Life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans. – John Lennon
We’ve all been there.
Plans are made.
Everything is set.
Ready to get IT done.
And then Life happens.
And The Plan goes South – WAY South.
And if you’re like me, you might get pretty bummed.
This happened to me on Saturday. I was all set to get my taxes done. My receipts, statements, balance sheets, etc. were all organized – except for that ONE file I KNEW was on my hard drive.
Where though?
I spent two straight hours searching. No luck. Then I spent two more hours being mega-frustrated that I couldn’t find it. And one more hour sulking.
Then one of my dogs woke up from her nap and did that shaking it off thing dogs do.
Bless her heart.
She brought me back from the brink (No, this isn’t her in the picture. I wasn’t thinking too clearly when It Happened.).
So I joined her and shook it off, too.
It was the first beautiful day we’d had in ages. So we went for a walk. We spotted the first gator of the season. We got excited. And we forgot about taxes. Well, I did – she was never really concerned about them.
I’m going to remember that shaking it off image next I let myself get hooked by something like taxes. I’m going to breathe, stretch, shake it off, do something nourishing and go back to The Plan when my brain and spirit are fresh.
Note – the taxes still aren’t finished. I HAVE found THAT file (it was the first placed I looked- duh…). So I’ll pull it all together – on a day the sun is not calling me.
How do you shake off those little things that hook you?
Lisa’s Cheap Therapy blog 
This hasn’t been the best period of my life when it comes to shaking it off. It used to be a long walk in the rain or a few hours on my motorcycle would clear my head. The rain lately has been more something to shake off than help with the shaking and I don’t have a bike right now so that is out. A friend keeps his cycle here (as it is right now) but again the weather has been detrimental. I guess gone are the days when I didn’t let the weather keep me from much. So my new shaking off technique is to build a fire in the front yard and watch the flames work their magic on the wood. My mind can almost empty as the yellow and orange tongues flicker and transform.
I don’t do a great job of shaking things off. I guess I tend to hang on to some things longer than I should. Easy to find all kinds of justification to do it. But it sure helps to have someone to talk to. My partner is the world’s best at listening and helping me sort through the things I need to keep and then things I need to discard. I don’t always listen well to this immediately, but it always sinks in, and always helps. What do folks do who don’t have someone to talk to?? I’m blessed.
The nature walk works for me. I’ll try adding the dog shake to it.
(Just gotta make sure no one”s watching. I can just imagine my students catching me at it. (“Ms. B. really IS crazy!”)
ooooooo Mary Louise, LOVE the image of you doing to ‘dog shake’! THANKS!