Don't Panic, Paul!

My laptop no longer appears to be recognizing my battery. Bummer. I do have an extended warranty that I bought with my computer from CompUSA. CompUSA is going out of business and will no longer accept warranty work in their stores. So, I have the warranty company mailing me a box and then I have to send in my entire computer. This is not an easy thing for me to do as I rely quite a bit on my laptop and use it for both business and personal use.

When I first learned that I would be losing my laptop for one to two weeks, I was panicked. What was I going to do???

Then I breathed. I started looking into my options and spoke with some computer guys I know. The solution for me is to back everything up (which one should do regardless) and then I will run my hard drive as an external drive on a friend's laptop that I am lucky enough to be able to borrow. What a great solution. It will take me some time to back up and ensure that I have everything I need, but it is doable.

The awareness for today is to not panic when face with situation to that alarm us. Breathe in and out and then look at the situation as you would anything else...one step at a time.
~Paul

Starting with a Bang

Only partially listening to my own advice of last week that said to not expect to accomplish everything at once, I am already a bit frustrated with myself that I have not yet completed all the goals that I set for myself for 2008. Come on, it is already January 7th! :-)

I know this is ridiculous, yet I continuously create more stress for myself by maintaining unreasonable expectations. I hope that you do not do the same. When I finally do take the time to breathe (which is very important!), I calm myself down and recognize the absurdity of my expectations. From this place of calmness, I refocus on my goals and also work to remember the location so that I can find the calmness more readily.

The awareness for today is to keep up on your goals for the year, but know that they are for the entire year, not just this month, week or day. Track your progress, but do not be discouraged if your accomplishments are not accumulating as quickly as you would like...simply appreciate them for accomplishments.
~Paul

There is No Future! Relax, it is Okay.

I was speaking with a friend the other night regarding concerns for the future and he shared some thoughts from Chogam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987). Basically he said that there is no future...and there never has been a future. That stuck with me so profoundly! I do my best to remain in the present and focus on the here and now, but recognizing that the future does not and never has existed helps me to pay attention to where I am now and what I need to deal with today.

Now let me say that this does not mean one should not plan for the future, but we cannot hold too tightly to our future "plans."

The awareness for today is to recognize there never has been a future and that we live in the present. I remember an analogy that I used while in graduate school to describe "being present." Being present is like driving on a dark highway with only your headlights lighting the way shortly in front and behind you; as you keep moving, your lighting (your present) is right there with you.
~Paul

The New Year - 2008 is Here!

Now the new year has begun and it is time to turn all of those good intentions into actions. I know this can be overwhelming and the common question I hear from people is how to even begin. There is a great quote from the Tao Te Ching that says "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." How profound! The point is that we must start somewhere and every little bit that we do will help overall.

Whether your goals and intentions for the new year are personal, business, lifestyle or project oriented, there is a beginning to each of them. Begin taking small steps in the right direction. Be easy on yourself; if your goal is to grow your business, you mostly will not have increased sales by the end of this week...but, you can complete your new sales plan by Friday.

The awareness for today is to enter 2008 with a fresh attitude and begin taking care of yourself and your needs one step at a time.
~Paul