Motivation Mondays-Ripples

Why is everyone talking about ripples?

All weekend long, no matter where I went or what I was doing, conversations about ripples continued to surround me.  Whether it was a nerd talk about ripples in time, a kiddo noticing ripples in water, or people mentioning the ripples of flowers blooming in people's yards, it kept coming up.  It wasn't bothersome, but instead just enough to be noticeable.  I started questioning why there was so much talk about ripples.  It was obvious that I was supposed to be paying attention to something.

I'm trying this new thing where I start each morning with motivational 'me' time.  Well, not so much me time, but more carving out space to

Oh, the NOISE!

begin each day present in the moment.  The theory is that if I let go of the to-do lists, the looming things I didn't get done the day before, and the chaos of daily life and sit quietly, my day will go more smoothly.  In the beginning I tried to start each day meditating, but life had me so bogged down that I couldn't even complete a simple meditation exercise like looking at something and closing my eyes to see how long I could hold it in my mind's eye.  Zero long.  The second my eyes closed, the squirrels started chirping about all of the things I wasn't doing, the people who depended on me, and the noise....it was like being trapped in

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is an actual
church.  No judgement please.

that space between radio stations where something almost comes in, but not really, so you keep turning the dial until hopefully the next one comes in more clearly.  It was obvious that I needed some real help, because there was no quieting this ADHD mind.

My next idea was to go to the library and find some motivational books.  Not books about being motivated, but books that had little bits of motivation that I could spend a few minutes on each day pondering over....which brings us to this morning, and back to the ripple effect.

I don't know if you believe in God, or Buddha, or the flying spaghetti monster, but sometimes something tries so hard to get your attention that it will continue to smack you in the face until you get it.  For me, I clearly believe it's God, and he is trying to tell me something on more than one level.

Motivation Roulette page from 'Ordinary Sparkling Moments'
by Christine Mason Miller

The book I chose to crack open this morning is called "Ordinary Sparkling Moments".  Te cover was beautiful, and it's filled with pages of mixed media art and small sections of beautifully hand written inspiration.  This book was right up my alley.

Being me, I flipped through the first couple of pages doing a thing I like to call 'inspirational roulette'.  The page I landed on had this to say:

"When we focus our energy towards constructing a passionate, meaningful life, we are tossing a pebble into the world, creating a beautiful ripple...."

I feel like a fly trapped between two windowpanes.

You see, the past couple of months have gotten me bogged down, and I can't figure out why.  My Damsel in Defense business is growing quickly, there are big things on the horizon, and I should be ecstatic about what is going on...but still, I'm bogged down.  I feel like a fly trapped between two windowpanes.  I'm tired.  I feel like I'm being pulled in a million directions, and none of them have my full attention.

I started trying to spend the beginning of the day present in the moment and only asking myself 3 questions:  1.What does my husband need today?  2. What do my children need today?  3. What does my business need today?

Start with the beat
of your heart

I realized through the ripples of ripple conversations and by opening this book that I had it all wrong.  I wasn't supposed to spend my 'me' time every morning asking what everyone else needed, I was supposed to spend it beginning with me.  Not in a selfish way, but in a very literal way: With the beat of my heart.  With the breath in my lungs.  The ripple begins there and is carried outward.  The ripple begins with me.  Once my clarity is realized, I can then carry that ripple into my day.  If I don't give myself the gift of resetting my own biological rhythms, how can I expect to inspire, nurture, or grow?

This reset doesn't have to take long.  You don't have to create a special space for it.  You can do it laying in bed, in the shower, or sitting in a crazy yoga pose on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  The beauty is that you get to choose, no matter what is going on in the external parts of your life, what kind of ripple you create.

How much negativity did you send into the world today?

What kind of ripple did you create today?  Did you start the day complaining about the weather or the fact that it's Monday?  Did you start the day beating yourself up for not achieving your goals yesterday?  Did you start the morning a raging ball of stress because you know what you're going to face today?  Did you rush your kids around frantically sending them out into the world as balls of stress today?  How much negativity did you send out into the world in the first 5 minutes of being awake?  The first ten?  The first hour?

Here's your Monday Motivational Challenge:
Tomorrow, spend at least 1 minute listening to your heart beat with your hand on your chest.  Then spend one minute listening to the breath fill your lungs.  Then ask yourself, "What ripple do I want to send into the world today?"  Stay still until you can feel your answer, then pray/meditate/do what you do about it.

After you feel centered, write down the answers to these 4 questions:

What do I need to send out today for my

1. relationship?
2. family?
3. business?
4. friendships?

If you're feeling brave, share about how your day went by emailing Sunshine@YourDamselDiva.com