The Down side of Multitasking

Given the "scurry" of the last few days before Christmas, I wanted to share a personal experience that is reflective of "multitasking gone bad".....I had dropped my daughter off to her first day of kindergarten, and headed down to Denver. My mind was going a million miles an hour, I was chatting with a friend on my cell phone, I had my daughter on my mind, as well as dreading a retreat that I was headed to. As I pulled into the parking ramp, I thought to myself, I will never find this car, I better pay attention. So I wrote down in my blackberry B2 and off I headed to the retreat, in an hotel I had never been to before. The retreat was emotionally draining, I was so ready to escape and head to the airport to pick up my sister, when I realized I "lost my car" so for the next 4 hours I strolled the ramps in downtown Denver, "How could I lose a SUV"....I most have looked a bit distressed, since no one would help me, the parking attendants just shook their heads when I circled them for hours. My son finally picked up my sister and then they circled down to downtown to pick up their carless mom. They knew I was in no mood to be teased about "losing my car" so they reassured me that they were sure I would find it in the morning. Well days passed, I drove my husbands truck through the parking ramps daily, to no avail. Finally I made the dreaded police report, the police officer reassured me "this happens all the time, we'll find your car." Well they drove through all of the ramps, no luck. I filed with the car insurance. For six months I would drive by the hotel where the retreat has held, just knowing that my car was somewhere. Everyone told me to "give it up" your car has been stolen, if the police can't find it, it is gone! Yet still I knew it was there, somewhere. Well six months later the police call me "we found your car" it was in lot.....the exact place I had left. People were speechless, I wasn't. I knew I had allowed myself to get so saturated with "the busi-ness"of the day, my mind was on overload, and I lost my car! It could have been worse, I have learned, one person allowed herself to get in a tragic car accident, and she lost her daughter. Do you ever wander what we are doing to ourselves? My lesson, and I'm sure the woman who I read about but never knew are dealing with the same disease "multi-tasking"......STOP THE CRAZINESS. This week please take 10 minutes, turn off all the noise in your life and sit in silence, it will be the best gift you can give yourself this Christmas week!

"Tis the season to be Jolly"....

To stay with the theme I started a few weeks ago, I'll continue to write about a gift we can give to each other this Holiday Season. It didn't take me long to realize the gift I should write about this week. Thursday evening while I was in San Diego at a conference, I looked at my cell phone and I had 4 messages. "this can't be good" I thought to myself. My family knew I was in class all day, so unless it was an emergency, they most likely would not have left a message. So I quickly call home "I just called an ambulance for your mom, she passed out downstairs"...my husband calmly tells me....My heart nearly stopped. Having just lost my dad, I honestly think to myself, I'm soooo not ready to lose my mom. I quickly call the airport and I fly home. As I get to the hospital at 1:15 am, I'm happy to see my mom asleep and resting. As the following days unfold, i find that she has had a stroke. The weekend is a blur, driving back and forth to the hospital, trying to keep a "normal" family routine, and trying not totally feel overwhelmed by everything in life right now, I found myself crying more than enjoying the holiday spirit. I look around our house, "we are so not ready for Christmas" my heart doesn't feel the joy it usually does this time of year! I"m usually Ms Christmas, this year I"m not feeling very Jolly. By Monday morning the stress is palpable in our home. I drive my daughter to school shares her insight "Mom I hope granny doesn't die in the bathroom, like she did for dad last week." She watched the entire ambulance moment, and is very clear that Granny died but came alive, and she is sure this will happen again. I can only imagine the stories shared in the first grade class this week! I pick up my daily coffee and I notice the cashier has a great sparkle in her eyes, which I was so grateful to see. Her face seemed to brighten my day. As I walk back into our home. i calmly say to my husband, we have two choices we can be crabby about everything that has happened in the past few weeks, or try to be happy and deal with whatever comes our way. I recommend we should take the happy/jolly route.
Tuesday I meet a friend at the same coffeeshop, the bungalow. I see the same happy woman, this time I ask her if she owns the coffeeshop. "yes i do" she replies. WE continue to chat, "You look like you love your job" I say to her, "I do, I was a nurse, and I have always wanted to start my own business, so my mom, sister and I opened The Bungalow in April. Even though it's hard work, I love it." As she walked away, I could just tell the joy she has in her work. I glanced around her shop and saw these beautiful words printed on the walls "Follow your Bliss" "Dream Big" "Live your best life" "Live Laugh Love"....great sayings to surround me, given my current life situation. As I drove home, I thought about the people I had seen today. Who seems to be filled with the holly jolly spirit? I quickly remember, As I dropped my daughter off at school Mrs. Prenger the principal was assisting children across the streets. " Come on buddy, let's go inside" she cheerfully said to a young student. The happiness is her voice was clear, you would have never guessed she had been standing in the 9 degree weather. She defines to be "follow your Bliss'....Then there was "Coach Klatt" he was out shoveling the sidewalk, he had a great big grin on his face, had time to say good morning to my daughter. He definitely sounded jolly, go figure how he can be happy shoveling is this frigid weather! I then talked with my friend Diane, who reminded me of all the people who are less fortunate than all of us. Families struggling to find food, warm clothing and heat this Holiday season. Although at times life can feel heavy, when you think of everyone else who is struggling just to keep going, it puts my life into perspective. So this week let's try to share the "holly jolly" spirit of the Christmas season. A cheerful greeting, a smile instead of a frown, holding doors open instead of rushing in front of others, little gestures that can add a bit of jolly to any of our days! Thanks to my friend Rick, this email story made me smile, enjoy! Margo

