The past few weeks have been very busy for me, filled with deadlines, goals to achieve, projects to complete amongst other day to day commitments and I actually began to feel very tired and overwhelmed. I am always on the go and a lot of times I find it very difficult to just relax, rest and just not do anything.
Every now and then I get the opportunity to drop off my three year old at school. we normally have to get the train and somehow we both enjoy the train ride because we get time to gist. I ask her about school and her friends and generally what's going on with her. All the fun normally stops when we get off the train and we have to walk down to her school. For her, all she wants to do is stop along the way, pick flowers, smell the flowers, admire the nicely cut grass in the beautiful suburb area that her school is situated in. While, for me I am thinking of the next train I need to catch to be able to make my early morning meetings.
I missed my train on one faithful day and I was really upset with her and I was so frustrated. Waiting on that platform, I was so furious with her for wasting my time. When I eventually got on the train, me being me, I began to think and plan my day ahead. Anyone that knows me would testify to the fact that somehow my brain is always in gear and all of a sudden, it dawned on me that I could actually learn from a three year old and that there was more to life than just being on the go all the time and the reason I sometimes feel overwhelmed and frustrated is because somehow I am always on the go, once I achieve one thing, I am straight away onto the next achievement or the next goal. I began to think about how she stopped and took time to admire the beauty of nature, the beauty of her surroundings and it began to dawn on me that because we are so busy, a lot of us miss out on the beautiful things around us. It began to dawn on me that the two only time I STOP to SMELL THE ROSES is when I am so tired and in that overwhelming state.
The key thing when you find yourself in that overwhelming state is to stop and take a step back and go to that place that calms you, that place that gives you joy, that place that makes you so happy that makes everything else seem inconsequential
For me music has always been my thing, it does not matter how frustrated or overwhelmed I am, music has always been the one thing that calms me. Put me in a room by myself till Kingdom comes, as long as I have music, as long as I can worship God in song, that overwhelming feeling begins to fade away. So I've learnt to always go back to my calm place when I begin to feel overwhelmed. So
whenever I feel overwhelmed, I simply just STOP, and let everything be for a while, one thing I have learnt for sure is that the world will not end just because I STOP, but if I'm not careful I might just STOP if i don't STOP and SMELL THE ROSES when I begin to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. As I write this, the scripture " when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I" actually makes perfect sense - Psalm 61:2.
Everyone needs to find that SMELL THE ROSES thing or place, for some of you its reading a novel, for some it's watching movies, for some it's playing games, for some it's hanging out with friends, for some it's simply just doing nothing. The important thing is to find that thing or place that works or helps to calm you when you find yourself being overwhelmed or stressed out.
Feeling overwhelmed or stressed is nature's way of telling you, you need to slow down or re - prioritise your goals or deadlines or simply what you need to feel to be able to make a necessary change in life.
When I am able to achieve that calm state after being overwhelmed, then I sit down and reassess my goals and priorities and most time I have a clearer picture of what I need to do to get to my destination.
Sunday 23 November 2014
Sunday 9 November 2014
The Pitfall of New Year Resolutions
Its the middle of November and everyone around me is beginning to look forward to 2015 and the decisions they are going to make in 2015 that will make that spectacular difference to their life. Every time I hear people say that, anger always rises up on the inside of me and I actually think such people are crazy. I gave up on new year resolutions a long time ago, before you crucify me, let me tell you why.
I suppose the question you should ask yourself is, how many of those new year resolutions have you actually adhered to? I've known many people who have become very frustrated with themselves because of their inability to keep up with their new year resolutions and that many people includes me.
I've come to see a far more excellent way than making new year resolutions and I have been able to make greater success and progress in many areas of my life. The question I asked myself one day was why put off something that I can do in November and improve my life in November till January the following year, I said to myself- Dolapo, you must be a mad person to do that. So one of the keys to progress is not to procrastinate in any way shape or form. Do not put off something you can do today to tomorrow.
The second important key is how you see your definition of today, the way you view the dawn of every single day. I see the rising of every morning as a day full of 24 hours of open windows of opportunities to improve or achieve better success in one area of my life. For me every minute counts. I therefore see the 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds of the day as open windows of opportunities. The point therefore is to make a resolution every new day that you are blessed with that you will choose to make decisions that would positively improve your life and I can guarantee you, you will soon move from a mediocre life to a life filled with success.
One of the most important things I also learnt in changing the way I viewed everyday was the fact that every next second, minute, hour or day was an opportunity to work on the failures that the previous second, minute, hour or day has brought my way. In essence I had an opportunity to get up and work on my mistakes and failures quicker. Mentally, I was able to rise up from my failures faster than I would have in the past because I changed the way I think.
Give up on new year resolutions, begin to make new second, new minute, new hour and new day resolution, you just would experience greater and better successes.
The LGP team.
I suppose the question you should ask yourself is, how many of those new year resolutions have you actually adhered to? I've known many people who have become very frustrated with themselves because of their inability to keep up with their new year resolutions and that many people includes me.
I've come to see a far more excellent way than making new year resolutions and I have been able to make greater success and progress in many areas of my life. The question I asked myself one day was why put off something that I can do in November and improve my life in November till January the following year, I said to myself- Dolapo, you must be a mad person to do that. So one of the keys to progress is not to procrastinate in any way shape or form. Do not put off something you can do today to tomorrow.
The second important key is how you see your definition of today, the way you view the dawn of every single day. I see the rising of every morning as a day full of 24 hours of open windows of opportunities to improve or achieve better success in one area of my life. For me every minute counts. I therefore see the 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds of the day as open windows of opportunities. The point therefore is to make a resolution every new day that you are blessed with that you will choose to make decisions that would positively improve your life and I can guarantee you, you will soon move from a mediocre life to a life filled with success.
One of the most important things I also learnt in changing the way I viewed everyday was the fact that every next second, minute, hour or day was an opportunity to work on the failures that the previous second, minute, hour or day has brought my way. In essence I had an opportunity to get up and work on my mistakes and failures quicker. Mentally, I was able to rise up from my failures faster than I would have in the past because I changed the way I think.
Give up on new year resolutions, begin to make new second, new minute, new hour and new day resolution, you just would experience greater and better successes.
The LGP team.
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