this restless time, but my thinking and creativity increased in other ways. I had the most awesome conference call that set some things in motion for not only me, but everyone else on the call. Great things to come!! That’s just one aspect. The ideas I received on other projects were both phenomenal and confusing.

It was not all cherries this month though…I had to have a serious talk with myself. I HAD to change my thinking about what I’m doing and myself. So, I pulled out some trusty tools to assist me. If you don’t already have this, I suggest picking up a copy of You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay. It is the Affirmation Bible, as far as I’m concerned. I also have a loan of the Movie, from the library. It is a MUST SEE. My constant reminder in October was “Change your thoughts, change your world.”

It is as simple as that. You want to see some changes in your life, then change the way you think. Start and keep up with your positive affirmations. Speak them in present tense and EXPECT life to BE better!!

I had some fun “me” time stuff going on this month too. I trimmed my own hair and made my own hair and body butters. All natural, all healthy. I gave away almost every single hair and body product in my toiletries closet. No longer need them, I am sold on my own products!!

So, that' pretty much it in a nutshell. I've started two more challenges!! These things keep every aspect of my life in front, so I can put my focus where it belongs!! One should never stop trying to improve herself.

So...to help me professional, I am a first time participant of NaNoWriMo. It's National Novel Writing Month and I've entered the challenge of writing 50,000 words in November!! I'm not sure if mine is a novel, but I have developing characters, so we'll just have to see.

Personally, I decided to do the 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge November 2011 Edition. It's already been a challenge, but in a good way. It's not too late to join if you're interested!! On my journey to being an eternally Happy Black Woman!!

My mantra this month “I LOVE and APPROVE of myself! I am loving and lovable just the way I am!! I chose it because I often do affirmation work and it’s the one I use the most, because it helps me the most. It gives me the courage to do something I hesitate on doing. 

My song is Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. It has ALWAYS inspired me and it reminds me I have yet to write my full story and I have so much to accomplish and share in life. It keeps me motivated!!