Recalibrate

To calibrate again. Synonyms. Adjust, amend, change, modify, revise, turn, correct mid-course, fine tune, make different. 





Today was not a good day. I had a bad attitude. I chose to not do the things on my to-do list and was generally in a crabby mood. I did not choose JOY. 
It seriously took almost the entire day for me to choose a new tude. Ugh. 
Thankfully it is a choice that I was able to make. After putting forth a lot of effort. My brain suggested many things throughout the day that would help me choose joy.

How about a walk? Your happy light? Writing the sisters on your VT route? Getting back to a friend that is waiting for a response? Body brushing and a bath? Doing the dishes while listening to a podcast? My brain is smart. I guess I can't name the part of me that dug its heals in today.  My SAD brain? I just couldn't shake the fuzzy, foggy, groggy, grumpy feeling that nothing was right and likely never would be again. I KNOW THAT IT IS UNREASONABLE. And very thankfully, I also know it is temporary. And here is where my title comes in. Because we are human we have the magnificent ability to choose. One of my favorite analogies is that of the pilot needing to make constant course corrections. I've read or heard several examples of this, but this is closest to what I am thinking. I found it on the Brian Tracy International website:

"Life is like an airplane journey. From the time you take off, you will be off course 99% of the time. All airplanes are off course 99% of the time. The purpose and role of the pilot and the avionics is to continually bring the plane back on course so that it arrives on schedule at its destination.
In life, you are the pilot of your own craft. To reach your destination of health, happiness, prosperity and a good life, you must do as a pilot does. You must first of all determine your destination. This requires clear, specific goals, written down, with plans to accomplish them for each day.
Second, you must take off toward your destination with no guarantee of success. You must be willing to move out of your comfort zone and take risks continually, even though you know that most of them will not succeed, at least at the beginning.
The third part, and the real secret of success is that you must be prepared to make continual course corrections. Just as an aircraft faces headwinds, downdrafts, storm fronts, wind shear, lightning and unexpected turbulence, you will experience the same in the pursuit of any worthwhile goal.
The key to success is for you to keep your mind fixed clearly on the goal, but be flexible about the way of achievement. Be open to new inputs and ideas. Learn from every experience. Look for the good in every setback or difficulty.
Most of all, you must resolve in advance that you will never give up. Your ability to persist in the face of all adversity in the direction of your goal is what will ultimately guarantee your success."
{emphasis added by me}
So today was all about re-calibrating. Constant course corrections. It might seem impossible to arrive at your destination if you are off course 99% of the time, but this principle is so comforting to me, because I truly feel it in my life. I feel like I am constantly off course, headed in the wrong direction. I am certain that I make about a thousand course corrections a day. Except for today. Today I let myself fly off course for a few hours. It likely means that I will spend the day tomorrow re-calibrating. Catching up. Adjusting. Making amends (paying bills AND doing dishes). Journaling, working on my goals, and many other things that I know will help me get to where I want to go, which is headed home to Heavenly Father, with much JOY along the journey. The one thing that I will work hard NOT to do, is belittle myself or beat myself up about it. I heard an old interview with musician Rosanne Cash recently in which she refers to her MIC as "the committee". I will VERY briefly let the committee have their say, see if there is anything useful there and then....I WILL MOVE ON. I will course correct. Again. And keep moving forward. It really is the only way to make progress and have JOY. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OWL More

Image
I started thinking about my OLW for this year a couple weeks ago. Usually picking out my word is a strenuous process. And usually I forget what it is by about May or June. I knew I wanted this year to be different. I’m very music oriented. I can’t sing or play an instrument but there is usually a song playing in my head. I wasn’t surprised when my usual 80’s internal soundtrack switched to a hymn from church. I’ve been instructed by the Lord through music often. But when it got louder when I thought about my OLW,  I knew I’d better pay attention. If you google LDS hymn number 131 More Holiness Give Me you can sing along. My word for 2018 is MORE. And I’ll be focusing each month on a specific MORE.  January will be MORE fitness.  February is MORE self care.  March will be MORE obedience.  I’ve got all 12 months assigned a focus point. Over the next week or so I’ll write some more specifics for each month. For January I’ll be joining a diet...
Read more

Vision, Goals, Plans

Image
I am a visual person.  And though we all learn in different ways, I think for all of us, seeing something helps us process, and understand.  I have always found it interesting that when a person loses one of their senses, or is born without something like sight, their body often compensates with other senses.  When we engage our senses in our daily life we can achieve more.  This principle was applied to a wonderful phonics system (my sister HH Shared with me) which I used for my kids when they were younger.  The program had them repeat the sounds of letters with their mouth, see with their eyes as I wrote them, write with their hands, and hear instruction with their ears.  In a month my son's writing ability improved drastically from chicken scratch to beautiful lettering. So I want to take you on a quick little journey and I will need you help and cooperation if YOU are going to be able to VISUALIZE the end field: Imagine for a minute with me. ...
Read more

Refinement: Best Effort VS. Perfection

Image
Lessons in Refinement:  Improving by making small changes I've thought about this a lot lately. I tend to suffer from perfectionism. If I can't give it a perfect effort then I tend not to do it. If I see too many ways to fail...I won't even try. Some times after completing a task I look back and beat myself up because it wasn't a perfect effort. I might have completed the task to my best effort but because of my limitations it just wasn't perfect. Wow. Even just typing this it sounds so horrible...so mean. I don't hold everyone around me to this standard. I am happy and celebrate when someone in my tribe has given their best effort. So why can't it be good enough for me? No idea. It's only been the last few years (with the help of some very kind, wise women) that I've even become aware of this flawed thinking. Lately in my life I have been feeling a shift coming on. I've been letting go of some of the things I used to like to do, to spend th...
Read more

Receive

As women we are givers. Givers of life, of ourselves, our time and talents. I have noticed in myself and those around me, we are not quite so good at receiving and we have to put effort into being receptive to the service and gifts of others talents and time.  "I'm fine" "We're fine"....."it's ALL fine", seems to be a standard refrain. But. We aren't ALL fine. WE NEED EACH OTHER.  We need to be able to serve and to receive service. We need to be able to give love and receive it...AND EVEN ASK FOR IT! *gasp* Yep. I said it. Ask for what we need. When we need it. And then allow it to be given. It will likely take some work for some of us to get there, but I think we will all be better off for it. Together we are bringers, sharers and spreaders of JOY! Yes, this is likely the shortest blog post ever, but it's all I have in me for tonight.  ~JOYsister Heather
Read more