God’s winking at me. Or maybe he’s doing an outright belly laugh. That’s what I think when I experience irony or coincidence or when I have one of those profound “aha” moments, like this week when we followed organization with kindness in our Franklin exercise. The result was that a little bit of kindness toward myself and others led to a deeper lesson about being organized.
But wait! Organization wasn’t my word last week. It was Self-Control. However, my husband Jimmie, along with my guide Nancy, and tribe members Noelle, Kim all put organization as the value they required most. I scored organization as what I was best at.
Perhaps the simple lesson is that I have some tools, skills, or even mindsets that I can help others with. But a comment at the end of week 15 made me think twice. A comment I could have easily taken the wrong way. I could have reacted with hurt feelings and started to withdraw from everyone. I could have hidden my light, started holding back, perhaps even becoming passive-aggressive, or unforgiving or mean-spirited.
Is Kindness On My List When I’m Getting Organized
But here is where God winked. Or laughed.
For week 16, the word for our entire mastermind class is kindness. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, then you know how much work we’ve been doing around love and the 7-day Mental Diet and Do It Now!
So instead of following the old blueprint of fear of communicating and hiding my light, I greeted a new day with love in my heart. I began what truly was a wonderful, loving and KIND conversation, where two people, myself included, walked away with their light shining brighter.
That’s how my new week and kindness started.
Then, as I was putting together some tools to help my tribe with organization skills, I realized something.
Being Organized Requires Compassion
Being organized isn’t always a strength for me. It can actually be a crutch or even a hindrance. Getting organized is a way for me to procrastinate and avoid things that seem unpleasant or uncomfortable. I organize my desk or office or home or closet first, and then I’ll make phone calls, write, or do tasks that will move my business or my purpose forward. Most days, I create multiple to-do lists. I leave myself sticky notes. And I take it all on myself where I could delegate tasks. I have a paper calendar, a work planner, and a digital calendar. Don’t forget my email inbox, which I keep organized using folders, so only my current tasks are displayed.
Thank goodness for “Do It Now” recited 25 times twice a day for the past 15 weeks at regular times throughout the day.
I also learned that organization could be rigid, leaving no room to be present and spontaneous. When I’m organized, I am structured, unwavering, “in control,” and rigid.
This brings me to two early morning readings from this week.
Thou Shalt Be Organized, Just Not All the Time
This came from One Minute Inspirations For Women by Elizabeth George. It started out teaching about being organized so you can find your keys or remote or paperwork. But the second part:
“Organization is more than just physical. Give careful thought to your schedule so that you have time for spontaneity. Allow time for God to take you in a new direction or show you someone in need.”
Spontaneous Insights
From Marianne Williamson in A Return to Love:
“If we’re rigidly attached to getting something, including getting things to work out the way we think they should work out, we are not relaxed. We then have very little room for spontaneous insights.”
BAM! Twice in less than 10 minutes, I see the word spontaneous. Out comes the dictionary:
spon·ta·ne·ous
performed or occurring as a result of a sudden inner impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus.
(of a person) having an open, natural, and uninhibited manner.
An uninhibited (spontaneous) Child
I was at my childhood home over the holidays. I was looking through old albums and as my parents, husband and I looked through year after year of my childhood, I saw myself as this fun, open, natural, uninhibited, smiling, laughing child who was always “hamming it up” with a silly face, striking a pose, or giving someone bunny ears.
Flash forward a few years and I’m at school in the beautiful Colorado Rockies for Recreation! Yep! They have a degree for that! I continued to play and have fun and get paid to teach people to recreate. (Or re-create. )
Somewhere along the way, that fun, playful, smiling, loving, kind little girl got lost. Buried, perhaps under the cement like in The Story of the Golden Buddha covered with Clay. She started hiding her light because she had learned that life and the world aren’t always safe. She became structured, productive, organized, controlling, rigid, and scared.
This leads me back to kindness.
My favorite form of kindness is to ourselves.
Acts of kindness – Toward Myself
This week I find myself relaxing into love and kindness. I am more present as I become the observer – looking for kindness around me, within me, and for opportunities to partner with God to show kindness to someone in need.
I am organized, flexible, harmonious and happy.
The beauty of the Law of Relaxation is that a relaxed, calm state of mind is the doorway to progress mentally. I’m experiencing productivity at work, with my new website and blog, and especially with my writing.
As a result of my DMP, I’m writing my first book, Life Lessons From the Bike! Which quickly got pushed to the back burner when Come Back Strong, Balanced Wellness After Surgical Menopause demanded to be birthed.
I am a writer and a storyteller!
Daily I work to move the dream forward, thinking about and researching the process. I relax and reflect on my childhood, remembering my passions and playfulness. Fresh stories for my book come to mind easily, with grace, and with God’s perfect timing.
And every once in a while, I throw out my to-do list and priority lists for an extended period of time, which is good for my mental health. This alone has incredible health benefits.
