Some of the ways we live our lives and the things we do creates frustration for us. Yet if we would change our method or pattern and do something different we would have different results. What keeps us from being able to do this?
My Dad would wait until the last minute to change lanes on the freeway when he came up behind someone who was going slower then he was. He would not look at the lanes on either side of him well before he needed to change lanes to plan when he needed to move over, he would simple wait until he was say within a car length from that vehicle and then think that he would have space in a lane next to him to shift the vehicle over and keep his speed without having to adjust anything. 95% of the time, another vehicle was there and he couldn't move into either lane. And 100% of the time, he would get frustrated, let out an irritated sigh, and have to put on the breaks and stay put right where he was at. If he couldn't move over into another lane for awhile, he would then start picking at the sides of his finger nails on his thumbs to pull away at the skin because of his anxiety and frustration. We would ask him, why he didn't look in the rear view mirror and side view mirrors sooner to check traffic flow and look for the appropriate slot to merge and move over sooner instead of waiting until the last minute? He would always respond, because this is the way I do things. We would ask him why he would get frustrated then if he wasn't planning ahead and had to stay in a lane longer then he wanted all because he wouldn't do something different? He said he didn't think being frustrated was such a big deal. We would ask, have you thought about doing things different, like Mom does? That was the wrong thing to ask him and only fueled the tension between them both and he would respond stating that he didn't drive like Mom did and had no intentions of driving like Mom did. We wanted to say, yaaahhh, we know you don't drive like Mom, Dad...you won't go over the speed limit one mph and she goes as much over the speed limit as she can every day!!! Ultimately, we weren't trying to get Dad to change his ways, we just didn't want him frustrated. So we felt there were two options: either change the way you do things so you aren't frustrated, or keep doing them and realize your frustration is of your own making and adds to your disgust with life.
I procrastinate on washing dishes. I don't know why because it isn't a task I hate, it just seems like I am always doing it and I would rather be efficient with my time and after making myself a meal and cleaning up the counters and putting stuff away, I don't want to have to wash dishes too! So I let them stack up until the sink is full of them for 2 or 3 days depending on how many there are, and of course then there is much more to do, but I feel like I am doing the task less often. Yet I hate, absolutely hate, the smell of dirty dishes (even if you rinse them a bit there still is some stuff there). I've timed myself a few times, and once I actually stop and do the task of washing dishes, it honestly only takes all of 10 minutes. 10 simple minutes that would make me feel more not frustrated at the smell in the kitchen, that would feed the organized, decluttered, and clean space that I want! And maybe it might take 5 minutes if I did it every day instead of 10 minutes every 3 days.
Maybe there are things like this in your own life. Things you keep doing because you have always done them this way, but you know you aren't happy with the results. Things that add frustration to your daily life that if you stopped, took the time to figure out why you don't like it and what you could do differently, you might just get a more peaceful journey.
What keeps you from changing those things in your life that you don't like? How will you live today more intentionally to connect to what brings you happiness and keeps the flow of life going?
#SimpleDisciplines #LifeLessons #EnjoyTheJourney#CreateTheLifeYouWant #LiveIntentionally
