Congratulations! You just inherited a zoo from your now deceased, long-lost uncle Frank. It is now your job to take care of the most popular animal at the zoo: the monkeys. “I don’t know anything about taking care of monkeys!” you say to yourself. “I don’t know anything about what they should eat, how they live, and what keeps them healthy!” …
I was hoping for a relaxing summer. I had plans for sitting on my deck with a good book, spending time in the garden with my herbs, soaking in the sun, beach days and picnics at parks. My plans came to a screeching halt with farm babies needing to be fed, my kiddos’ activities and keeping my family fed. Life still needed to happen.
With the chaos quickly burring my plans, I began to find myself with a short fuse. I may have even dropped the f-bomb once or twice. And the moment I realized I was maybe in an “unhealthy emotional state” was during a driving incident. I was running errands. Time was not on my side. And why is it that when you’re in a hurry, all the slow people are ahead of you in the fast lane?
I was fed up with a semi that had so conveniently cut me off. When he didn’t return to his own lane, I decided to maneuver around him. I pulled into the slow lane and started to pass, and, of course, that’s when he decides to put his blinker on to get over. That’s when I heard these words fly …
“Once I do this, then I can do that, which will let these things happen, and THEN I will be happy.”
Ever found yourself thinking this way? “Once I push through this burden or complete this task, then, obviously, happiness is guaranteed.” Truly the thoughts of an optimistic dreamer. And many times we do find joy in our thoughts, daydreams or maybe even a good book or movie.
But how do we experience true JOY? …
“How you do something is how you do everything.”
From the simplest to the most complex processes, we’re always getting a deeper picture of how we show up in life, if we pay attention. How do you keep your house? Are you meticulous, detailed-oriented and very aware of where things are, or do you tend to procrastinate, stuff things in drawers and take care of them in a monthly purge? When driving, are you passive and laid back, letting other drivers come and go as they please or are you controlling the road as you run late and fly through yellow lights? Even the simplest things in life can be observed, analyzed and improved upon if we are living in a growth mindset.
In Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, she outlines two basic mindsets that we can approach the world through. …
