Checking In

How do I feel about this book? that idea? How do I feel today? It's strange yet amazing what you hear when you listen to your heart. It's not easy to listen all the time yet but when I do, I get to do the "right" thing. Not what is expected, not what I've always done but what is that thing I need to do for myself at the moment. It sounds selfish even as I write this. Darn all those messages that we've received all of our lives that tell us to serve others above all else. I'm beginning to see that if we neglect ourselves, what we do for others will be less than what we have to give.

So now, I'm practicing to check in and do it as often as I am aware. Hopefully, it'll be as often as I breathe. Is this giving me energy? Does that person give me energy? Things that give me energy: bookstores, blank and beautifully bound journals, books with photos of faces, foreign places showing how others live, instructions on how to paint flowers (but not how to draw flowers), cookbooks, wellness books, music, walking outside, smiling at strangers, fresh flowers, cooking, scents...

When I ask myself these questions, a funny thing happens. I feel more alive and awake! I don't have to read more books, don't have to wait for someone to tell me the secret. No secrets. No waiting. I have the power, right now, to make myself happy. Unbelievable!