“Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”
― Gilda Radner

Also called, adaptation. It is not the strong who survive, but those who adapt to change. Sometimes I picture a bunch of delirious Gods on Mount Olympus, bored to tears, so they’re wreaking havoc with us humans for their own entertainment: fires, floods, viruses, wars, war-ending, fertility issues, locusts/cicadas, crazy freaking politicians! What’s a girl to do?

MUST. STEP. BACK. Life is always a few steps forward and one back. The one step back is critical! and not a failure, but a reassessment. An opportunity to pause and reflect, what is getting most of my energy right now? My physical, mental and emotional energy. Am I choosing where it’s going? or is it being sucked out of me? Am I in constant fear? Am I trying to control everything and thus making my life absolute chaos?

Time-out. Pitch a tent. Light a fire. Look at the stars. Or do whatever your version of this is… Go someplace beautiful, get quiet, listen, slow down. If you don’t take time to do this, the God’s will run you ragged. Am I right? You know I am.

Yes, there is a lot to do. But if we are a wreck, stressed-out, fearful and/or constantly agitated, the drunken Gods win their silly game and we struggle daily to keep our head above the quicksand. We can do better.

Now that you’ve sequestered a time-out, imagine your perfect day. Since most of us work 5 days a week, imagine your perfect work-day. You get to design it, so make it perfect for you.

• What time you get up
• What you do first
• Imaging doing something good or kind for yourself
• What time you start work
• How you plan/manage your priorities
• How you deal with interruptions, emergencies, non-emergencies
• When to take breaks
• What you do on your break – be mindful of energy leaks, electronic or otherwise
• Do you need help – do you ask for help
• What time you will stop work

Working at home is both a blessing and a curse. If you have no boundaries, it’s a curse. You still need to get some exercise, talk to a friend, hug your sweetheart, fix dinner, go for a walk, read your book… Close that office door, shut down your computer and back away.

Now imagine your perfect non-work day. How does it start? Same sort of questions, but regarding your personal, family, spiritual and playful life.

What would ANY perfect day include for you? Prayer, meditation, exercise, talk with close friend or family member (or not), reading, something playful (we don’t have near enough play in our lives these days). Give play some thought. What can you absolutely lose yourself doing, totally lose track of time, be completely absorbed by? Hmmmmm?

When we start with a perfect day in mind, it sets our inner compass for it to happen. Of course, don’t forget about the drunken Gods on Mt. Olympus. They will be making every effort to disrupt your perfect day. So just expect disruptions. How do you see yourself dealing with other people’s emergencies, inefficiencies, forgetting something important, a demanding boss or anything that comes up that was not in your plan? It happens. Count on it.

So imagine… how do I want to be, when that happens? Lose it? Grit your teeth? Slam doors? Carry on about it to others? Alternative: first, take a deep breath. It gives you a moment to think and increases the circulation to your brain so that you can decide the best plan of action. It’s much more satisfying than throwing an inner tantrum.

Besides, remember Groundhog Day? You will get the same lesson (opportunity to learn) over and over and over again, until you get it right. The Gods are relentless!

So what does your perfect day look like? If you don’t know, how can you possibly make it happen? Just imagine…