One Brick at a Time

Surfing through YouTube  I ran across an interview with actor, Will Smith.  He was sharing his philosophy of life. In the interview; he told a story about a challenge his father had given him and his brother.  The father had torn down a brick wall in front of his business and told 12-year old Will and his 9-year old brother to rebuild it. The boys felt they had been handed an impossible task, but they did it. A year and a half later, a wall stood where the ruble had laid and it had grown by laying one perfectly placed brick at a time.

If you have been following my blog, you’ve read about changes that have occurred for me this year. My last two posts were about creating a more balanced reality while I process through the result of old thinking. I am managing, but sometimes I feel like a swimmer desperately treading water while an undertow takes charge of the direction.

The last time I felt this way was almost 25 years ago. I walked out of a bad relationship and moved to Florida. I would be a partial caregiver for my recently widowed grandmother; she had Alzheimer’s. A roof over my head and food on the table were the wages offered; some kind of income was needed.  In the past, I had a part-time business selling cosmetics on the party plan. The flexibility of the hours was ideal in this situation and one of the company’s incentives was the opportunity to win the use of a car. I needed a car. However, I did not know anyone in the area except my grandmother, and she of course could not remember anyone she knew. I had hit a wall.

The car was important to me, or at least the freedom it represented.  Once I knew what I wanted I could figure out what I needed. I took the psychological wall and broke it down into pieces by creating a daily plan of action. All I had to do was attend weekly training meetings and focus on the daily steps. In just 4 months I won the car and began qualifications as a sales trainer.

Will Smith’s story became a light in a room that had been slowly graying. The circumstances were new but my feelings were not. I have a desire that involves writing and lecturing, yet just as in the past, the obstacles appearing seemed overwhelming. I had to take charge of the direction; but how? I needed a way to break the whole into tiny workable pieces; and then it came. There was a posted invitation to join an on-line, 40-day writer’s workshop structured around talking to the inner-self. Because of its nature, it came with disciplined steps, rituals, and affirmations that could help writers move into a creative space.  These were the bricks I needed, offering me flexibility, a support group, and a daily plan of action.     

Dream A Little Dream With Me

Shaman teach that our reality is actually a dream world we create. For me however , 2014 started more like a bad dream.  My husband became ill, so our new year was spent in and out of medical clinics and hospitals.  Switching my priorities from writing to caring was done without a moment’s hesitation, but   eight weeks into the program I could see that  my bad dream had the tinge of a nightmare; it was time for me to step in and create a new dream. 

My first step was to make a list of the changes I wanted to see. Change is happening all around; it’s impossible to stop. It seems somewhat like a runaway horse; it cannot be stopped as easily as it can be made to change its direction. In this case that meant choosing what I wanted over what was happening. What had happened to my husband’s health was out of my hands. All I can do now is a bit of physical therapy along with making fresh soups and juices so that his body has the highest nutrition for healing.  The things we can work with are today things.  We agreed that the house needed to be sold. As much as we love living two blocks from the beach in our quiet Spanish barrio, my husband’s recent heart problem is compounded by a deteriorating hip socket. Residing in a house with the main living area on the second floor was no longer acceptable. We needed to simplify and downsize. 

     

Next, I needed to reassess my writing goals. My intention from last year was to write four books over the next couple of years. Yet I also have my blog posts and magazine articles. I completed two manuscripts last year, but realistically one book is a more attainable goal for this year.

Keeping a balanced mind, while striving to achieve, means making my personal daily practices a greater priority. That was going to be hard; my nature is to nurture. This is obvious by the number of spoiled pets, lush plants and friends that fill our yard at any given time.  However, relationships are about giving and we can only give what we have. For me to stay balanced and healthy I was going to need to make sure I set aside time to do the things that feed my spirit: meditation, yoga, and gardening. It is a bit like stocking your pantry before a hard storm.

Once a mental plan was clear, my mind just naturally started forming pictures. I remembered a house design I had seen with large red bougainvillea growing over a wall.  Then the fun part began. I started looking for pictures that I could tape or glue to a poster board. This would create a Vision Board. The images work to remind the mind of the new dream being created. The final touch that brings a dream into reality is writing positive affirmations that support the dream. In my case, “I eat healthy meals.” or “I practice yoga near the red bougainvillea of my new home.” These help keep the dream moving forward into our reality.  

Understand the process? What changes will you make?