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#reverb10 – Day 14: Appreciate

December 15, 2010 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

December 14 Prompt

Author: Victoria Klein
27 Things to Know About Yoga
@victoriaklein

Prompt: Appreciate. What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

reverb10.com

This year, I started trying harder to appreciate everything in my life. I tried keeping an offline gratitude journal (link leads to a post from earlier this year where I talk about my experience with it). I found I didn’t really stick to it, but I do write the occasional moment down in the Momento app on my iPhone. I also believe that sharing happy stories about what’s going on in my life, whether it’s pictures on Flickr, a status on Facebook, a quick tweet or a longer blog post helps me to express my gratitude for the things I’m sharing.

But the most important way to express gratitude is to just express it. Say thank you. Tell someone you appreciate what they did. Tell them why you appreciate it. Not just people who went out of their way, but anyone who did something for you. Sean and I get along better when we remember to thank each other for the little things we do for each other.

I’ve heard good manners referred to as “social lubricant”*. Good manners really do grease the wheels of society. You’re more likely to go out of your way to do something for someone who will appreciate what you did. Make sure you appreciate what other people do for you. It really makes a difference, in your life and in theirs.

*I’ve also heard of booze being referred to as “social lubricant”. That certainly has its time and place. So thank your bartender for your beer.

#reverb10 – Day 13: Action

December 15, 2010 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

December 13 Prompt

Author: Scott Belsky
Making Ideas Happen
@scottbelsky

Prompt: Action. When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?

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The next step depends on the idea I’m trying to make happen.

Sometimes I write a list of things I need to do to put my idea into reality. I follow the advice many productivity gurus give and separate each large task into smaller, easily completed task. It feels good to check the tasks off that way, whether I’m using pen and paper or Remember the Milk, my favourite web-based to-do list app.

I’ve also written the occasional blog post detailing my to-do list for that timeframe. Not big-goal to-dos, but the little things that add up and need to get done, like cleaning the bathroom. Posting those to-do lists online tends to shame me into doing them. Using the <strike> tag also feels good to cross items off these lists.

Sometimes crossing the first item off the list makes the rest of the list a little easier to complete.

#reverb10 – Day 12: Body Integration

December 12, 2010 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

December 12 Prompt

Author: Patrick Reynolds
The Knowledge Workers Survival Guide
@patrickcantype

Prompt: Body integration. This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present?

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Honestly, I can’t think of a moment this year that this sort of statement went through my head.

I do think that this sort of moment can happen though, and I hope that the next time this happens to me (because while I can’t peg an exact moment, there’s no way it has never happened to me before), I hope I have the presence of mind to remember it and file it away for those moments when my mind and body don’t feel so connected.

I guess this goes back to the theme in some of my earlier #reverb10 posts.

“Pay Attention”

Pay attention to what’s going on in my mind, so I can recognize patterns and make things better.

Pay attention to my body so I can catch any anomalies early and get any necessary treatment for them.

Pay attention to those around me so I can help them with these things as well.

#reverb10 – Day 11: 11 Things

December 12, 2010December 12, 2010 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

December 11 Prompt

Author: Sam Davidson
50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need
@samdavidson

Prompt: 11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?

reverb10.com

I want to get rid of physical clutter. I’m pretty good about purging on a semi-regular basis, but I think I put more back into the Keep pile than I should.
I want to get rid of emotional clutter too. I overthink, I worry and all the constant cycling through the day’s thoughts keeps me up at night.
I want to eliminate unnecessary guilt from my life. The downside to being conscientious and sensitive to other people and their needs is that I often feel a lot of guilt. I’m sick of feeling like nothing I do is ever enough so I need to lose the guilt. It’s not helping me to do better – it only makes me feel worse.
I want to remove the stress from my family’s morning routine. When I don’t sleep well at night, I have trouble getting up in the morning (not a unique problem I know). Getting all three of us out the door in a reasonable timeframe is always a challenge. Now that winter is on its way, there’s shoveling and car-scraping to contend with. The timesuck factor in these tasks alone makes this an important issue to deal with.

This isn’t an 11-item list. These are pretty big issues though, so I think it’s better to take on these four big issues and succeed than struggle with eleven separate issues at the same time. I choose to consider this reduction in list items a stress-reducer, so maybe I can consider this list item #5: I want to stop taking on so much I end up paralyzed an unable to make decisions.

#reverb10 – Day 10: Wisdom

December 10, 2010 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

December 10 Prompt

Author: Susannah Conway
Unravelling
@photobird

Prompt: Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?

reverb10.com

I really struggle with picking the best *anything* of the year.

I have trouble picking desert-island albums and books too.

The thing with decisions is that they are usually all interconnected. One decision is not better than the other – they are all equal and necessary parts of a larger whole that lead to how someone lives their life.

I’m happy about some decisions I’ve (and in some cases, Sean and I) made this year. I don’t think any decision is better than another because each decision leads us to the life I want to lead.

Some of you will probably look at my answer and call me gutless. “Just pick something!”

I’m a fence-sitter though. Diplomatic to a fault. I see the good – or the potential – in most sides of a situation. I try not to be indecisive but I probably spend too much time thinking things through to get to my decision.

Sometimes just making a decision is the best decision.