Is there a change you know you need to make?
Something you’ve been putting off, because it just doesn’t feel that urgent?
How much better would your life be if you simply made that change right now? Today. Right now. In this moment.
It’s okay to let something go if it no longer interests you.
Because you gain something in the process.
You get time and space to go after what you really want.
What change will you make today?
Autumn is like a new year all its own. A relatively new school year is underway. That brings a fresh start.
Learning is an integral part of the season. And you don’t have to be an official student pursuing a degree to have a learning plan of your own. There are so many engaging and inexpensive ways to learn. Your local library, a local university extension program, or online classes are just a few options.
This week I listened to one of my favorite podcasts, Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel, on LinkedIn. The guest was Laurie Santos. She’s a host of her own podcast, The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos, and the professor for the most popular class at Yale: The Science of Well-Being.
You can take this class for free on Coursera, along with 4 million other people (including me) who are enrolled. Given all the mental health challenges that come with almost 3 years of a global pandemic, along with climate change, economic worries, and more, this course is a much-needed breath of fresh air.
What are you learning this fall?
Not every thought that flits through our heads needs to be expressed. We don’t always need to be right. We don’t always need to point out others’ errors. Why? We can instead assess what purpose it would serve to mention someone else’s error.
Recently I was corresponding with someone and asking why an action had been delayed. It turned out to be a discrepancy, seemingly between an instruction that had been given to me and how I had carried out that instruction. When I went back to confirm the details, I saw I had followed the instructions exactly as provided.
My inclination was to respond that I had, in fact, taken the right steps. And then I paused for a moment and realized it would serve no purpose. I didn’t need to go on record stating that I had done what was asked. Instead, I thanked the person, considered the matter closed, and moved in. This preserved the relationship, which was more important than saying I was right.
What is better left unsaid today?
“What do you do with your laptop?” was an initial question when I took my three-year-old laptop in for a repair.
Some keys were sticking. Others were responding erratically. A handful of keys had the name of the letter worn off.
The conversation led into long work hours of extensive laptop use, and not consistently shutting it down about once a week.
My main takeaway? Even though they aren’t human, machines need rest too. Who knew?
And giving a laptop a rest means a human gets to rest too.
It’s a great time to shut down your laptop. Let the machine rest. And get some rest yourself too.
Do you ever reflect on how you speak to yourself? Are you as kind and caring to yourself as you would be to dear friend? Or are you more harsh and critical? Our inner dialogue is central to how we move through the world. Instead of beating ourselves up over every perceived flaw or misstep, we can acknowledge in each situation what went well and what we would improve the next time. Try it for a week. As a result, how do you feel and how do you show up in the world?
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