"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." - Steve Jobs
I apologize for my hiatus, friends! Life has definitely thrown some interesting twists my way recently. But we're not going to talk about that today. While I have some issues with Steve Jobs, I do admire him for a lot of reasons and I love this quote from him and feel that it is so fitting for the focus on July (which I apologize the start of has taken so long to be announced). While I will be continuing my work of organizing different parts of my life (an on-going process for sure), I will be adding to that a layer that I desperately need and a layer that will require a very thoughtful and purposeful shift from myself. July is the month of "All the Love in the World." This month is about opening myself up to the love that I have for myself, the opportunities in the relationships and love I have with others, as well as letting go of the negative or the things that have challenged me and seek the positive in each situation.
Since I have started this blog and immersed myself into my happiness project, I have found myself very in tune with my emotions. I have definitely had a month of venting and getting out how I feel about a variety of topics (which really all started in May when I went on a leadership journey for work), but I believe that this month, I need to shift. I need to let go of things from the past that have hurt me or have been challenges that I did not meet. For some of those situations, the truth is that I was stuck in it, and in some cases allowed myself to be stuck in someone else's thinking or a definition or standard that I didn't believe in. I intellectually knew that I needed to move on, but emotionally wasn't ready. When I first put my happiness project together, I realized that there were several reasons for this, but mostly it was due to the fact that I had lost site of the way to my heart. Love should be at the center of your life, your focus, your future...
Before I jump too much into what I am doing this month, I do want to highlight some great things that I accomplished last month. 1) I seriously focused on being grateful, 2) I celebrated EVERYTHING, 3) I have spent a lot of time being introspective and really speaking my mind.
I have spent time trying out new recipes and enjoying wine along with my fun meals.
I said goodbye to Daphne, my first ever car, in favor of the more practical car-less life in San Francisco to save money and get the most out of my car before it got too old. Part of my getting organized and settling my finances plan from month 1.
In the month of July, I want to continue my good work in finishing the organization in my house (almost done) and continue my celebrations/reflections, but I also want to ensure that all my actions are focused on love. I want to find love again in my work, and not just my professional work but on my own personal projects (more specifically, the book I have been trying to write for years). The first step I have taken towards this is accepting a new position, just last week, on a new team.
Here I am about to open the bottle of Ram's Gate sparking wine I had been saving for my new job announcement.
I believe that when you create your own mold, and truly embrace who you are, as Steve Jobs suggests in the quote above, you dare to create a future and world for yourself that suits the world you want to live in, not the one that you see in front of you. I believe that in order to create this future and world for yourself, you've got to enjoy the process and be super clear about who you are and what you want out of life. I know who I am, I know what I want out of life, I have a new job that aligns to those things - now it is time to start enjoying the process!
The other things that I want to focus on are pretty simple:
- Spend time with friends I love and focus on having fun
- Spend time putting my love into writing again
- Spend time finding fun ways to exercise that help relax and re-energize me
- Spend time enjoying the Bay Area with my husband
- Seek the love in every little thing that I do!
