Category: Life

Cooking on Both Burners

These are all the things I learned today about our 12-year-old gas grill:

1. How to diagnose the problem of the high-flaring back burner and where and how to order a new burner assembly from Weber.com

 

2. How to question my own diagnosis and call Weber and get instant instructions, via email.  On a Sunday.

3. How to disassemble and deep clean the grill, including inside the burners. And how to put it back together again in a way that it works.

4. How to cancel my order for a new burner assembly.

5. How rewarding it is to fix something we already own  Perhaps we were channeling our fathers, who both absolutely loved to do just that, on this sunny Fathers Day.

Weber rocks.  And so does Steve.  And Maddy, who held all the directions and cheered us on.

Or Not

Almost exactly one year later, one of my favorite sources is repeating a quote, and this time my reaction is completely different:

On June 23, 2010 I posted, without comment:

“Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

Winston Churchill via www.meditation.org.au

That was a particularly dark time for me, and I liked the idea of some kind of valor in my serial failure.  Courage?  Sounded good to me.

But now, one year later I don’t feel that way at all.  It’s not about going from failure to failure with a good attitude.  I am much more interested in going from failure to success, from sadness to happiness, from darkness to light.

I do realize that this is about the journey, the process, the “now” of it all, and this this is a big circle or spiral, not a line.  But the next time I am in a hole, I want to be about getting out, not about decorating the space.

Shift to Neutral

I love coincidence.  Or cosmic alignment.  Or grace.  Or whatever you choose to call it.  The blurb, below, titled “Shift to Neutral”, came into my email inbox just as I was appreciating an amazing time of watching pieces fall into place, in a work setting, just by not acting, by being quiet, by truly watching and letting things happen as they need to happen.

For those of us who want to DO, the doing may be shifting,  Shifting to not doing.

In this case, I learned that I had already done that, and that it was awesome.

The article below is more about how to downshift to quiet in a specific setting, the start of a yoga practice, and that’s good to learn too,

From Yoga Journal:

Shift to Neutral

When do you practice yoga? For many of us who attend classes during the work week, our practice has to fit into whatever time is available, whether that’s before work in the morning, during our lunch break, or after work in the evening. And those of us who don’t work at a formal job still must balance many activities during our busy days.

So how do you bridge the gap between your frantic life and the peace and calm of the studio?

If you find yourself impatient at the start of your practice, anxious for something to happen, just recognize that you’re bringing some of that outside mentality into the classroom. Once you see what you’re doing, mentally reach inward and downshift your gears. If you’re in overdrive, downshift to fourth gear, then third, second and finally neutral. Relax inside, breathe deeply and savor the way it feels.

“2011 Handbook” = Lessons Galore

Linda sent this to me in an email chain and it’s filled with lessons/gems!

I am so far behind in blogging my lessons learned that I am tempted to post each of these individually… but will resist.

I looked for the source and I’m getting many conflicting ones, with some modifications.  If you know it, let me know!

Which of these are your favorites???  Post a reply!

Jane

 

2011 Handbook

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..

4. Live with the 3 E’s — Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Make time to pray.

6. Play more games

7. Read more books than you did in 2010 .

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day

9. Sleep for 7 hours.

10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

 

Personality:

11. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13. Don’t over do. Keep your limits.

14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..

18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree…

 

Society:

25. Call your family often.

26. Each day give something good to others.

27. Forgive everyone for everything.

28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

 

Life:

32. Do the right thing!

33. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

34. GOD heals everything.

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

37. The best is yet to come..

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

What Sally Learned from Oprah

This is from my favorite blog, Sally and the City:

” Lessons learned from Oprah

Over the year, I’ve watched, read, and ignored Oprah.  Here’s what I’ve learned from her:

  1. It’s ok to make yourself the center of attention.  If the magazine is named after you, take that chance to put yourself on every cover!  Seriously!  If you don’t grab it, someone else will take your spotlight.
  2. Leverage your job to help your friends.  Of Oprah’s friends, I love Rachael Ray the most.  But I also just appreciate the idea of helping your pals achieve their goals, even if it means you have to find a new host for that segment.  (Or a new Senator for Illinois…)
  3. Use your power to make good changes.  In this case, I care about the way Oprah brought new voters to the polls in 2008 and made reading cool with her book club.  Speaking of which…
  4. Hold people accountable.  I just finished reading A Million Little Piecesto see what all the controversy was about, and WOW that book should not have been marketed as a memoir.
  5. It is better to give than to receive.  Let me just say, no one likes giving things away as much as this chick does.  I’ve never seen someone so excited about getting a car, nevermind giving one.  And I watch a lot of “The Price is Right” so that’s saying something.
So long, Oprah, and thanks for the memories.”

Compulsion + Procrastination = Stress

In the past 17 months, I have many things about lessons learned.   One big thing is that there are lessons everywhere, particularly now that I am tuned in to noticing them.  That was one surprise.

Another wonderful surprise is how many people are following and enjoying these lessons.  That is what has kept me going beyond the original year.

Not surprising are two things I already knew about myself.  The first is that I procrastinate.  In 1980 I sent away to join an active group in Philadelphia called Procrastinators of America.  I knew better than to send the application back right away.  I still have it (I really do!), but that’s OK because they always counted people like me in their membership counts.  The second is that I am somewhat compulsive.  Steve says “Ya think?” so maybe more than somewhat.

So I notice lessons all day long, and I am compelled to record them and keep up or catch up with one lesson a day, but I put off typing them up until I “have time” and this has me way way behind and it bothers me.

I will now attempt to catch up before mid-year, on July 1.  Wish me luck!

 

Venting: Not Just for Dryers

My father used to day “Denial is a perfectly functional response”.  The short version of this is “Denial.  It works”.    I have learned that the same is true for VENTING.  It’s functional.  It works.

Venting is a little different than complaining.  It’s different because it’s often preceded with the warning/disclaimer of “I just need to vent”, which means “I need to talk and you need to listen”.  This is an awesome arrangement, in my opinion and in my experience.  It allows the venter to process, to get it off his or her chest, to hear the words out loud that otherwise are going to rattle inside the head for who-knows-how-long.

Like complaining, which I also love in its place, venting lets us get to the heart of the matter.  Maybe not immediately, but often eventually.    The ventee can sometimes help with that or sometimes not.  Good friends usually get this right, but if not it’s usually a self-correcting process, as in “I just need to tell you this!  I don’t need a solution!”

Venting and complaining can lead to great changes and great things.

Long Live Venting.

I am a Writer

I have learned that I am a writer.  First, I learned it from all of you, who said that this counted.  Who knew?

Then I learned from the two gifted other members of my writing group, Kat and Ariel.

And all along I learned from my sister, Lava, who seemed to call me a writer before I had written anything.  (Ahh, unconditional support!  Nothing beats it!)

And now I have actually submitted TWO items for publication!  I learned about the Chicken Soup for the Soul submission process from Lava, who has had many stories published there, and I did it!  Just now!