Last post for May.

I need to put closure to something I began on March 26, 2023 with the post wait.

The post wait. includes an introduction to what I intended would be an eight-week series of blogs that would ultimately be a compilation for the highly anticipated 😉 publication: Quiet Time. 8 steps to more possibility, creativity, and inspiration.

My personal outcome has yet to land 🛬 , (📖), but there was a 7-week share that included A LOT of content.

3.26.23 wait. checkIN: physical environment

4.2.23 stingray. checkIN: social environment

4.12.23 physical. checkIN: physical body

4.23.23 cue. checkIN: emotional body

5.1.23 fish. checkIN: breath

5.7.23 herring. checkIN: breath

5.14.23 processing. checkIN: intention

(and yes, I know there were two weeks of checkIN: breath, I lost track of the weeks…I think 🤔)

Because I need/want to move on and begin a summer-series of….something (?), I will include a short summary of steps 7 and 8. There is a lot of content included in the above links to the recent checkIN series. I lagged on step 6 (intention), and what I have to share in this post for steps 7 & 8 is no where near complete. The skills are more involved and thoughtful, and may benefit from a more practiced stability that anchors off of steps 1-5. As mentioned, the first skill ‘notice.name.’ can be all one needs to tap in to one’s natural sense of wonder and possibility, and then orient to day from that space… then do the next thing.

7. share

It is my experience, in the space of wellbeing when my mind is clear, my heart is open, my belly strong and stable, muscles alert and relaxed, skin calm/safe/comfortable, considering goodness for the other is natural. In the space of wellbeing, it is an organic desire to want the other to have a clear mind, open heart, stable belly, alert and relaxed muscles, calm/safe/comfortable skin – to feel balanced: not too much, not too little, just right.

An abundant mindset is one that recognizes there is plenty of goodness: ‘I can be happy AND you can be happy.’ In my content, I may also refer to this thinking as win-win energy. My references to Simon Sinek’s Infinite Game is also relevant.

There is a reason that ‘share’ is the final step before validating the state of possibility that shows up when we slow down and checkIN: to want for another what you want for yourself. The idea is that when one slows down and checksIN, mind gets downloaded into body and the desire for another comes from an authentic space of wholeness and possibility (see The Story I Tell YouTube video uploaded just last week).

Reframe and It Exists go together. Several strategies come to mind that support these skillsets. One Shared Humanity thinking strategy is to notice the ‘LCF’ (Lowest Common Feeling – step 6: intention). First, be the noticer : you notice resistance in the form of negative thinking (judgment, criticism, comparison) or pushing against the other. Often, there is plenty of evidence to support the claims, but one finds themselves stuck or spinning in a version of the same complaint or ‘problem’ over and over again. It’s *maddening.

If you can catch the resistance, you can be intentional in ‘what’s underneath’ (LCF). Ex: ‘I may not know what it’s like to live on the streets, but I know what it’s like to _________.’ Everyone has different ways of interpreting their surrounding conditions. To one, they may interpret persons who live on the street as wanting to be free, finding community, being resourceful, feeling disconnected and alone, mentally unstable, giving up, etc. The strategy is to connect to a Shared Humanity. ‘Like you, I too know what it’s not to not feel seen, heard, valued, or understood.’ These thinking strategies soothe the resistance which can keep us stuck and spinning in the same undesirable outcomes – pushing against the ‘problem’ rather than contributing to solutions. Finding Common Humanity can support moving toward the discomfort of the unknown.

Check out this one minute reel of Simon Sinek talking about adding a daily strategy that you know will benefit you in the long term, but you have no access to the timing.

*Negative thinking patterns can be quite invasive. It is my experience, to notice your growth is to notice subtle changes in time (how often), duration (how long), and intensity (how hard).

It exists was a game changer for me. When you observe the conditional world it is easy to compare. When you notice or observe something in your conditional environment to be what you want (and don’t have), say to yourself ‘it exists’. What this means to me is that instead of taking on a scarcity mindset (‘there’s a finite amount of good stuff’), you take on an abundant mindset of ‘there’s plenty’. If it exists for you, then it exists for me. This is a skill to build up to perhaps, it can be defeating at first and feel like you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Ultimately, it’s not about the ‘condition’, it’s about accessing the state of positive expectation and possibility.

8. now THIS is me

In Step 8 you have created the opportunity to intentionally access the open state of wellbeing. In a guided checkIN, I know that not everyone has accessed the state. I say, ‘notice what feels more open than closed, more free than captive, more big than small….in that space, if you are comfortable, can you say to yourself now THIS is me.’ I also may include the ‘mindspace/heartspace/bellyspace’ mantra I created over the last ten years.

One’s experience of the skillsets is individual and can only grow.

Bookend Your Day is to begin and end day with Quiet Time. Self-Care: Caring about yourself enough to notice the thoughts you think and the Story They Tell, and changing limiting scripts.

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The following are @sallysifer FB and Insta posts from last week.

5.22.23

5.23.23

5.24.23

5.25.23

5.27.23

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