Gifts we can all give this Christmas Season

Gifts within the Windsor Community
Can you believe the Holiday season is upon us? Four short weeks to Christmas, how can this be? I began to wonder how everyone will be preparing for the Christmas Season. For me it will be a bit empty, my dad was Mr. Christmas. He would spend hours looking for the perfect gift for my mom. It was always so much fun to watch him give her that special present. His eyes always twinkled but they did even more so on Christmas Eve. This year will be the first year without him.
My mind also began to think of all of the households that are struggling with various losses this year. Loss of loved ones, loss of jobs, loss of relationships, loss of income, the list went on and one in my mind. So how can we as a community get through the Holiday season together? How can we brighten each other’s world, when at times it feels a bit heavy and empty? What gifts could we as a community give each other?
The answer came to me as I was watching my daughter’s basketball game. There we were in the gymnasium at Mountain View and I looked up on the walls. There surrounding me were the gifts we could give each other. Over the next four weeks what if we all tried to give one another the words that were hanging up on the walls?
Respect: Be tolerant of differences. Use good manners, not bad language. Be considerate of the feelings of others. Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone. Deal peacefully with anger, insults and disagreements. “Be nice to others.” Just think what our community would be like if for one entire week we would do all of those behaviors that is listed above? Good manners…..no bad language, try that one for one day and I think life would feel lighter!
Once you have mastered respect, try the next gift: Trustworthiness-Be honest, don’t deceive, cheat, or steal. Be reliable, do what you say you will do. Have the courage to do the right thing. Build a good reputation. Be loyal, stand by your family, friends and county. I did a bit of inner reflection on that one…Be reliable, do what you say will do….I admitted to myself I fall short all the time on that specific behavior. My daughter makes me “pinky swear” since way too many times I have promised I would be home at a certain time, and then I ended up doing “one more thing” at work, and soon I was 45 minutes late for dinner. So if you feel like you have mastered “respectful” behavior, try being trustworthy this week. It would be a great gift to give your family, loved ones and the community. I find it harder than I thought.
Lastly, after you have given the gifts of respect and trustworthiness, try these behaviors out: Caring-Be kind, be compassionate and show you care. Express your gratitude, forgive others. Help people in need.
As a community, let’s give it a try, three gifts we can give one another: Respect, trustworthiness and caring. I would love to hear your examples, or any insights you gain by trying one or all of these behaviors. As I looked around the gymnasium, I thought how hard it must be to be teachers at Mountview. I’m guessing I’m not the only parent that may not be role modeling those behaviors 24/7. If we all could role model those behaviors for the next four weeks, I’m guessing our schools may have a lovely holiday season. Give it a try, and enjoy the weeks ahead, Margo

