Lamisha Serf-Walls

Gratitude: Fall Colors and Fresh Air

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Today the things I am grateful for relate to nature and the amazing beauty it provides for us all if we are open enough to see and appreciate it.

One thing I love so much about fall are the beautiful shades of fire reds, golden yellows, and outstanding oranges. There really isn’t anything like it. Although I don’t get to see as many glorious colors now that I live in South Carolina, I remember how picturesque the colors were in my hometown in Indiana. I remember walking under huge oak trees with colorful leaves falling all around me and smiling at such immense beauty. I miss that very much. I was reminded of that today when I saw some beautiful leaves changing colors on my walk today. Such a seemingly simple view made me smile and reminded me of the natural beauty that is all around us.

The other thing that I am grateful for today also comes from nature…fresh air. This week I wasn’t able to get outside as much as I normally do so I decided to take a much needed walk on my lunch break. The fresh air was amazing! There is nothing better than a bit of fresh air and sunshine to help soothe the soul.

Add to that the changing colors of the leaves and you get one perfectly peaceful connection with nature.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and you get to enjoy some natural beauty in your part of the world.

My (not so) Tiny Triumph

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Today has been one of those days filled with ample frustration, work, and irritation.  For the most part my day job runs fairly smoothly without much headache, but boy was today different.  I felt like my energy was spread about in many different directions yet little was getting accomplished.  As I felt my stress building, I received an inspirational email about the upside to irritation.  Clearly this email was meant for me to read at that exact moment.  (I love when that happens. )

The email talked about how every moment or circumstance that invokes frustration or any other negative emotion, is an opportunity to find peace.  It sounds a little bit backwards, but when I took the time to think about it, I could see the point.  Every moment I allowed the frustration of the day to get to me was one less peaceful moment.  I had to make a choice to allow the circumstances that I couldn’t control (most of the work circumstances) to be however they were going to be and change my response to them.

I would love to say I got the message and my entire day turned around, but that’s not entirely true.

As the day wore on the frustration wore me out, literally and it caused me to lose some focus.  I began worrying about all the other things I had to do for the evening that were also piling up because of the lack of time (or the perception of lack, but more on that in another post).  One frustrating thought lead to another and it created a snowball effect from there.  I finally made the choice to change that.

I changed my thoughts.

My mantra for the day changed.  Instead of thinking “I don’t have time to ______(fill in the blank)”, I began thinking, “I will do what I can.”  It was amazing what happened.  I felt lighter, more productive, and surprisingly more in control.  Was all my work done in the matter of minutes?  No, but my focus had changed from what I couldn’t do and what I didn’t have (time), to what I could accomplish in the time I had left.  Everything else that didn’t take top priority for the moment was put on my list for tomorrow and the best part about it all is now I have enough energy and mental power to get a few items done this evening.  One of which is relaxing after a long day.
This may seem like a tiny triumph for one day, but to me it is a lifetime lesson.

There are bound to be many more moments when I feel overwhelmed with all of my commitments especially having a family, working full-time, training for life coaching (in the future), and starting my business.  There will be times when I need to take a step back find my peace in the midst of chaos and with this one lesson I will be a little more prepared for the future.

When you look at it that way, this seemingly tiny triumph isn’t so tiny at all.

What about you? What do you do when you feel overwhelmed or frustrated?

What brings you joy?

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If money wasn’t an issue and you could do anything as your career or job, what would it be?

I have probably asked that question to 100 different people.  Sometimes I ask out of pure curiosity, while other times I am hoping to inspire.  Most of the people I ask are miserable at their current job and yet they feel as if they have no other choice.  It is easy to feel that way, especially in this economy where jobs are scarce and you feel lucky just to be working.  Typically the answers I get are thought of as hobbies or interests, but if you dig a little deeper they are things these individuals would do simply for the joy it brings them.

Once I get an answer to the first question, I follow-up with this.  Well why aren’t you doing that?  I generally get a laundry list of reasons why they can’t, won’t, don’t have the time/money/resources etc. to do the things that bring them joy.  It is at that moment I realize most people aren’t doing things that they love because they have grown to believe that it isn’t worthwhile.  Some believe doing something for the simple joy of it is a waste of time and might just be a little selfish.

I couldn’t disagree more.  I believe we are all meant to do the things that bring us joy and the more we do it, the happier we are.  So why do we believe that our happiness is wrong?

If someone asked me the same question I have asked so many (and believe me I have asked myself many times), I would say this: I want to help people find their joy and inspire, empower, and encourage them to do the things they didn’t think they could do.  I have done this in many ways throughout my life through coaching high school kids, encouraging my friends and co-workers, but I decided I wanted something more.  I am now choosing to allow my joy to become my career as a life coach, (in the not too distant future), and I can’t wait to go to “work” loving what I do every single day. (I will share more about how I decided that life coaching was for me in another post, stay tuned.)

I believe in doing things that bring us joy and happiness.  I believe in the magical essence of dreams fulfilled and wishes coming true, but most of all, I believe each one of us have the ability and opportunity to do the things make us happy, but like with everything else in life, it is a choice.  You make the choice to give yourself permission to be happy.  You make the choice to dream.  You make the choice to set an intention to do work you love and believe that the money and everything else that is needed will follow.  What do you choose?  A guaranteed mediocre future, or the unknown with more possibilities for happiness than you can even imagine?

With that said my question to you is this…If money wasn’t an issue and you could do anything as your career/job, what would it be and are you doing it?  Leave me a comment, I would love to know!