I got to do one of my favourite things last week – no, not let the kids swim until they achieved prune status so I could read a really good book – I got to come back to my everyday stuff with fresh eyes. It’s a honeymoon state of being where I see new possibilities in nearly everything – nothing is a given. It’s a bit like chocolate in our household – doesn’t last long but it sure is yummy at the time.
Want a rinse and repeat life? Hell no!
I find I get so anesthetised into certain ways of thinking, speaking and doing that I forget that there are countless alternatives out there. Alternative everythings – from small stuff like where the sofa is (small as in no-one’s life is going to be radically altered) to the big stuff like what do I want life to look like in 3 years. Even mundane stuff like how I answer the most repetitive questions eg. How are you? I often say ‘I’m fine’ – how bloody bland is that – unless I say it in a passive aggressive, teeth-gritted kind of what and then it’s no longer bland it’s just a lie! My lovely husband says ‘fine’ is an acronym for ‘f’ed up, insecure, neurotic, egotist’ – something I most definitely don’t aspire to. I could say ‘fantastic’, ‘fabulous’, ‘feeling vulnerable but hopeful’ and that’s just some f-words! The rest of the alphabetic remains deliciously untapped…
My rambling point is honing your personal repertoire of ways to keep fresh is creative rocket fuel. Anthony Robbins said ‘If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten’ so if you don’t want a rinse and repeat life – change something – anything! I read once (I remember lots of random stuff) that brushing your teeth with the other hand can spark off creative ideas. What if you used your other hand, did it at a different sink whilst standing on one foot – I’m sure you get the idea!
Beware the lurking ’blahness’
A fresh perspective is a gift from a change of routine – routine is comforting but you can get too much of a good thing. It can induce a semi-comatose state of blahness! Even taking 5 minutes each day to ‘contemplate’ a single statement improves concentration and the ability to inquire from many different angles, sniffing out different meanings, connections and implications. Maybe it’s laziness, fear of disappointment or exhaustion that stops us from playing ‘what if’ games, but I invite you to give it a go after all Napoleon Hill once said ‘What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve’ so if we can’t even dream it – how can we make it our future reality?
Disempowermentitis – do you have any cream for that?
How often do you utter ‘well that’s just the way I am’ in a heady mix of defensiveness, desperation and defeat? This phrase makes me scream silently suppressing the desire to run away should ‘disempowermentitis’ infect me like a contagious virus. Sprinkle some fresh perspective on this and as if by magic the hopelessness is gone…(said in your best bathroom cleaning product voice).
We all do some hard time in our mental prisons but tragically lots of people don’t realise they are the jailer – don’t give yourself a life sentence. We often take on the stories of our youth about what we can and can’t be and do that reflect the fears of our parents, caregivers and peers. If this is the case we never become the creative force in our own lives. I’m giving you a ‘get out of jail free card’ – go paint the town and think expansively and don’t be surprised when it comes true – I won’t be.
Leave a comment below about how you get and stay fresh – we can all do with as many ideas as possible.
Need a helping hand to get fresh? Give me a yell – a few squirts of Super Strength UpSurge and you will be fresh again in no time!