Daily 5 - Day 8

Today was another challenging day. On the beautiful and smooth and restful days, you can choose any one of a myriad of options to make up a list of 5 things. It's a whole lot harder to find 5 things on the days that feel like they've beaten you up. And when you have several of those days in a row, when you're trying so hard to focus differently, to experience life more joyfully and positively, it can actually become quite discouraging. To be trying so hard, and then just feel like life is working extremely hard (and effectively) to test that resolve for change.

So, here are my 5 for today:

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1. Re-stocking my stash of peanut m&m's
2. a moment of clarity while journaling early this morning
3. an evening that has been quiet and peaceful
4. a coworker and friend being back in the office today
5. a smooth grocery shopping trip tonight (the grocery store is huge, usually kind of dirty and disorganized, often has stock issues, and I refer to it as the "soul-sucking mega store" so when grocery shopping goes quickly and smoothly it is something to make you smile!)
   

Ufff...

Tomorrow morning I'm following through on what I've been threatening all week. I'm closing my office door for a couple hours, so that I can't be disturbed. This has been the week where suddenly everyone has needed a piece of my time and attention. I've rarely had a 20 minute span without someone stopping into my office or stopping me in the hallways to see about something that needs to be taken care of. So tomorrow morning I'm going to close the door for a bit and see if that helps. I badly need to get a project under control, and I can't think of another way to get it done.

I really do have some great things to blog about too, but this week has been so busy that I've been doing well to snatch 10 or 15 minutes either before work or during my lunch hour to jot a few thoughts in my journal, never mind to get to blogging them. And right now my journal is definitely needing to be a priority.

In the meantime, here are a couple of things that caught my attention today:

This blog post (which I read quite some time ago, and came across again today) about changing seasons - a powerful quote from Graham Cooke.

This blog post about self-pity.

Quote of the Day

I'm having another one of those crazy, run off my feet kind of days. That's three in a row now, if you happen to be counting (not that I am or anything.)

So, while I'm busy exclaiming "Holy Cannoli!" and reminding myself to smile and breathe, I'll leave you with a quote from the calendar that sits on my desk. While I don't quite agree with the extremity of her position, it did make me stop and ponder.

"I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions."
(Servant of God Dorothy Day)