Paying it forward for Thanksgiving,

So here is my experience of “Paying it forward”…., My experience was unique. I decided first thing Saturday morning to “Pay it forward” in the grocery store that I have been shopping at for the past 4 years. When I purchased my groceries, I bought a $25.00 gift card, and walked over to the store manager. Now maybe it was my “look” since I was in my Saturday clothes, which consist of “well worn Windsor hooded sweatshirt, sweatpants, and maybe my hairdo was looking too much like “bedhead”…however, the reaction to giving a gift was priceless. As I greeted the store manager, I explained that I wanted to start “paying it forward in Windsor” what this meant was that I would love for him to give the $25.00 gift card to one of his employees. He looked at me, and shook his head, “I don’t know if I can do that?” This is the point I thought maybe he thinks I was the one that needed the cash given my appearance! However, I didn’t give up, ….Since I too have been in management for 2 decades, I quickly thought, well maybe he did not know what employee to choose. Therefore, I offered “Just put all of your employee names in a hat, and draw one out, I further explained that I had shopped here for over 4 years, and loved the service, and the friendliness of the staff, and really wanted to thank them. After a few minutes, he took the card. I walked away, thinking, maybe no one has ever “Thanked him” for the work, he does.
Therefore, this week, I would encourage all of us to express our gratitude to someone in our community. After reflecting on my gift card experience, I wonder, if we are not accustomed to being “thanked”… I realized that I too go through the week, month, and year not spending enough time expressing my gratitude.

Thanks to all the women who rain in the rain last Sunday. I look forward to meeting again on Sunday. Eastman Park at 4pm. We will go a bit longer, and I'll hope for some warm sunshine to walk/run in. Please invite other women to join us.

I have added a few websites that will give you some ideas on what to do during the week. I have found the most important training for me is the following: Drink lots of water, exercise at least 3-4 times a week: yoga/biking/running/walking/swimming...anything for 30-45 minutes each time.

I'll continue to add thoughts as we continue together! Margo


http://www.halhigdon.com
http://www.womensheart.org/content/Exercise/stretching_exercise.asp

http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/8-weeks-to-your-first-5-k/98b088dc78803110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/fitness/walking/race.prep/0/0/2

Finding Glee when your heart feels heavy

I write a weekly column for the Windsor Beacon, which you can find at www.windsorbeacon.com "Making a Difference"....this week I wrote about how as an adult feeling glee does not come as easy as it did when I was little. This past week everything felt heavy in my life, my oldest son moved in his dorm room, my parents seem to be rapidly aging, work seems a bit more stressful, and my daughter commented "Mom you never laugh anymore".....So I spent the past few days reflecting on how do I inject glee back into my life. It is clear for me, spending quiet time in prayer, running in nature, and allowing my heart to feel heavy, seems like the best strategy. Also surrounding myself with friends and family. Do you have people that just make you feel lighter? When I'm feeling a bit heavy hearted, I actively seek those people out. It's good for me to admit, I need others, just like others need me. Enjoy the week

Contemplative Life

I just returned from a conference where I heard Marianne Williamson speak. I have read her books since the mid 1990's. This time I was found her words to be extremely moving. It is time that we as women partner with men to create a different world. I am clear that I need to assist other women to find their own voice and speak their truth. I look forward to connecting with others to make a radical change happen ...now! I have a dedicated website
www.thecontemplativelife.com

Please join me in learning how to slow down, pray, and be the light that the world is needing to see.