A Beautiful Ripple Effect

image from upup creative

On the internet, we are accustomed to seeing links everywhere. We often click them to go further into a topic. By nature, we’re curious — so… we click the links, which are like sealed boxes, and experience instant satisfaction. When we click on a bad web link, we can easily click back and voila problem solved. However, the links within ourselves are not underlined and color coded. We can’t see them — so when we get stuck, it can be difficult to pinpoint where the link exists.

Before I typed this blog post, I wrote it on a piece of paper with a pen. I can’t think when I type. I’ve always seen this as a huge waste of time since writing long papers by hand can take a ton of time! I’ve been writing a lot recently and have noticed my hand gets tired after awhile and I stop writing for a few moments to let my hand rest. And in those few moments, I often come up with fresh ideas or the missing component of my argument. Just a few moments, when I rest my hand, may be a critical component of my writing process. I mention this little “aha” moment because when we feel stuck or uncomfortable (no link in sight), it is often due to something that seems very minor, such as sitting in one direction versus another direction or using a pen versus a keyboard. When we think in a logical, structured way, we can easily miss the important details. To recognize these little details, we must tap into our right-brain’s thinking style. Until recently, I neglected to engage my right-brain’s treasury. Exploring my creative side has given me more tools to examine life from different perspectives.

Bridging the gap between left-brain thinking and right-brain thinking, Julie Green has created “Feel Good Lists.” Don’t be fooled by the name, it is much more than a list. It is a powerful tool for self-change.

How often do your “regular” to-do list items trump your personal items?

Often, we (myself included) focus little on ourselves and then when we do we feel guilty that we didn’t complete items two and three on our “regular” to-do list. Rationally, it doesn’t make sense. Saying, “I feel good today,” should be a high priority in our lives. It sounds easy enough so why aren’t we doing it?

Because it’s not easy.

We’ve heard it a million times: action – action – action. We need to take action in order to change. And that is 100% true.

However, it’s in this leap from “thought” to “action” that we often get lost.

Why? Well, our webmaster has quit and our links are gone. Yikes. We need to create the links. This requires our logical left-brain and creative right-brain to work together.

Thought: “I want to feel good.”

That’s a pretty lofty goal so where do we even start? We need to define the sub-goals. In order to define your sub-goals, you have to really think about the specifics and ask yourself, “What do I need to do so that I can feel good?” For example, you may create three sub-goals, such as: practice yoga, express gratitude on a regular basis, spend more time with family.

Now, you have established specific goals to “feel good.”

And that’s where the “feel good lists” come in. Utilizing the unique structure of the feel good lists, you can tailor your list to your specific goals. You establish actions to do on a daily and/or weekly basis to help you along the way. Going through the thought process of establishing feasible actions can lead to some wonderful soul-searching and new creative outlets. On most occasions, you’ll have to dig deep to find the all-important link.

Establishing a list of “feel good” items creates structure (making your left-brain very happy!) and accountability.  Through these two key ingredients, structure and accountability, your goal remains in focus.

So now what? I believe the next step should always be “clear” and “simple” — note my username: clrsimple [my initials: clr]

Below are a few clear and simple ideas.

Feel Good this Weekend!!

Carolyn

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Feel Good List (on Etsy)

Simplify101 Workshop — any of the workshops will help you through the thought process and taking action!

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Think.
- Tap into your right-brain.
- Think creatively about what you want and what steps you need to take.
- Check out 100 ideas from Keri Smith

Trial and Error. You don’t need a perfect action plan. You just need to take action. Re-evaluate along the way and tweak your method as needed.

Actively look for connections — you never know when the “aha” link is going to occur — often during the most unexpected times.